December 6th, 2009
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| Original Release Date: October 10th, 2008 |
| MPAA Rating: R |
| Genre(s): Horror |
| Director: John Erick Dowdle |
| Runtime: 89 minutes |
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 I have a problem. No, it's not that I work on this site too much (good guess, though), but I do have an unhealthy fetish for scary movies.
If you haven't noticed, the vast majority of the films I personally review happen to be "torture porn" like Saw, crazy slasher/musicals like Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, or my favorite of the bunch -- zombie flicks like Resident Evil or Diary of the Dead. If it's horror, for better or worse, I've most likely sat through it (twice) already. What can I say, I like corrupting myself. Keeps me on my toes.
However, the silver lining is that every now and then, I can spot something trying to do something remotely original since I'm so accustomed to corny cliché after corny cliché. 2008's Quarantine is one of those films that tries something new. Well, sort of.. Let me elaborate. Quarantine is actually is spit-and-polish job by Vertigo Entertainment in the sense that is a remake/localization of the 2007 Spanish horror film, REC. Yep, leave it to Hollywood to stick it's wang in the wet and inviting love hole of a foreign flick for a quick buck.
Atleast this was a good choice to muck with since the source material, from what I understand, was very solid and well-received by the critics. I've never seen the original, mostly because I failed Spanish 2 in high school and have no intentions on learning the language anytime soon (lol that's an entirely different soap box), so I can't compare the Americanized version to it, but from what I've researched it's pretty much a verbatim shot-by-shot do over.
Damn, are we that lazy now? LOL. Why didn't they just add sub-titles to REC and call it a day? Kung-Fu Hustle thought that'd be a brilliant idea. Oh well, nobody ever listens to me, lol... 
Quarantine, like any decent horror flick, starts off innocent enough in front of a Los Angeles area fire department. Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter -- Dexter, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) is an alluring local news anchor joined by her camera guy, Scott Percival (Steve Harris -- Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Minority Report). She is getting a piece put together on firefighters and films throughout the day and night hoping to get to accompany L.A.'s bravest on an emergency call. As luck would have it, Angela & Scott finally get their footage by riding the fire truck to an apartment building where the fire crew run into the local police department. Things aren't exactly routine here.
Turns out there's a crazed older lady that needs medical attention as she is foaming at the mouth, growling, and dripping blood. After refusing help, the woman bites a big chunk of flesh away from the closest police officer's neck before being shot down. When back up is called for, the residents of the apartment, firefighters, police officers, as well as Angela and her camerman find themselves mysteriously locked into the building. The entire complex is now surrounded by the SWAT and all exits and windows are sealed off as part of a contamination precausion. Communications, such as cell phones, cable television, and internet access, have also been blocked. As the folks inside try to figure out exactly what's going on, the infection -- later to be explained as some variant of rabies, is spreading in the close quarters at a fast rate.
While this plot may seem like a swagger jacking of 28 Days Later or Dawn of the Dead, what separates this in an overcrowded genre is it's low-key approach to cinematography and editing. Similar to 1999's The Blair Witch Project and 2008's Cloverfield, the film is shot entirely in a documentary style from Soctt's point of view as he follows his partner Angela around. This creates a very intimate and claustropobic atmosphere for the viewer. There is also no musical score to be found here, either -- which is very interesting. With no music and a constant P.O.V. angle, it heightens the realism and makes watching the more intense scenes a nail-biting, pulse-pounding ordeal. There were several times I couldn't bare to watch the screen because the main characters are not armed at all and are truly vunerable to the infection. I found myself yelling at the movie in my attempt to help them, which shows you how wrapped up in the action I was. Diary of the Dead had a similar style, but seemed a lot more "Hollywood" with the added music and everything.
Quarantine gets a lot of things right, but I can't help but complain about how dumb some of the characters act. The police officer in charge, Danny (Columbus Short -- Stomp the Yard, This Christmas), is a complete dumbass. He tries to reason with the people who have the virus, even after he's already seen them kill people. He even asks one of the infected to "take his hand".. Huh? That's like trying to ask a zombie to calm the hell down; it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The fact he's the only person carrying a fire arm makes him even more of a tool for not shooting these foaming fools down on sight. Additionally, Angela is pretty useless when the shit hits the fan. Compared to the other characters, she doesn't handle this situation very well and tends to become slightly annoying with all of her screaming, crying, and constant complaining ("Keep that light one me!!"). You'll be saying "BITCH, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" at times, trust me. And what's with the residents not killing people who have been bitten before they flip out? It's aggrivating how they sealed their own fates via stupidity when better decisions would have led to survival, despite the authorities leaving them to die inside the apartment.
I really liked this movie. I was on the edge of my seat once it started rolling. I could have lived with less set up at the beginning since it tended to start dragging, but once it gets going it's like a runaway train. It's not heavy on special effects and seems low budget, but the lack of polish works in it's favor. Counterbalancing that is the cast of familiar faces. It didn't take that much away from the overall experience per say, but a group of completely unknowns would have been easier to relate to from a realism stand point. Just sayin'...
This may be a spoiler, but I really wish the studio didn't put the ending of the movie on the fucking poster. Not only that, it's in the trailer and was featured in the commercials. Everyone on the marketing team should be fired for this because the poster for REC worked without lazily screen-capping a scene from the movie -- much less the surprise ending. As good as Quarantine is, I wouldn't suggest buying it unless you're a true fan of horror like I am. Movies like this tend to only work on the initial viewing, so it's a definite rental unless you can find it on DVD or Blu-ray dirt cheap. Either way, you won't regret watching this. A sequel for REC came out late 2009, so I'm sure a follow-up for the American version will be on it's way as it was profitable in it's theatrical run. Whenever it's released, I'll be watching it.
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