While we all understand that practicing social distancing is crucial to slow the spread of COVID-19, that definitely doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Because most of us lie outside of the target demographic — but can still carry and spread the disease — one of the hardest parts of this pandemic is the resulting feeling of isolation. But never fear! If you’re feeling at all trapped or particularly lonesome, any one of these movies will remind you that things could be way worse.
- “A Quiet Place”
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Can you imagine if our survival depended not only on our isolation, but also on our total silence? Welcome to the world of A Quiet Place, where group FaceTime calls are not an option for the stressed and lonely.
- “The Last Man on Earth”
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This 1964 classic is much less “mainstream” these days, but it’s an amazing fusion of eeriness —The Twilight Zone meets I Am Legend, all narrated by Vincent Price (a.k.a the scary voice at the end of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”).
- “The Lighthouse”
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This is a much more recent and intentionally black and white thriller about two secretive strangers trapped on an island, where time and reality cease to exist in bask of the lighthouse’s haunting glow.
- “It Comes At Night”
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An A24 psychological thriller preceding the aforementioned Lighthouse offers an ages-old question: how would we act if we thought the world was ending? (Answer: pretty sketchily, I’d imagine.)
- “10 Cloverfield Lane”
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Michelle wakes up in an old man’s bunker, handcuffed to a pipe and with no cell service, being told stories of an apocalypse above-ground. Is the old man her savior or her captor? Cue: the most intense two hours of your life.
Social distancing isn’t ~fun~ for anyone, but these horrifying films will show you that we’re in the best-case scenario: We’re doing this for each other’s safety rather than after an apocalyptic disaster, and we at least have technology to stay connected and sane. I believe in all of us — we can get through this.