Quarantine – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Feb 23, 2009, 13:15 GMT

When a news crew decides to trail a brave fire-fighting team, they never suspect that the first call for help they respond to that night may be their last. Now they\'re trapped in an apartment complex sealed off by the government. With no way of escape, they find themselves surrounded by frightened residents who are infected with a deadly mutant virus. What happens next is only known because of the ...more

While Quarantine’s plot borders on silly and its use of camera reminds of Cloverfield, the film manages to get into your head and will make you think twice about watching it in the dark.

This is mostly thanks to the use of classic horror jumps (where something jumps out of the dark and runs straight for the camera), some nasty gore effects, and the fact the camera angle always puts the film right in front of your face.

The film is a remake of the 2007 Spanish horror film [Rec] (which I have not seen, but am now looking forward to watching), and was directed by John Erick Dowdle from a screenplay adaptation he wrote with Drew Dowdle.

Quarantine stars Jennifer Carpenter (Showtime’s Dexter), Steve Harris (upcoming 12 Rounds), Jay Hernandez (Hostel), Johnathon Schaech (2008’s Prom Night remake), and Columbus Short (Cadillac Records).

The film has a pretty straight-forward premise – we get a POV angle of news reporter Angela Vidal (Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott Percival (Harris) as they do an all night “ride along” with a group of firefighters. The night looks to be a boring one, but an ambulance call changes everything.

Figuring it might be the best call of the night, the news crew goes with them for what they expect to be just a routine health check. They arrive at an apartment building to find several of the tenants standing in the opening and worrying about noises coming from one of the upstairs apartments.

A police officer, two firefighters and the news crew head into the apartment to discover an elderly lady standing in the middle of the room drooling, growling and looking all kinds of nasty.

Following an attack by the mad woman, things go from bad to worse and the people are trapped inside the apartment building by the government for some unknown biological fallout. The fact that this all seems plausible makes the movie even more frightening. People quickly start turning on each other and then start spreading the infection – which could take on the best zombie flick.

Once the quarantine begins, the movie really kicks into high gear with lots of blood, gore, things jumping at the one camera angle (you have to love the dog in the elevator scene), and the quasi-mystery of why they are all locked inside starts to be revealed – which is where the film is a bit of a letdown.

The plot has some major holes in it, but the constant scares and things jumping at the camera keep it from getting boring or from the viewer even caring about the plot.

Carpenter, Harris, and Hernandez carrying the movie along with a steady tension once the scares happen. Carpenter once again showing her acting range, and really makes the scares work for the film. The constant one camera angle also helps build the tension because you never know what is lurking behind the corner.

Once the lights go out, Dowdle goes for broke and has a constant scare happening as elevator doors open and mad drooling people jump for you. He then slows everything down for the finish – which reminded me in ways of Neil Marshall’s The Descent.

Like Cloverfield, the use of the POV camera angle can get a bit annoying – most notably during the opening minutes where the camera crew has nothing to do but follow the firefighters around the station while Carpenter slides down the emergency poles.

However, the filming style pays off once the action starts (you have to love some of the tricks Dowdle and company do to maximize the angle’s potential). Unlike Cloverfield, the camera angle is not as shaky (possibly because Harris’ character is a professional in the story) and helps moves the story rather than just being a gimmick for the film.

The Blu-ray is a little light on special features with just a couple of “behind the scenes” looks at how they brought the story to the big screen and commentary.

Quarantine is a fun horror film that manages to make you jump a few times. The camera angle gives the film a fresh look (despite reminding of Cloverfield), and helps get the viewer involved with what is happening on screen.

Quarantine [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.