Quarantine

Plot synopsis:
Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott Percival (Steve Harris), a late night television host and crew duo, set out to film a report on the night shift of a Los Angeles fire station. Angela and Scott are introduced to firefighters Fletcher (Johnathon Schaech) and Jake (Jay Hernandez).A medical emergency at an apartment complex is reported and the night shift is sent in. Yuri (Rade Serbedzija) the building manager leads everyone and two police officers, James (Andrew Fiscella) and Danny (Columbus Short), to the apartment of Mrs. Espinoza (Jeannie Epper), the source of prior screaming. Yuri knocks, waits, then unlocks the door and a dog runs out. Inside, Espinoza is hysterical. While trying to subdue the crazed elder, James gets bitten by Espinoza. The police and firemen save him and leave her in the apartment, with Fletcher to keep watch over her. Lawrence (Greg Germann), a veterinarian, tends to the injured policeman when Fletcher falls off a railing and hits the floor of the lobby several stories below. His neck is broken and his bones are shattered, and there are signs of him being bitten as well, though a pulse is still detectable. Danny and Jake go upstairs, and Danny is forced to shoot Espinoza after she growls and charges at them, even more hysterical than the prior times she is shown on camera. Upon return downstairs, Danny, Jake, Angela, and Scott learn that all exterior windows and doors are sealed from the outside due to a containment process by police officers outside the building; all cell phones and cable connections to televisions are jammed, as well. Everyone except two people, and a sick woman named Elise (Stacy Chbosky) are brought downstairs by the fire department. During a short lull in the action, Angela interviews Briana (Joey King), the five-year-old daughter of two tenants who is sick with bronchitis. Briana reveals that her father took her sick dog, Max, to the animal hospital, which is why he is not around. Lawrence incredulously concludes that the symptoms of those infected are similar to rabies, only much more fast-acting.Bernard (Bernard White) and Sadie (Dania Ramirez) introduce themselves as a music teacher and his student. In the middle of their interview with Angela, Fletcher, foaming at the mouth, stands up on his broken legs and attempts to attack everyone, but Lawrence sedates him. Bernard, Sadie, Angela, and Scott sneak upstairs to Bernard and Sadie's apartment, where they have a television hooked up to an antenna; without the use of cable television, they will be able to watch the news reports and learn more about what's going on. Upstairs, they witness Espinoza's dog attack a man who refused to come downstairs when he appears in the elevator. Shaken, they continue to Bernard and Sadie's apartment, and watch as a news report on television states that everyone was evacuated from the apartment complex before the police began to quarantine the building, an obvious lie. The power goes off moments later, and a noise is heard from another part of the apartment. Elise, rabid and hysterical, attacks Angela, though doesn't succeed in biting her. Scott repeatedly beats Elise's face in with the camera and later cleans the blood off the camera. After a few seconds of letting the moment sink in, the four of them return downstairs leaving Elise in the apartment unconscious.Danny rounds everyone up and informs them that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agents are coming in to give blood tests. Lawrence corrects him by saying the only way to test for rabies is through a brain sample, but Danny insists on what he was told, refusing to accept that it is rabies. While performing a role call of all the tenants to make sure everyone who is still alive is in the room, Yuri reveals that the attic is being rented by a man from Boston who has been absent for roughly three months.CDC agents arrive and take a brain sample from Fletcher, who, shortly after, breaks his restraints and attacks one of the agents. Danny, Jake, and the other agent escape, and lock Lawrence in the room with Fletcher the injured man; Lawrence gets bitten. The surviving CDC agent reluctantly explains the situation: a dog in a local animal hospital was found to be infected with an unknown rabies-like illness and attacked all the other animals in the facility. When they checked the collar, the owner was tracked to live here; the dog is Max, Briana's dog. The tenants all become frightened of Briana and insist that her mother Kathy (Marin Hinkle) allow the CDC agent to run tests on the girl to make sure she didn't catch the illness from Max prior to his being admitted into the hospital. Kathy stubbornly tells them repeatedly that nothing is wrong with her daughter other than a touch of bronchitis, until Briana rapidly shows signs of being rabid and bites Kathy in the neck. She runs upstairs, and Kathy is handcuffed to the stairwell after she tries to prevent them from finding Briana. Danny, Jake, Angela, and Scott bring a needle with sedative and look for Briana in the dark floors above. They find her hiding, and while attempting to inject her with the sedative, Danny gets bitten. Angela, Scott, and Jake run downstairs, terrified.A few men downstairs fight to contain the infected, but the hungry monsters get them and attack Kathy. Scott, Angela, Jake, Yuri, Wanda (Elaine Kagan), Bernard, and Sadie run into an apartment and lock the infected people out. The CDC agent sitting in an adjacent room reveals that he has been bitten, and it's shown that Sadie was bitten in the hysteria, as well. Bernard, refusing to allow any of the others to harm her in order to protect themselves, tears the plastic from the window in an attempt to obtain help. In response, he is shot by a sniper who misses the others. Yuri remembers that, in his apartment, there are keys to get to the sewers from the basement, but is then attacked by the CDC agent in the other room. Wanda is attacked by Sadie, forcing Jake, Scott, and Angela to run to Yuri's apartment in a frantic search for the keys. After they find the keys, Jake and Scott fight off several infected tenants until Yuri bites Jake. Danny barrels up the stairs roaring and chases Angela and Scott into the attic, belonging to the aforementioned absent Bostonian.They discover evidence - including newspaper articles, a recorded tape, and more - that explains the man from Boston was part of a doomsday cult, which broke into a military biological facility to steal the Armageddon Virus that started everything in the apartment. Scott investigates a noise in the attic and ducks from being attacked by an infected boy, who destroys the light on Scott's camera. Angela and Scott use the night vision setting on the camera to discover an emaciated man (Doug Jones), most likely the man from Boston, as he emerges from another room. He walks past them, just barely getting by without encountering either survivor, but attacks Scott when Angela inadvertently makes a noise. The infected man starts eating Scott, but then hears and attacks Angela, knocking her and the camera to the floor. Angela tries to crawl back to the camera, but is dragged screaming into the darkness.

Tags: violence, claustrophobic

Review:
I found it to be just too much and actually pulled me out of the horror and towards comedy instead.'Rec' felt a bit more organic and gritty than 'Quarantine.' The performances are decent in both but you feel less of a connection to the characters in 'Quarantine.' Many are clearly there to serve as fodder with no attempt to seriously develop them.
So - if you want to see what a GOOD low budget horror film is like, leave this one on the shelf and rent the original - you won't regret it..
Comparisons to 2008's earlier films Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead are unavoidable, and remains squarely in the middle; a far-cry from the ingenuity and atmosphere of Cloverfield, but avoids the horrendous acting and scripting of Diary.Mirroring (Rec) Quarantine begins with a reporter, Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) who hosts a late night television program.
But the strange thing you may notice if you educate yourself is that the ORIGINAL had a plot, where as this one, sadly, comes out with little to NO plot.Now if you like the common films that have no regard to your intelligence or sense of accomplishment that one can get from watching a good film.
The 1st person views, the sense of confinement/hopelessness, and the great acting (especially ms carpenter, extremely believable job of someone going hysterically frantic) One of the key things about this horror is the scares never let up, there is rarely a "breather scene" where you get to relax for any amount of time, it just keeps hitting you and hitting you.haha, phew.
May be my vote is so high, because I haven't seen the original, however it makes my judgment more objective, because I didn't have to compare anything except other horror movies, which use cheap camera from first person, which seems like is a new trend of all horror movies.
The fact that the movie is shot from one camera had some people disappointed since it didn't involve too much of a story as to what is being "quarantined", but that is to be expected.I would say that the movie could have been a heck of a lot better with a solid story and a bigger climax/plot.
Kind of wish she would have shut up near the end.Pretty good jumps, some decent little gore parts- so overall, not a bad movie.
Even with Jennifer Carpenter as the lead actress whom I believe is a great talent, especially for the horror/suspense genre, it is my opinion that this movie just wasn't written sufficiently to show her talent here.
Acceptable remake full of eerie scenes with zombies and creepy scenes .This following packs a sinister and horrifying atmosphere by means of shaky camera and videotape as well as the former Spanish films titled REC 1, and 2 .
The group attempts the getaway but they only encounter that have been sealed off and try to avoid the bloody attacks .This sequel to one of the highest earning horror movies of the last years titled ¨Rec¨ is realized in similar premise to original and contains a good cast as Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez , Johnathon Schaech ,Steve Harris and Rade Serbedzija.
Awful and boring!I could watch REC (The original movie) million times.
In the end, it is her performance that stays with you even after the credits begin to roll.Typically, I grow pretty tired of the "first person" shot films, but in Quarantine, Harris' Scott utilizes his news camera believably, not only as that of a news cameraman but also as the tool to escape.
Like he is going to still be filming..." There is enough unseen footage and plot questions left at the end to cash in on some serious DVD extras which this film will no doubt contain when it is released on disk.If you have seen the Spanish "REC" as I have and think that Quarantine will be just another American remake like so many of the J-Horror flicks like I did, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how many times you'll jump and fidget watching Quarantine nonetheless.
Jay Hernandez was also very good in the film but sorry,Rec was better,except for the fact that it had subtitles,which I don't like sometimes,so,this was great!!
But I found myself still entertained.The plot is just as simple as the original: A TV crew gets stuck with some firemen in a large apartment house that is the heart of a zombie outbreak.QUARANTINE does depart in some interesting ways from REC.
That said, like any good found footage movie QUARANTINE has a few ingenious things that happen with the "first person" perspective, which you'll appreciate if you're a fan of the "genre".
Not exactly, especially as not only happens to be a remake of the Spanish-horror film 'Rec', but borrows elements from George Romero's zombie flicks and applys them to a found-footage installment that owes similarities to 'Cloverfield'.
This is film may feel like a rehash of popular cinematic elements from both the found-footage and horror genre, but director John Erick Dwindle's competently crafts this movie into a terrifying ride..
Supposedly "dead" people became alive again, giving the Spanish film more of a zombie horror feel instead of a movie about a biological hazard.
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..
A lot of people were saying that the camera work made them throw up or get headaches but I could see things clearly and I really felt like I was in there with them which added to all the suspense and horror.
The isolation Angela feels is really horrible and Jennifer Carpenter does an amazing and moving performance.This year has been a really bad year for horrors but with Quarantine 2008 has finally had a successful and really scary movie and hopefully 2009 will provide more movies like this.The movie is well worth the 10 euro I paid.
I wasn't expecting much from this movie I thought this would be a normal horror movie but I was wrong cause this movie just freaked me out.Before watching it I didn't even know about the original (REC)and after watching it I also watched REC but honestly I liked Quarantine much.For me,this is the most scary,nail biter and terrifying movie that's why it is my favorite horror movie(believe it or not).This movie really gives you an intense and high tension and I was in very much high tension and also scared during the movie.There's one more reason of liking this movie is that my favorite actress (Jennifer Carpenter) in it in a leading role but honestly her performance is really great.Her screams were great this also helped to make movie more intense.I was never been scared like this but when I watched this movie,I did.My heart was pounding loudly at the climax.All the settings were great to make the atmosphere according to the movie.So all I can say is that it was a really scary and intense ride and it will scare the hell out of you just like I did so if you ever get a chance to see this one then DON'T MISS THIS MOVIE..
When they return to the lobby, they find that they are sealed in the building and trapped with the residents claiming for an explanation and dreadful screams upstairs in the beginning of a chaotic and nightmarish night.The claustrophobic and scary "Rec" is certainly one of the best zombie movies I have ever seen, with the story disclosed through the lens of a camcorder.
What we've got here is a horror remake that delivers the scares, but unfortunately also delivers a lot of laughs and nothing new in the originality department, rather borrowing from other horror and thriller films, particularly 28 Days Later, Cloverfield, and Saw III.Let's start with the obvious Cloverfield comparisons, foremost of which is the shaking camera.
Only a few times did the use of the camera become a bright spot of the film (and boy, those were great, especially one of the most hilarious and awesome scenes in any horror movie).I really found the 'acting' in this film to be laughable, outside of Nicholas Gonzalez and Jennifer Carpenter.
A good ol' fashioned rabies movie is great, but when you go out of your way to tell the viewer that the "villain" is NOT regular rabies, you get more questions, and Quarantine lacked answers for it.Basically, what you've got here is a cheap and horribly scripted remake with occasional scares and non stop laughs.
They could have just dubbed the original, put it out in the US theaters, saved on production costs and made more cash for everyone.Long story short is watch the original, don't bother with the remake, character development is much better, Angela Vidal is better is Spanish and more human than Carpenter, and notwithstanding overall character development is better in the original.From what I've heard it's even wore is that the director doesn't even mention during the commentary that the film is based on REC, doesn't mention i.e.
Yeah, this was cool...and scary too - in a sense.However the camera work - as it was filmed with a digital camera and not a studio camera was very irritating.There were a few plot holes as to how to escape - and just getting around the building, but still kept the movie interesting.This didn't look like a $3 million dollar project - much more like less than 2 million.The good thing about this is there was a reason that people were turning into freaks and it was explained - unlike most zombie / freak movies.It could have used some more color and a lot less camera shaking - but I liked it enough to finish viewing it in complete.Would like to see another one...but with less camera shaking..
Yes folks, mainstream American cinema can't stand the fact that a non-American country has made an absolutely genius horror film that happened to be scariest film that many people, myself included, has seen, I'm of course talking about the excellent Spanish horror film REC and i can applaud that film till the cows come home but let me now vent my frustration with something like Quarantine.
Released in 2008, barely a year after REC, Quarantine sought to bring true fear back to mainstream horror by not doing anything original of course but by making a carbon copy of a really, really good film.
With Rec, if I wasn't trying to enjoy a movie(as I should), I can easily feel as if I'm watching a play.As far as script and plot, of course it was the same for the most part, but this was in no way a shot-for-shot remake as some claim.
If the makers of the original didn't want them to make this movie, they wouldn't have let them.If Quarantine was made first, this argument would switch right around; and Rec would look like a silly imitation.
Both Rec and Quarantine are undoubtedly two of the best horror films I have ever seen; and I don't like many.
Her performance as Emily Rose was one of the best horror performances I've ever seen, but Quarantine just gives the feeling that she's waiting for an opportunity or a good reason to do some real horror acting.Overall the movie is not bad, but it is overwhelmingly casual in its presentation of a typical horror movie, this time with the slight variation that all of the victims are trapped in close quarters with the zombies.
Never had this happen before when watching a movie, and Cloverfield didn't affect me this way, but I was suffering from the camera work.Secondly, the movie makes no sense, there are so many things left out story wise that it seems like a bad B movie.
But if it's not the ridiculous lemming-like tendencies of the characters, it's the Hollywood cast, and no doubt thoughts of what their next projects might be, constantly pushing you out of a fairly enjoyable but ultimately forgettable experience.A tinsel-town remake of the 2007 Spanish film Rec, Quarantine takes you into a downtown Los Angeles apartment building on a seemingly routine call with the local fire-fighters.
Casting well-knowns in most Hollywood movies is expected, but given that Quarantine comes crawling from underneath the Blair Witch/Cloverfield stable of frights, we're expecting a level of reality here that familiar faces - unless their performances are truly stellar - cannot deliver.Ultimately only the last act can provide any real scare value as you start to forget about the chosen cast (or they're now off camera being eaten/eating someone!) and we're thrust head first into darkness with a palpable sense of doom and the feeling that there is something more disturbing and nefarious at work than we've been led to believe.
Never seen the original, which is a good thing, so now my preview CANNOT be biased, nor can i base my review based on the old one.But i thought this movie was AWESOME...it starts out being VERY funny and realistic....etc.Then it picks up alittle bit....then it slows down....and keeps following those lines.Eventually it hits full throttle and gets Insane/Freaky.This movie really freaked me out, the way the zombies/infected looked!
This movie (story, text, characters, directing) are all so bad, sadly predictable and profoundly stupid that it is NOT the slightest scary nor interesting for a second.This really is in the bottom 3 WORST movie of the year and obviously a huge WASTE of time to watch and worst to buy.What a disappointment after all this hype about the so acclaimed original which I'm not even sure I'll see anymore.Pass over and go for better things.There are so many other great movies to watch.And "Dexter's sister" is totally pointless and disappointing here.
But overall the worst thing was the shaky camera and horrible lighting that made it so you couldn't see what was going on half the time, it completely ruined the whole movie.
Stop acting like Quarantine isn't a good film and REC is miles superior because the plot is almost 100% similar, this is simply just critics hating on Hollywood like usual..
There are two ways of looking at 'Quarantine.' The first is that it's actually the (Hollywood) remake of Spanish classic horror film 'REC.' If you've already seen REC then you probably don't need to see the remake.
It doesn't bring anything new to the story and is – almost – a shot for shot remake, albeit in English without the subtitles.However, if you can't be bothered watching the Spanish film with English subtitles (and you're also a bit of a horror/zombie fan) then you may appreciate Quarantine.
It actually has a great resemblance to the witches in Valves video game creation "Left 4 Dead" and "Left 4 Dead 2".I am not going to get into specifics with this movie as it will just be a waste of time, but I will tell you this, if you are looking for a well done zombie flick with a good story line and interesting characters then don't bother, if you want to see some gnarly zombies then it's worth a quick view..
I was surprised when people say that this film is a shot for shot remake because it really wasn't.QUARANTINE is like REC, yes, recopying the essential scenes from the original, like the ending.
The actors did a good job and, if you were aware beforehand that they'd be using that first-person camera work you probably weren't disappointed there either (though it gets a bit tedious and annoying after awhile).Though my view of this movie is pretty negative, it's hard to say how I'd feel if I'd never seen the Spanish language original.
Worth watching Go see it Very good If you like suspense/Thriller movie, then this is for you.I enjoyed it and jumped on my seat at least 2 times.
Of course the original feature didn't have many character moments either, but they were enough to deliver the movie's main selling point of pure horror; Quarantine is less concerned with atmosphere and more about things jumping out into the camera.