It's Halloween time, so you want to watch some horror movies. But perhaps you also want to watch something health related. Give 'em Health combines the two for you.
Here are the 10 Best Health-Related Horror Movies (the ranking is pretty arbitrary -- feel free to recommend your own or let us know if you see any glaring omissions):
"28 Days Later" -- Before George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," zombie movies were mostly based on corruptions of Haitian spiritual beliefs. But the modern zombie is science-based, and "28 Days Later" is one of the best examples. Here, Londoners turn undead (or something like undead) after exposure to a mysterious "rage virus." The 2002 film was directed by Danny Boyle, of "Slumdog Millionaire" fame. Bonus: The Canadian music collective Godspeed! You Black Emperor is featured on the soundtrack.
"Frankenstein" -- This 1931 film directed by James Whale isn't the first film adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel (that would be the 1910 silent movie of the same name), but it's the classic cinematic treatment. It's also the one that caused the misconception that Victor Frankenstein was a doctor; in the novel, he's actually a university student. But as Kenneth Branagh's faithful, but kind of boring, 1994 version shows, sticking to the story doesn't always make a good movie. Better you go with the Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein."
"Coma" -- Michael Crichton directed this 1978 film, based on the Robin Cook novel. Patients mysteriously go into comas at Boston Memorial Hospital. A 1970s-style anti-establishment vibe and paranoia are at work here.
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Almost any movie by David Cronenberg -- I once read a dissertation that declared Cronenberg to be the quintessential Canadian director, as his work focuses on the notion that the human body is the source of all horror (I did not know this about our friends up north). Indeed, Cronenberg's oeuvre is chock full of gloppy, fleshy medical horrors, "The Fly," "The Brood," "Videodrome" to name a few. Even when the gore is kept in check, surreal medical aspects fill his work. "Dead Ringers," featuring twin (and increasingly kooky) gynecologists, is among his most unsettling.
"The Kingdom" -- This 1994 Danish mini-series chronicles a hospital that was built over a cemetery and is plagued with demons, ghosts and hauntings of all sort. It was created by Lars von Trier, and Stephen King remade it for American TV (called "The Kingdom Hospital"). Purists advise to stick with the Danes on this one.
"The Crazies" -- When the "trixie virus" leaks into the water supply of a small Iowan town, locals go (spoiler alert!) crazy. You can choose from either the 2010 version (making it the most recent on this list) or the original George Romero-directed film from 1973.
"Andromeda Strain" -- Another medical thriller, again involving the work of Michael Crichton. The 1971 film features a viral outbreak from outer space.
"Outbreak" -- As international travel becomes ever more accessible, "Outbreak" taps into the scary potential for global epidemic. A smuggled monkey is the source of the virus spreading a deadly disease. It's up to Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo to put a stop to it. Oddly, the 1995 movie is based on a nonfiction book, "The Hot Zone," by the fantastic science writer Richard Preston.
"Hands of Orlac" -- Now that successful hand transplants have been achieved, this 1924 silent film is all the more resonant. A concert pianist loses both his hands, which are replaced by those of a murderer. All sorts of trouble ensues.
"Marathon Man" -- not really a horror movie, but that dentist scene sure is scary.
