Today I went and saw Quarantine in the 2 dollar theater near my house. It's a cool little theater that plays older movies for super cheap. It is pretty funny to see previews for films that came out in September.
Quarantine Website
This film was really good despite what I heard. I had no idea that it was going to be a zombie film. I saw the preview months ago and it didn't look like anything special. I talked to a friend yesterday and she said it was amazing so I thought I would go check it out.
Quarantine is shot like the Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. Almost the entire film takes place in an apartment building where the fire department was called in because an elderly lady was screaming unbelievably. The film is shot from the perspective of a news crew that was following shadowing a los angeles fire crew for the night. Once they enter the apartment building all hell breaks loose.
Logline: 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.
I think this film was done really well. The style is one that has not been explored too much. There are more and more films being done this way however out of these films there are very few that stand out. Most become to shakey and loose the focus of the action. Cloverfield was the first big budget film to take on this challenge yet it was done in a way that lost the intrest of the viewer. Why? was the big question when watching Cloverfield. Quarantine, I think, gets rid of that question. The auience is not wondering why they are filming this becuase they are a news crew. They want to get as much footage as possible to show what really happened inside. This idea is solidified when they see the news on the TV telling the general public that everyone in the building has been evacuaded.
With reguards to lighting I think it was beliveable. Most of the film is super dark except for when the camera light is turned on creating the deer in the headlights effect. The end of the film has a sequence that is in nightvision. This was my one issue with the way they were filming. A news camera would not have nightvision on it. Any camera that is anything mroe than a consumer camera does not have nightvision unless a special lense is attached onto the front.
I really don't like the preview that was released for this film. The last 10 minutes are the only parts that have nightvision in it yet most of the trailer is derived from this part of the film. Even the last shot of the trailer is the last shot of the film which is really disapointing because the entire film is given away in the trailer. The main zombie is shown which is the big payoff in the film.
After doing a little research I found out that Quarantine is a remake of a spanish film called Rec. I hear that the original is better than the remake. I'm hoping to get my hand on a copy of the film when it comes out and compare the two. Bellow is a trailer for the film Rec
Below is selected text from a review about the difference between Quarantine and Rec. After reading this I really would like to see the original:
Reviewed by Brian Orndorf
Most audience members stumbling into "Quarantine" will have no idea it's a remake of a 2007 Spanish horror film titled "Rec." "Rec" was a beautiful chiller, constructed with resourcefulness and genre filmmaking wizardry that instilled a modest concept with the right amount of armrest-ripping content to fuel nightmares for weeks. "Quarantine" is the unavoidable American replica, only this version has ingested a bottle of idiot pills and washed it all down with a full glass of directorial incompetence.
There's nothing broad to be found in "Quarantine" that directly separates it from "Rec." Director John Erick Dowdle (of the unreleasable "The Poughkeepsie Tapes") crafts a straightforward copy of the Spanish film, preserving the same plot and scare beats, but altering the corners of the writing to put his fat stamp on the picture. To Americanize "Rec," "Quarantine" introduces crude sexual tension between Angela and the firemen, and turns our camera-ready hostess from a frustrated lifestyle reporter to a veritable sorority pledge, with Dowdle encouraging Carpenter to play daft instead of confident, ultimately reducing Angela's role in the overall scheme of things.
The original film spent some time with the characters, "Quarantine" quickly sets up the humans as zombie food. Also, while "Rec" didn't win any awards for steady cinematography, director Jaume Balaguero and
Reviewing "Quarantine" on its own merits is a difficult challenge, since "Rec" is as close to perfection as fright films get these days.
--- D plus
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