Quarantine
- Year:2008
- Rating:R
- Director:John Erick Dowdle
- Cast:Jennifer Carpenter, Stacy Chbosky
- Release Date:November 27, 2008
- Distributor:Sony
- Running time:88 minutes
- Film Worth:$8.00
- FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
“…Quarantine balances itself between scares and laughs…”
It was only around one year ago that a little known Spanish horror film titled Rec, directed by Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza, premiered in Spain to mainly positive reviews. The film - about a television reporter and her cameraman making a documentary on the exploits of a group of firemen who receive an emergency call from an apartment building and come up against a virulent disease - was well received by audiences and critics alike, but even the most ardent supporter of this film could not have imagined that an American remake would hit screens within twelve months.
Apart from the language change, Quarantine is pretty much an exact duplicate of Rec. It's one of those rare movies where you can't quite ascertain as to whether the filmmakers are trying to create scares or laughs. The film is shot in documentary style using a hand held camera (a la The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield), and while this style of filmmaking can bring about an air of authenticity, the constant, jerky camera angles do become irritating at times. It also confuses the viewer as to who is actually chasing who throughout the film.
Having said that, Quarantine is not all doom and gloom. The acting is competent throughout. Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose) gives a solid performance in the lead role, and the rest of the supporting cast are equally strong. Director John Erick Dowdle provides a strong sense of atmosphere and the visual effects are, shall we say, effective.
In the end, Quarantine balances itself between scares and laughs without quite tipping over into either camp. That fact that it's ultimately neither scary nor laughable places it in a rather unsatisfying cinematic no man's land.
