Patient Zero Patient Zero

Patient Zero is a 2018 action horror film directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and written by Mike Le. The film stars Matt Smith, Natalie Dormer, Stanley Tucci, Agyness Deyn, and Clive Standen. The plot involves a group of survivors who set out to find an antidote for a highly contagious virus that turns the infected into a ravenous but highly intelligent new species.

After a bidding war between several studios over a script penned by Le, Screen Gems eventually won the rights. Ruzowitzky signed on to direct in May 2014. Casting began in September 2014 and lasted until March 2015. Principal photography began on 3 March 2015 in London, before ending on 18 April.

Originally set to be released on 2 September 2016, the film was pushed back to 17 February 2017, then was removed from the Screen Gems release schedule. The film was finally released through video-on-demand on 14 August 2018, with a limited theatrical release on 14 September 2018 by Vertical Entertainment, and was poorly received by critics.

After an unprecedented global pandemic has turned the majority of humankind into violent "Infected," a man gifted with the ability to speak the Infected's new language leads the last survivors on a hunt for Patient Zero and a cure.

After an outbreak of a mutated form of rabies that spreads from animals to humans, over 7 billion humans are dead or infected. People who are bitten turn rabid in 90 seconds. Morgan was riding in a car with his wife Janet when they were attacked. He was infected, but remained human with the ability to talk with the infected.

Now with a large group of civilians, CDC scientists and U.S. military in an underground nuclear base, Morgan and virologist Dr. Gina Rose bring in the infected and interrogate them, hoping to find Patient Zero and devise a cure. Gina struggles with tensions between herself, Morgan, and Colonel Knox, compounded by Gina and Knox having had an intimate relationship in the past, while she is intimate with Morgan now. While interrogating an infected, who Morgan has named Joe Cocker, Knox shoots the patient.

Getting closer to finding Patient Zero, Morgan visits with Janet, who is caged in the underground base. She is being treated with an experimental treatment derived from Morgan's blood. In a flashback, Morgan wanted to have children with his wife, while she didn't want any.

Rose is shown with a positive pregnancy test. Bodies of fallen soldiers are being cremated when one opens his eyes and attacks the workers and soldiers. He is subdued and asks to speak with Morgan, who is surprised that the patient is unaffected by the music that has driven the other infected into a rage. The team assume he is closely linked to Patient Zero. The patient reveals that he was a professor and his school was attacked by the infected. He was bitten, but still maintains most of his human abilities. The Professor tells Morgan that the infected are evolved humans, a more advanced species who are at the top of the rapidly dwindling food chain. Morgan finds that another of the patients, who Morgan had named Pete Townshend, has a transmitter inside his chest, revealing that the infected laid a trap to learn where the base is.

The infected swarm inside, killing or infecting all the humans. Knox shoots his commander so the infected are slowed down long enough for him and Gina to make it to the elevator. She grabs his gun and tells him he is a monster for doing that. He tries to tell her he wanted to save her life. They begin to scuffle and the gun goes off, killing Knox. Gina goes to the cells where the infected are kept, and finds Morgan releasing Janet. Gina pleads with him to leave Janet since the treatments work but only for a short period of time, but he refuses. They sneak to Gina's lab, retrieve her samples, and crawl through the vents. They encounter an infected lab rat, which Janet kills before it can get to Gina. They make it to the parking lot just below ground level.

The Professor confronts them and explains that he came to the base to kill Morgan. Morgan is their "Patient Zero" and is a threat to their survival. They fight and the Professor starts calling other infected, until Morgan impales him on a pipe. The trio flee until Janet tells them to run and she will buy them time, telling Morgan he must leave her to save the baby, as she sensed that Gina is pregnant. This distracts Morgan long enough for Janet to close a heavy vault door just in time to stop the horde. Through a window in the door Janet mouths "a tear", indicating that she was now able to cry and that the treatment was working and restoring her humanity.

Morgan and Gina follow the tunnel out to the woods and find a motorcycle. They ride off into the night with Morgan understanding that he must do whatever it takes to take care of their baby and save some remnant of the human race.