i am legend

"A-choo!" Uh, oh, did you just sneeze? Get away from me, you might have a sci-fi virus! In Breck Eisner's remake The Crazies, due out tomorrow, a mysterious toxin poisons the water supply of a small town, leading to insanity and death. In George A. Romero's thrilling original, released in 1973, the culprit was a virus code-named "Trixie." Developed by the government, "Trixie" was unleashed upon an unsuspecting populace and wreaked bloodshed, panic, and havoc.

Governments often get the blame for world-threatening diseases, usually concocted by military scientists with no cure in sight. It's a favorite theme in science fiction movies, creating a natural framework for near-future extrapolation, authority mocking, righteous rebellion, and murderous mayhem. And, what do you know, those are all necessary ingredients for some of our favorite flicks! Here are the top ten sci-fi movies that feature viruses. Please add your own picks in the comments sections -- let us know what we missed, and why your selection belongs in the top ten.

1. Twelve Monkeys
Brilliant, maddening, and fascinating, Terry Gilliam's film follows Bruce Willis as he is sent back in time to try and uncover clues about a virus that has killed 99% of the Earth's population. He discovers, among other things, a very excitable Brad Pitt. We get to see both pre- and post-apocalyptic visions of a world devastated by disease, and it's difficult to say which is more frightening.

Just in case you were worried that this little vampire-Hollywood love affair might suddenly disappear, never fear, because we have yet another fanged feature coming our way.

Thor screenwriters Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz will handle writing duties on Damn Nation, a vampire-survival flick set in the future. The project is based on Andrew Cosby and Jason Alexander's (no, not that Jason Alexander) Dark Horse Comics three-issue mini-series of the same name.

In Damn Nation, humans are plagued by carnivorous night-dwelling creatures that only come out at night (the plot descriptions I've read seem to carefully avoid "vampire"). The remnants of organized government have holed up in London while the survivors, well, survive until scientists can figure out a solution to the vampire problem.

There's probably one recent film in particular that comes to mind based on that brief synopsis (I Am thinking of a Will Smith movie...), so let's just leave it at this: Hopefully the Dark Horse Entertainment/ Damn Nation production team knows well enough to avoid going the CGI route for these post-apocalyptic night-dwellers. Because as we now know, CGI vampires (or blood-sucking night creatures, whatever you want to call or avoid calling them) may not look as silly as sparkling vampires, but it's still pretty awful.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

* The headline became too unwieldy, but, just so you know, my original title was: "The Top Ten Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Flicks With Dogs, Hot Chicks, Robots, or Zombies." Please consider the following list accordingly!

In these difficult economic times, it's encouraging to see that hundreds of people found gainful employment destroying the world (again). Roland Emmerich's 2012 opens tomorrow and apparently employed every living soul who knows how to create havoc on the big screen. The trailer promises large-scale destruction of well-known landmarks, a prescient, disheveled, very concerned parent / ex-husband (John Cusack), and last-second narrow escapes. That doesn't sound too familiar, does it?

Meanwhile, The Road, which finally opens November 25, stars Viggo Mortensen in an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's bleak, devastating novel about a father and son trudging through a post-apocalyptic world with nary a glimmer of hope. Between those two extremes -- popcorn and pessimism -- lie my favorite kind of post-disaster flick: reasonable possibilities in a world forever changed -- but still with dogs, hot chicks, robots, or zombies.

1. Mad Max 2 (AKA The Road Warrior)

George Miller pushed Max (Mel Gibson) to the edge in the first film; in the sequel, Max well illustrated the changes wrought upon ordinary people by extraordinary circumstances, as the family man was transformed into the ultimate loner, an action hero for the new millenium. Thrills, chills, and missing heartbeats play out amidst the carnage of last-chance heroes and the bewildered affection of a feral child. At least Max had his dog.