QUARANTINE (2008)

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"Intensely predictable "

Quarantine is intense. From the moment we enter the "apartment of death," the intensity never lets up...and that's the only thing saving this movie, not to mention Jennifer Carpenter's great performance, from a predictable waste of money...glad I watched it online.

Quarantine, a remake of the Spanish film "REC," centers on TV reporter Angela Vidal(Carpenter) shadowing a Los Angelas fire department for a night. When they are called to an apartment building, Vidal, along with her cameraman, accompanies the men. Once inside, they, along with the tenants of the building, soon find themselves trapped inside with ravaging, infected, cannibals when the building is quarantined.

The marketing for this film was terrible. Nothing we see in the film is surprising because we had already seen it. The film manages to stay intense despite this, which I give it props for, but in the end, the film is forgettable. Posters for the movie sported a tag line which included this:"The residents were never seen again." That tells me that everyone dies, which is why I skipped this in theaters for "Body of Lies."

Then there's the trailers, which depicted Angela being dragged to her death and the red-band trailer revealed even more scenes that otherwise would have been startling. I didn't include a "spoiler warning" in the beginning of this review because that's the point...the movie's already been spoiled for you. The only reason to watch this is if you want to see some people get their faces bitten off...based on that, yeah, it's worth watching. Just don't expect to be shocked.

The hand-held camera perspective is nothing new, but that's not why I gave it the score I did. I actually like the idea. It keeps the movie real and puts you right in the apartment with the helpless victims. It also helps the real factor that the movie doesn't label the infected as zombies, instead setting up a situation that could possibly take place, blaming the cannibal-like behaviors on a disease, rather than implying they rose from the dead like in another camera-POV movie, "Diary of the Dead."

Now, note that the following doesn't have an affect on how I rated the movie. I just want to clarify some things for people who liked this better than Cloverfield and might be wondering "Why did he give this 3 stars and Cloverfield 5?" Well, here's why:

1. Cloverfield's marketing was exceptional. We didn't even know the movie was being made until the release of the teaser trailer, and that didn't even reveal the name. Things were kept hush-hush and the tile wasn't revealed until the release date drew closer and closer. Some people were annoyed, but you have to admit, it kept people guessing and the monster wasn't even seen by the general public until the watched the actual movie. Like I said, Quarantine practically revealed everything to us, relying only on the gore factor to get an audience.

2. Cloverfield is original. Yes, the camera was done before, but the overall story is a unique take on the monster genre. People totally miss the point: It's from the people's perspective, and it was always made out to be that way. Quarantine is a remake. I realize that the director wanted to show American audiences this story, but it doesn't help any in an argument of originality of "POV-camera movies."

3. People say Cloverfield was too shaky, and those same people thought this wasn't...what the fuck is your problem? Take another glance at the movie. You'll find that it's a lot harder to make out. I don't have a problem with it, I'm just saying...

Now that I have that out of the way, I'll just say that this movie IS good and watchable...just not a second time. The movie's predictable a first time, so I doubt you'll be finding yourself wanting to watch it again.

Agent Vis's Verdict: 3.5 stars-Decent