Quarantine 2: Terminal

In case you didn't know, 'Quarantine 2: The Terminal' is the sequel to a movie (Quarantine, oddly enough) which was, in itself, a remake of (an excellent) Spanish horror film, 'REC.' Both REC and the first Quarantine movie were primarily known for being shot entirely through the use of hand-held/first-person video footage. However, in the sequel, they do away with the 'point of view' aspect for the most part and what you're left with is a pretty standard zombie movie.

And the zombies are the 'infected' type (if you haven't seen 28 Days/Weeks Later that means they run and are generally a lot faster) as opposed to the classic 'shuffler' zombies. So, a flight is grounded in a terminal and the plane's passengers have to survive inside a terminal while zombies pick them off one by one.

As a standard zombie movie it does the job. It has a few moments where the (fast) zombies jump out and grab someone. However, it's never more than average. You'll find it hard to recognise any actor and the characters are also the standard clichéd types you'd expect from a straight-to-DVD release.

If you're not completely tired with zombie movies, you might like this one, otherwise, stick with an early George Romero movie or the Walking Dead.

I didn't expect anything from this one - and was pleasantly surprised. The low rating doesn't do the film justice at all: this is a very tight and well made (dead serious) zombie flick. Especially the part in the plane is really gripping. Don't expect 'REC 2' (with which it has absolutely nothing in common) and you'll be able to enjoy this quite a lot. 6.5 stars out of 10.

In case you're interested in more underrated low-budget gems and fun B-flicks, here are some of my favorites: imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

Jumping on the coat tails of Quarantine,which pre jumped on the coat tails of the fantastic original REC,Quarantine 2 is a subject example in American Studio movie dismemberment. Before we start this is NOT REC,it's not EVEN Quarantine,it's a blatant money making attempt by those who have seen the promise and fruits of the original and then hash n slashed together a relatively forgetful zombie b-movie with the hope of ticket sales gained on the notoriety of the previous incarnations. It really is that transparent.

Following with the time line of the original this is set on board a plane and then on into a terminal,hence The Terminal,brilliant eh? Well that's as good as it gets! Forgetful script,bad acting,zombies doing their usual stuff. Nothing new in all departments. Pretty much a waste of time with some of the worst dialogue i have heard in a film (even a horror film) for quite some time. Shoddy,sloppy bandwagon hopping of the worst kind.

I left as soon as the titles appeared not a minute too soon to sighs and moans from all present.

I love horror movies but sorry....avoid like the plague.

A plane is taken over by a mysterious virus. When the plane lands it is placed under quarantine. Now a group of survivors must band together to survive the quarantine.

A sequel to a remake... that is the first thing that will come to your mind. First they remade "Rec" and now they have made a sequel to that remake. (Oddly enough, "Rec 2" has a preview on this DVD.) But do not be fooled... this film diverges from the remake and has nothing to do with "Rec", so trying to compare them is more than just a tad unfair.

Many people consider this film to be better than the first one (including Fangoria's Michael Gingold), which initially came as a shock to me. But those people may just be more vocal. The silent majority (those who vote on IMDb) currently (August 2, 2011) have the first film at 6.1 and the sequel at 5.5 -- neither are numbers to brag about, but one hopes to get at least a 6, right? I will remain silent on this debate, though I will say this film was better than expected.

In fact, let me lay it on the line: this might be the most pleasant surprise of the year. While I feel as a horror fan I was obligated to at least check it out (and not necessarily like it), I found the film kept my attention very well, even in the wee hours of the night. I would recommend this to just about anyone -- even if they never saw the first film! (The connection is mild and easily explained, so you need not be intimately familiar with the first.)

The DVD is not much to speak of -- there are no special features whatsoever, aside from some previews (which are more annoying than anything, considering that if you watch the movie five years from now, they will not be new anymore). But the film itself has enough action, gore and more to sell itself, at least for a rental.

The plot is thin, pretty much "Night of the Living Dead" or "The Crazies" but in a different location. But then, most films (especially horror) are derivative, so I will not harp on them too much for this. They make up for it with some decent gore, blood and vomit (one head-bashing scene is pretty great). I am sad the director chose to tastefully censor a suicide, but oh well.

The scene that will stick in your mind? A needle sequence that might make many viewers squeamish! I will say it is the best needle scene I can recall since Dario Argento's "Opera". If you watch this film for no other reason, let this be why. I give it my seal of approval.

I've seen both Rec and Quarantine, and enjoyed both of them immensely. Quarantine 2 was not a movie I had my heart on seeing, basically because I didn't think it could live up to the standard of its predecessor (or the Spanish original.) On that count, I was right. This isn't as good as the first movie. Having said that, one of my tests for any horror movie is whether it has the ability to scare you and make you jump. This one does that, so I have to call it a good movie. It has a lot of chills and jump out of your seat moments, my wife actually screamed at least twice that I recall. It works, in other words. That fright quality isn't as sustained as it is in the first movie, though. In fact, this is pretty slow off the top. A few people board an airplane and they're not feeling too well. If you've seen the first movie, then you know what's happening (or, more to the point, what's going to happen) so you're basically just waiting for it.

One thing that I noted was that the events of this movie were taking place at the same time as the events of Quarantine. In fact, one of the airplane passengers is using the airplane's wifi to watch a news broadcast about the quarantined building in Los Angeles. While the disease and its effects are pretty much the same, there's more of an effort made here to get to the background and origins of the disease, which is really dealt with only in a few hints toward the end of Quarantine.

Quarantine (and Rec) are filmed in a "Blair Witch" style - hand held cameras recording the action as it takes place. Quarantine 2 takes a more standard approach to movie-making. I think the hand held camera idea has been done to death, quite frankly, so I didn't miss it. It's clear that the ending of this movie was also intended to set up another potential sequel. That was just a little too obvious. Basically, I'd say this isn't as good as the movies that spawned it, but as a horror movie it's still very effective. (7/10)