Patient Zero

Lore & Background

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. Both were infected, but he remained human with the ability to communicate 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 the Patient Zero and devise a cure. The infected are revealed to be an evolved species that consider themselves at the top of the food chain. The Professor, an infected who retains human abilities, tells Morgan that the infected are a more advanced species.

The infected lay a trap by sewing a transmitter inside one of their own, leading them to the base. The base is overrun, and Morgan learns he is actually Patient Zero. He escapes with Gina, who is pregnant, and they ride off into the night.

Reader's Guide

The film's production began with the script, initially titled Patient Z, featured on the 2013 Black List. The screenplay was the subject of a bidding war between several different studios including Fox Searchlight Pictures, Silver Pictures, Davis Entertainment, Broken Road Productions, Donners' Company, Vincent Newman Entertainment and Misher Films. Screen Gems eventually won the bidding war and Vincent Newman was set to produce through his company Vincent Newman Entertainment.

Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky was set to direct the film on 2 May 2014. When the screenplay was first sold, the creatures were zombies, though this aspect was eventually removed during subsequent rewrites. On 24 September 2014, it was announced that Natalie Dormer would join the cast, followed by Matt Smith joining that November. Other roles were announced in early 2015 with Stanley Tucci joining in January, John Bradley and Clive Standen joining in February, and Agyness Deyn joining in March.

Principal photography on the film began in London on 3 March 2015. From 9 March, filming took place at Shepperton Studios and would also take place in and around London through 18 April 2015. Some filming took place in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire on 15 March 2015, where a SWAT van and car were seen on set. In August 2015, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that Patient Zero would be released on 2 September 2016 in the United States.

On 28 April 2016, the film was delayed to 17 February 2017. In January 2017, the film was removed from the release schedule. The film was released through video on demand on 14 August 2018, before receiving a limited theatrical release on 14 September 2018, by Vertical Entertainment. The film was promoted at San Diego Comic-Con 2016, which was attended by Smith, Dormer, Standen, Bradley, Ruzowitsky, and Le.

On 11 July 2015, a rough cut of the film's trailer was screened during the Screen Gems panel. Standen explained that the film's tension centers on the infected thinking they are 'the new evolution of mankind' who want to wipe out the human race. Patient Zero holds an approval rating of 11% on Rotten Tomatoes based on nine reviews, with an average rating of 4/10. Geoff Berkshire, writing for the Los Angeles Times, described the film as 'a post-apocalyptic pandemic movie that’s more grade-Z than World War Z', and concluded: 'A near future where a divided humankind is so full of anger at people different from themselves that they literally turn into monsters?

It’s a frightful thought for frightful times. But it’s also the only thought this slipshod thriller contains in its not-so-pretty little package.' Jeffrey M. Anderson of Common Sense Media gave the film a score of 1 star out of 5, saying that it 'eventually wanders cluelessly off track, but, as it consists mainly of yelling, sudden loud noises, and camera-shaking, it gets aggravating long before that happens.' In an interview with Capital Radio in 2025, Smith described feeling that 'this is going to be rubbish' during production, and that he'd nicknamed the film 'Patient Career Low'.