Rama's SCREEN

QUARANTINE Review

October 11th, 2008 | Category: *HORROR, On DVD, Rockin' Review

I’ve seen the original Spanish movie that this remake is based on but I’ll start first by reviewing it without taking that into consideration and then I’ll get into the comparison part. QUARANTINE will terrify you… mainly because it does a terrific job in making you think and feel like as if this could really happen in your neighborhood. If you’re a fan of horror genre, you will not be disappointed, in fact, I think this should deinitely be in your collection of all time favorites.

Television reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman (Steve Harris) are assigned to spend the night shift with a Los Angeles Fire Station. After a routine 911 call takes them to a small apartment building, they find police officers already on the scene in response to blood curdling screams coming from one of the apartment units. They soon learn that a woman living in the building has been infected by something unknown. After a few of the residents are viciously attacked, they try to escape with the news crew in tow, only to find that the CDC has quarantined the building. Phones, internet, televisions and cell phone access have been cut-off, and officials are not relaying information to those locked inside. When the quarantine is finally lifted, the only evidence of what took place is the news crew’s videotape.

Quarantine

When I first saw the previews for this movie months ago, I thought, “o, here we go again with the shaky camera bull sh*t”, I was never a fan of that method of camera work, I got dizzy watching Cloverfield, but that movie was overall crap.
Anyways, QUARANTINE doesn’t do much in trying to give you that documentary film impression. Most of the time, the camera is pretty steady and focused even when used as a weapon.

I like how the story escalates from low fear rises to concerns and then full panic, the kind that you’d wish you had never been there in the first place. I guess you might be able to categorize this as a zombie movie eventhough the story reveals what actually causes the strange situation. The movie’s got enough gore, guts, and blood everywhere to make even the toughest guy to cringe.

I am really impressed with Jennifer Carpenter’s performance as the reporter. Man, if you’ve never seen fear portrayed on the big screen before, you’ll only need to see Carpenter in this movie and that would suffice.. because her scream, her fast breathing, and the cold expression in her face are some of the best an actress can pull when dealing with a horrifying problem at hand. I’ve always thought she was just okay in the series Dexter, and now,.. she might just have what it takes to go the distance.

Okay, in comparison to the original Spanish version REC, in my humble opinion, QUARANTINE is one of the best remakes ever made because every inch and bits and pieces of the characters and the story are all similar down pat. What makes QUARANTINE slightly better is, of course, the production quality. For those of us who’ve been disappointed by so many lame American remakes of Asian horror flicks (The Grudge, Shutter, The Eye).. after watching this movie, you’re gonna want to give remake movies another chance.

* Place the cursor on the image to check my grade for this film before