Quarantine (2008)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

John Erick Dowdle

Writers (WGA):

John Erick Dowdle (screenplay) &
Drew Dowdle (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

On March 11 2008, the government sealed off an apartment complex in Los Angeles. The residents were never seen again. No details. No witnesses. No evidence. Until now.

Plot:

A television reporter and her cameraman are trapped inside a building quarantined by the CDC after the outbreak of a mysterious virus which turns humans into bloodthirsty killers.

Plot Keywords:

Television | Apartment | Cameraman | Reporter | Television Reporter

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jennifer Carpenter	...	Angela Vidal
Steve Harris	...	Scott Percival
Jay Hernandez	...	Jake
Johnathon Schaech	...	George Fletcher
Columbus Short	...	Danny Wilensky
Andrew Fiscella	...	James McCreedy
Rade Serbedzija	...	Yuri Ivanov (as Rade Sherbedgia)
Greg Germann	...	Lawrence
Bernard White	...	Bernard
Dania Ramirez	...	Sadie
Elaine Kagan	...	Wanda Marimon
Marin Hinkle	...	Kathy
Joey King	...	Briana
Jermaine Jackson	...	Nadif
Sharon Ferguson	...	Jwahir

Also Known As:

Quarantined (USA) (working title)
Rec (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for bloody violent and disturbing content, terror and language.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44262) | UK:18 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:18A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | New Zealand:R18 | Ireland:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-18 | Malaysia:18SG | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Peru:14 | Argentina:16 | Germany:16 | Brazil:16 | Portugal:M/18 | Chile:14 | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:16 | Spain:18 | Norway:15

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Andale Pictures

Trivia:

In October 2008 Knott's Berry Farm theme park in Buena Park, California, had a Quarantine-themed walk-through "maze" for the park's 36th annual Knott's Scary Farm Halloween Haunt. It was their third movie-themed Halloween Haunt maze, after Beowulf (2007) and The Grudge 2 (2006).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the bio-suited CDC doctors enter the building, you hear the sounds of a self-contained breathing apparatus. However, the doctors are wearing standard gas masks with NBC filters, which are almost silent and don't use an external air supply.

Quotes:

Yuri Ivanov: They won't let us out.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Queerantine! (2009)

Soundtrack:

24 Hours of the Day TV Title

A competent remake

REC is the best horror movie I have seen in 2008 (although its release date in Spain was in 2007).Many movies have used the trick of using an improvised and very realistic cinematography (like Diary of the Dead,directed by George A. Romero),but very few movies have used that trick on an intense and credible way.And,besides of that,REC had had natural performances and creepy situations.The final result was an excellent horror film with a lot of suspense,blood and tension.That great achievement was noticed by Hollywood and following their tradition,they decided to remake REC.I had very little expectations for this movie but it was much better than I expected and it is clearly beyond the average of Hollywood remakes.In other words : Quarantine is obviously very far away from the original film but,on its own merit,it is a competent movie.First,I'll mention the negative elements from this movie.There are various forced things on the screenplay and some scenes do not result as tense as they should be.Another disadvantage are the performances.I usually like the work of Jennifer Carpenter very much (specially,on the brilliant TV series Dexter) but she is too over the top on this movie and she was not natural at all.She felt like an actress trying to seem scared.Manuela Velasco,in the original film,had been completely natural and credible.The same that happens with Carpenter happens with the rest of the cast.And,although I liked this movie,it feels unnecessary...why fixing something which is not broken?.But this movie has many positive elements.As I said,Quarantine is a good movie on its own merit.Plus,very few people saw REC,so,for them,it will be an original experience.The story from this movie is well written (with the exception of some forced things) and the frenetic tone makes of it an entertaining movie.And the last take,although it was better done on the original film,results very tense and truly creepy.Quarantine is one of the best remakes from Hollywood of horror films,but that is not saying too much,because these remakes are usually crappy.REC is a much better film than Quarantine but I still can recommend it because,on its own merit,it kept me entertained and tense.