Main Cast: Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, French Stewart, Faye Dunaway, Vincent Spano, Eric Roberts
Release Year: 2007
Country: US
Run Time: 170 minutes
Plot
Armand Mastroianni, the gifted director of the legendary 1980 horror sleeper He Knows You're Alone, returns to helm the three-hour, all-star medical miniseries Pandemic. The program explores the lethal consequences that can unfurl when a deadly plague, with an unknown cure and an even more mysterious source, worms its way through the denizens of a terror-stricken metropolis. 90210's Tiffani-Amber Thiessen stars as Dr. Kayla Martin, an epidemiologist at the Center for Disease Control. When the news arrives of a plague victim on board a flight from Australia to LAX Airport in Los Angeles -- who promptly dies amid body-racking convulsions and a record-high fever -- Dr. Martin makes the pivotal decision to quarantine all passengers at LAX, sending the city, and the mayor (Eric Roberts), into an uproar. Meanwhile, the plague concurrently begins to appear in other areas of the city -- suggesting a beast that no one can even begin to contain. In time, the disease becomes known as "The Riptide Virus." As a thoughtless ACLU attorney schemes to wage war against Dr. Martin for an unlawful quarantine, Martin, her associate Carl Ratner (French Stewart), and FBI Agent Troy Whitlock (Vincent Spano) race to find a solution before time runs out. Faye Dunaway also co-stars. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Bob Gunton - Dr. Max Sorkosky; Michael Massee - Edward Vicente; Bruce Boxleitner - Friedlander; Jo Champa - Aria Beutefeldt; Shashawnee Hall - Peter Sampson; Stephen Ramsey - Gibby Smolak
Credit
Penny Perry - Casting, Amy Reece - Casting, Armand Mastroianni - Director, Jennifer Jean Cacavas - Editor, Larry Levinson - Executive Producer, Robert Halmi, Jr. - Executive Producer, Kevin Kiner - Composer (Music Score), Jonathan Carlson - Production Designer, Amit Bhattacharya - Cinematographer, Kyle A. Clark - Producer, Jim Wilberger - Producer, Bryce Zabel - Screenwriter, Jackie Zabel - Screenwriter, H. Daniel Gross - Co-Executive Producer, Nick Lombardo - Co-Executive Producer, Michael Moran - Co-Executive Producer
On a beach in Australia, two surfers say goodbye to each other as one is about to leave for his flight back to California. The two men don't notice the large number of dead birds on the beach. On the flight, one of them starts coughing up blood and dies before the plane can land. Back in Australia, the other surfer is found dead. Kayla Martin (Tiffani Thiessen) is a medical doctor with the CDC who has been assigned to the case. She and the local officials carry the body out of the plane and start processing people to be put in quarantine until the people can be evaluated for exposure. During the transfer, one of the passengers escapes to complete a business deal and spreads the virus throughout Los Angeles. It's also revealed that outbreaks of the "Riptide Virus", as it comes to be known, are occurring in other cities around the world.
The situation is complicated further when one of the passengers, a convicted drug lord being transported by the FBI, escapes with the help of associates and a number of the other passengers, some of whom are infected. He proceeds to steal the medication needed to fight the outbreak and blackmails the local and state officials. As the epidemic worsens and the death toll rises, the governor (Faye Dunaway) and mayor (Eric Roberts) have to find a way around their political differences so that they can make tough decisions dealing with the blackmail scheme, as well as a frightened populace and all of the problems associated with a widespread and deadly epidemic.
At the end of the movie, scientists are able to find a cure: the drug lord's immunity to the virus is caused by his concurrent tuberculosis infection. Tuberculosis Antibodies stop the virus from attaching to his lungs. They discover that administrating antibodies from persons who have tuberculosis will cure the infected and give the others immunity from the virus. Blood from tuberculosis-infected persons is purifed and administered to people, and Los Angeles is saved.
