Brian Orndorf Blu-ray.com May 8, 2026 B+

It's a very silly film, but it's also grandly entertaining for its first 90 minutes, watching Petersen keep things on the move as catastrophe comes for all.

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Malcolm Knox Sydney Morning Herald Apr 29, 2026

This film could have learnt one lesson from Ron Howard's excellent Apollo 13: you don't need baddies to generate suspense. And you don't need miraculous coincidences -- stretching credulity tighter than Homer Simpson's underpants -- to save the day.

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Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Jul 15, 2025 6/10

It’s difficult to appreciate the prescience of the film and its unending relevancy, thanks to the theatrics and excitement and nearly laughable finale (full of extreme improbabilities), but it’s still mostly entertaining.

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Cory Woodroof 615 Film Jun 25, 2022

Maybe not my favorite Petersen film, but it’s pretty compelling when it’s showing the horrors of contagion and how futile we are to nature.

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Mal Vincent The Virginian-Pilot Mar 1, 2022 2.5/4

As an action outing, Outbreak is painless fun, designed to provide a quick rush rather than set off any kind of alarm.

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Casey Cipriani Bustle Nov 17, 2020

The whole movie is so intensely melodramatic and unbelievable...

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Joe Leydon The Moving Picture Show Jun 20, 2020

Don't expect any mercy from the people who made "Outbreak," a smashingly first-rate thriller that will do more to rev your pulse rate than a week of aerobics classes.

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Brandon Collins Medium Popcorn Apr 18, 2020 2/5

The first hour was intriguing, but it is gross and nasty...

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Justin Brown Medium Popcorn Apr 18, 2020 3/5

Regardless of how ridiculous this movie was, it's extremely entertaining.

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Barbara Shulgasser Common Sense Media Mar 27, 2020 2/5

'90s medical disaster movie has violence, peril, language.

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Alex Saveliev Film Threat Mar 18, 2020 8/10

It may all be a tad hammy... but the fear is palpable. Fear the sneeze.

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Fotogramas Staff Fotogramas Mar 16, 2020 3/5

It mixes spectacular action, high-flying intrigue and even terror in an apparent but banal pastiche that, to top it all, tries to transcend its premises. [Full Review in Spanish]

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Tony Sloman Radio Times Mar 16, 2020 4/5

You could read this as an Aids allegory, but it also works well as a regular against-the-clock jeopardy thriller with conspiracy cover-up overtones.

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Chris Osterndorf The Daily Dot Mar 16, 2020

Outbreak isn't a perfect movie, but it is the perfect movie to talk about the way pop culture portrays viruses...

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Ian Nathan Empire Magazine Mar 16, 2020 4/5

Petersen pulls off the thrills at a stomach lurching pace, and with its requisite Hollywood ham...

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Emma Stefansky Thrillist Mar 16, 2020

It's a weird kind of comfort food: as bad as it seems for us, at least it's not as bad as what's in the movies.

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Duane Byrge The Hollywood Reporter Mar 11, 2020

Petersen's vigilant, enlivening direction never allows the story's death-of-mankind topic to undermine its personal powers, deftly mixing in humor, as well as other tonal lighteners, to nurture it.

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Joe Lipsett Consequence Mar 8, 2020

The film is less effective, unfortunately, at trusting its audience to remain invested in Cedar Creek's drama, which results in two grating subplots that become the A-plot in the draggy third act.

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Kathi Maio The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Mar 7, 2020

Outbreak isn't a terrible film, but it doesn't trust that relative realism has enough power to hook and hold a movie audience.

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Dolores Barclay Associated Press Feb 20, 2020

Outbreak will keep you on the edge of your scat, and every time someone sneezes or coughs in the audience, you'll pay attention.

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