Quarantine

The film starts with a reality TV show crew fronted by reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman, doing a documentary style interest piece on the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD?), seemingly in an attempt to film some real life ‘COPS’ style drama.

So when they get the chance to tag along to attend a distress call at an apartment building they jump at the chance.

The film is shot through the eyes of the single cameraman, creating a real life amateur vibe, similar to that made famous by Blair Witch.

The numerous victims of the film are afflicted with a rabies-like disease with an interesting twist…the taste for human flesh. For some reason the authorities sealed the apartment block off rendering any attempt to escape by those inside a deadly experience with snipers posted outside. A plotline I didn’t really understand, unless the movie was trying to give the illusion of some sort of government conspiracy, although this angle was not explored further.

This film is full of frantic running and screaming, a few jumpy moments and one or two gross scene counts. It’s not psychologically scary rather ‘strange disease induced zombie style’ scary which seems to be an emerging sub genre of late.

Character development is virtually non existent and the audience doesn’t get a good view of the location, i.e. the inside of the apartment block, due to the shaky camerawork and overall franticness of bodies and limbs.

I personally tend to steer clear of the horror genre, however found enjoyment on the movie’s take on the authorities’ tendency to lie to the media about situations like this. In this particular instance the authorities inform the media that everyone in the building had been evacuated although they obviously hadn’t.

Overall there was nothing original or notable about the film. If you are looking for something easy to watch which doesn’t require much concentration and is mildly entertaining then Quarantine is for you.

Although I personally haven’t seen the original Spanish version [REC} on which Quarantine is based, it appears to have received better reviews so may be worth seeing instead.

Review by Jessica Luppino.