A charming new music video from Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty and editor Evan Gorski shows viewers how to respond to a pandemic based on some of the greatest science fiction and horror movies ever made. The Coronavirus pandemic has brought the world to its knees. The only way to fight back against this deadly scourge is to stay at home and keep the virus from spreading and overwhelming hospitals that have already been pushed to their limits.

Virtually every Hollywood production has been shut down for the time being, from big-budget movies like Shang Chi to television programs like The Flash and Batwoman, which are subsequently ending their seasons early as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, just because nobody can leave their home to go to work, doesn't mean artists have to stop being creative.

To that end, Godzilla: King of the Monsters writer/director Michael Dougherty and acclaimed editor Evan Gorski assembled a three-and-a-half-minute music video called "Everything I Need To Know To Survive Covid-19 I Learned By Watching SciFi & Horror Movies." Set to an instrumental version of Gloria Gaynor's iconic feminist disco anthem, "I Will Survive," the YouTube video features clips from dozens of science fiction and horror movies, with dialogue and moments carefully chosen to reflect on the current unprecedented state of events.


From The Thing and Jaws to Alien and The Terminator, tons of movies are represented in the short film. Clever editing combines events from The Shining with Jaws, showing Shelley Duvall's character from the former watching a clip from the latter on her television, with further editing showing the clip from Jaws as being part of a FOX News segment on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. As a result, the infamously feckless mayor from Jaws and his inadequate reaction to the film's killer shark is directly compared to the current federal government's response to Covid-19, which has been widely criticized by experts in virology and pandemic response.

Regardless of one's political affiliation, Coronavirus is a serious threat and needs to be taken seriously. While entertaining and artistically impressive, Dougherty and Gorski's video makes a great effort to stress how important it is for people to be careful and stay home unless it is absolutely necessary to leave. The video ends with the message from Alien, "Crew Expendable." In the unfeeling eyes of the Coronavirus, everybody is expendable, so the only way to survive is to be safe and practice social distancing and other safety guidelines.