Quarantine

Despite being an almost scene-to-scene rehash of the Spanish horror masterpiece, REC, Quarantine is one of the worst remakes in existence. Made specifically for the viewers who can't read but are too smug to admit it and use the stupid excuse of distraction caused by subtitles as their defence, Quarantine is one of those crappy films you deserve to watch if you can't be bothered to read a few subtitles.

Set in Los Angeles, the story of Quarantine follows a television reporter & her cameraman as they are assigned to follow a firefighting crew on their night shift duty. Things are set in motion when they respond to a call coming from a small apartment building but soon find themselves locked inside it along with its residents when the place is quarantined by CDC without an explanation and end up filming much more than they bargained for.

Written & directed by John Erick Dowdle (known for The Poughkeepsie Tapes), Quarantine fails at everything that the original managed to get right with immaculate precision for this film has no understanding whatsoever of what actually made REC work so well in the first place. The direction is terrible as Dowdle is unable to recreate the bone-chilling atmosphere and the screenplay is poorly written as well for the dialogues end up feeling quite forced.

Another problem with Quarantine is its unconvincing cast. They all seem so well rehearsed with their lines and equally aware of the camera hovering over them that they end up trying a little too hard, because of which the whole realistic approach this film was aiming for falls apart. Carpenter's performance is better than the rest but still not good enough to keep the film together. Camera-work fails to recreate the frenzy, chaotic style of the original, Editing is a mixed bag for the pacing is fine but its runtime is unnecessarily extended.

On an overall scale, Quarantine is a half-assed attempt to remake one of the scariest films of all time and despite being filmed with six times the budget fails to improve upon or even match any of the aspects of the original. If Americanising a film usually means lowering the IQ of the original characters and allowing them to act stupidly, as evident in so many other examples, then world cinema would definitely be a much better place if no foreign language is ever allowed a Hollywood adaptation. All in all, Quarantine is a cinematic turd that itself should be quarantined from the filmgoing audience. Skip it & savour the vastly superior REC instead.

The reason a lot of people don't like this just doesn't make sense. Many people complain about the main actresses performance but I thought she did amazing. Many other people complain that its to slow because nothing happens in the beginning, hate to break it to you but thats called developing the characters, something that a lot of horror movies lack. This movie is really good, really scary, and one of the few horror movies that is actually re-watchable. Its such a crime that this has only a 5.9.

I had high hopes for this movie when I saw the trailer and felt that the movie delivered what it intended to.

The movie itself takes place from the point of view from a cameraman named Scott. The cameraman is shooting a take on what firemen go through on an ordinary day when their ordinary day turns into extraordinary. They get a call to an apartment complex and get locked inside with what appear to be zombie like creatures.

It is a movie that I would place in between the 28 days/weeks movies and Cloverfield. It has suspense (will be great on DVD w/surround sound in the future) but some of the characters lack common sense. The fact that the movie is shot from one camera had some people disappointed since it didn't involve too much of a story as to what is being "quarantined", but that is to be expected.

I would say that the movie could have been a heck of a lot better with a solid story and a bigger climax/plot. It is worth your time to watch, but if you don't like shaky cameras like Cloverfield and Blairwitch Project, then I wouldn't watch it.

Even at a glance, it is clear that Quarantine has boarded the 'fad' bandwagon it two respects. Firstly, this chiller joins up with the abundance of remakes that choke the gullet of Hollywood, and at an impressively rapid pace I may add, duplicating its Spanish predecessor (Rec) within a year's time. Secondly, it is the successor in a line of films, some from earlier this year in fact, that adopt the hand-held camera technique (which may soon be classified more accurately as a gimmick) to construct a first hand, real time account of events. Yet, despite succumbing to these popular fixations, and the flag of death that is the studios reluctance to screen the film, Quarantine is crisp effective horror.

When comparing (Rec) and Quarantine, the similarities are glaring. In fact, the films are almost identical, save a few altered snippets. Which is good in the sense that nothing was lost in translation and although nowhere near as disgraceful as remaking classics or art films, it still begs to ask the question why? Alas, the average viewer does not wish to read subtitles, especially when watching horror, so the update went through. Directed by newcomer John Erick Dowdle he makes the most of his debut. Procuring a larger budget then its inspiration, Quarantine looks better as a whole (despite more frequent incomprehensible shots involving darkness and jiggle cam) and is able to incorporate some effects into the production, such as a continuous and chilling shot of a person being tossed down a stairwell. Comparisons to 2008's earlier films Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead are unavoidable, and remains squarely in the middle; a far-cry from the ingenuity and atmosphere of Cloverfield, but avoids the horrendous acting and scripting of Diary.

Mirroring (Rec) Quarantine begins with a reporter, Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) who hosts a late night television program. On this particular night, Angela and her cameraman Scott (Steve Harris) are doing a ride-along with the firemen of a local station in L.A., including Jake (Jay Hernandez) and Fletcher (Jonathan Schaech). After a tenuous night of boredom and anxiety, they are finally called to the scene of an apparent accident in an aging condo, involving an elderly tenant. Things are not as they seem however as soon after, the CDC seals off the building with the foursome, and the reaming residents still inside. Their reasoning is good it seems, as all hell breaks loose as a mysterious rabies virus rips through the building turning those exposed into zombie-like fiends. The survivors must work together to battle the infected, the authorities and each other.

Both films incorporate the inherent problem of the disease itself, which seems to frequently shift in its required incubation period, but is not really a huge impediment for the film as a whole. The opening act which is situated entirely at the station is both surprisingly involving and witty, and works to some extent as character development. The finale is also pulse-pounding, if not entirely inspired, but lacks the sheer terror I felt at the finale of (Rec). When breaking it down, Quarantine's opening is better then the original, and (Rec)'s final act is better then its imitator, so things balance out. Each film boast a superb scene mid to late film, including the aforementioned stairwell plummet in Quarantine and a scene in (Rec]) involving the same stairwell in which the heroes peer down to see the lower floors of infected peering back; eerie stuff. I would encourage horror fans to see both before making their choice, and to be honest I haven't quite chosen myself which is superior. Regardless, Quarantine takes advantage of a ploy that has not yet become stale, and yielding authentic portrayals from its relatively unknown cast and an ominous atmosphere, this flick is infectious to be sure.

See all my reviews at: http://simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com

I went into this movie with fairly vague expectations - however I am a fan of scary movies, and not to mention a big fan of Jennifer Carpenter, could be good times. so lets go.

woah.

This movie was horribly fantastic! It was a ride, a very scary, very stressful ride, but an awesome one. True, this flick does not stray far from the typical zombie flick concepts, but I thought the execution was above par. The 1st person views, the sense of confinement/hopelessness, and the great acting (especially ms carpenter, extremely believable job of someone going hysterically frantic) One of the key things about this horror is the scares never let up, there is rarely a "breather scene" where you get to relax for any amount of time, it just keeps hitting you and hitting you.

haha, phew. I truly enjoyed. check it out. cheers