Quarantine
Cast: Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez, Columbus Short, Greg Germann
Dir: John Eric Dowdle
Rating: 3/5
Television reporter Angela (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman, Scott (Steve Harris), are covering the goings-on at a firehouse for a program about night shift workers.
As she clowns around with two flirty firemen (Jonathan Schaech and Jay Hernandez), an alarm sounds, and a truck is dispatched, with Angela and Scott on board, to an apartment building where an old woman has seemingly lost her mind.
The woman bites one of the firemen and is soon killed, but when more tenants turn up with the same disorder, it's clear that a chain reaction is occurring.
Unfortunately for Angela and the rest of the uninfected residents, the authorities have quarantined the building, but she and Scott continue to document the tragic and terrifying events inside the building as those inside are one by one transformed into bloodthirsty monsters.
Quarantine is another one of those infected movies that's filmed through a video camera, Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield style. It's also an adaptation of Spanish movie REC which was only released in 2007.
It's very much Blair Witch meets 28 Day Later and while there is nothing particularly wrong with the movie it just lacks that originality, which can be said of a lot of these movies of late.
Despite jumping on the telling the story from the perspective of the camera man it really does work for this film as it heightens the claustrophobic feel and notches up the tension.
Jennifer Carpenter does well to lead the film starting out as a strong willed reporter insistent that all the events are captured on camera until she gives into her fear and becomes a screaming and blubbering wreck, which does become a bit tiresome.
While Dowdle does well to create tension it really does lack the nerve shredding terror that's present in the original. However having said that for once this Hollywood remake does stand up well to REC but the subtle changes of higher and more violent body count and altered ending won't be welcomed by fans of the original.
In all Quarantine is a very respectable remake and seeing that most won't have seen the Spanish original it's ninety minutes that will have many jumping out of their seat, well worth a watch for fans of this genre.
Quarantine is out now on DVD
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw