Quarantine - DVD Review

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Review

Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) hosts a TV show and she along with her cameraman Scott (Steve Harris) are spending some time with a Los Angeles Fire Department in order to examine what these guys do on a typical night shift. She and Scott are being shown around the department by George (Johnathon Schaech) and Jake (Jay Hernandez) when a call comes in reporting strange screams coming from an apartment building downtown. They all leap on the fire truck for the drive and they enter the building to find a number of scared residents and a couple of Police Officers. Upon investigating the apartment where the screams are coming from they find an old women acting very strangely; the old woman attacks one of the group. This spooks everyone out but when they try and leave the building they find that the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) has quarantined it and isn’t letting anyone out. Meanwhile other people seem to be showing the same symptoms as the old woman and the race is on for them to find an escape route before they are turned upon.

From what I’ve read Quarantine is almost a direct remake of a Spanish thriller called [REC], although I cannot verify that as I have yet to see that version of the film. However something that was apparent when reading other opinions on the film was that whilst everyone seemed to praise [REC] very highly, most people seemed inclined not to lavish that same praise onto Quarantine, this surprised me really as although the film does have its faults, if it was a shot-to-shot remake of the “superior” Spanish film why would that one be excellent and this one bad? It certainly isn’t the acting that drags it down as I thought that for the most part the acting came across as realistic and certainly when people start to panic in the film some of that panic emanates from the TV to the viewer. I say for the most part because there are a few incidents of what I called “Stupid Syndrome” where a person will do something that does not ring true in real life and it breaks some of the suspension of disbelief, with quarantine stupid syndrome is basically approaching people that are obviously infected asking if they are “ok” when in reality anyone how is looking even remotely ill would be avoided and all costs.

For me those parts didn’t ruin the film and it certainly didn’t make it a bad one; and don’t forget this is supposed to be almost a take for take copy of [REC] so that same problem may (I assume) exist in that movie too? Perhaps then it is the fact that it is guilty of being a remake, and that it was made around the same time as the Spanish film If so then that is really an unfair way to judge a film, after all I would rather watch a film that has an English soundtrack as opposed to reading English Subtitles off of the Spanish only soundtrack in [REC], it doesn’t make that Spanish film a bad film; it is simply my preference that I prefer English as the spoken language for films. Anyway that aside I felt that the movie had everything that I look for in a horror film, and that is jumps, scares, some good visuals and effects as well as a creepy location. So for me the film certainly hit the right note.

Picture

The film is shot in the documentary style with a handheld camera similar to that of Blair Witch and Cloverfield. This does take a little getting used to, and it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I must say it is a style that I like especially in a horror film where it elevates the panic that the characters are feeling to a whole new level especially when the location is a darkened apartment building using soft lights that cast deep shadows across everything.

Audio
We get a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack (English) which adds that extra element to the film, all dialogue is clear and the general audio is nice and punchy with lots of LFE usage and the surrounds are utilised effectively too. Loud noises and the “scary bits” within the film are done well and you will be sure to jump once or twice as action gets ramped up.

Extras

Commentary with writer/director John Erick Dowdle and writer/producer Drew Dowdle: Quite an interesting commentary from the two brothers as they discuss aspects of the movie, the actors and location choices etc. worth a listen.

Locked in: The making of Quarantine Standard making of documentary really, it doesn’t go on forever but gives enough information to make it fairly interesting.

Dressing the infected: Robert Halls make-up design Robert Hall whose company almost human did the special effect son the film, and here he explains the process.

Anatomy of a stunt This is a pretty good sequence actually that goes into detail on one of the stunts that went on in the film, it really highlights the amount of work that goes into doing stunts in films.

Trailers

5 trailers one being a blu-ray is high definition, then Red Sands, Screamers: The Hunting, Against the Dark and Lakeland Terrace


Overall

I enjoyed the movie, I thought it was scary, made you jump and kept you on the edge of your seat although there is a stupid syndrome that affects some people, so a good effort from me.

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About Kirk Siddals

I was born and raised in the East Midlands (in a small village called Breaston in between Nottingham and Derby) but moved to Manchester to study for a Biochemistry degree and a Cell Biology PhD at Manchester University in 1993. All these years later and I'm still here, married a local lass (by way of the Punjab anyway) and am now nicely settled. I work as a postdoctoral research fellow and undertake research into diabetic and renal disease.

I've always been a film fan and have vivid memories of watching Star Wars Episode IV every Sunday for several years. My movie tastes are slanted towards Sci-fi but I don't mind any genre as long as it's not horror (6ft pansy in this department!). outside of films I'm an enthusiastic badminton player, playing for teams in the Manchester and Stockport leagues, an Xbox 360 gamer (when the wife lets me!) and am a keen internet bargain hunter.