Quarantine Movie Review

Most of you are aware that this film is the American remake of the Spanish film [REC] whether you have seen it or not. 

If you have seen the original, then you no doubt will be as anxious to see this version as I was.  I figured that if John Erick Dowdle could manage to pull off a film even a little bit as scary as the former, I would be turning cartwheels upon leaving the theater.  Well I didn't break into spontaneous somersaults but that is likely more due to the fact that I am now in my thirties rather than the fact that he failed.  Indeed he did not. 

I do prefer the original but only by a small margin.  There a few subtle differences and also some really big ones.  The big ones come in the form of about 15 minutes of added footage for this theatrical release.  If you are familiar with [REC] these will be nice surprises surely meant to keep you on your toes.

If you are not familiar, I will give you a short synopsis.  Angela (Carpenter) is a television personality who has come to stay the night at a local LA fire station with Scott, her cameraman, in tow.  The idea is that they will be showing us what it's like at night for firefighters and hopefully get to ride along if a call comes through.  It does and they do.  And once they get there I'm sure they both wish they had spent their time covering a child's birthday party.

The set up is slow-building but once it gets going, it's full throttle till the end.  If these type of first person perspective films make you sick, you might be better off avoiding this one.  But if you are a fan of the cinema verite style (which I am) then you should find it gory, tense and enjoyable. 

Jennifer Carpenter does an excellent job being scared out of her wits.  I could feel her emotions as if she were standing right in front of me.  Jay Hernandez of Hostel fame puts in a solid portrayal of a hero firefighter and we even catch a glimpse of Jonathan Schaech.  I just feel like I don't see him much anymore.

Over all I do still prefer the Spanish version of this film, but Quarantine was a very fun ride.  This was the first time I had been so excited to see a film in the theater in a very long time.  I was practically giddy while waiting for the show to get started and I was pleased with the effect.  I think the audience felt it as well.  Of course I have no way of knowing who had seen [REC] before going in, but the woman behind me who heaved an audible sigh of relief as the credits rolled let me know that it surely did something right. 
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