Quarantine
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.
Television reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman (Steve Harris) are assigned to spend the night shift with a Los Angeles Fire Station. After a routine 911 call takes them to a small apartment building, they find police officers already on the scene in response to blood curdling screams coming from one of the apartment units. They soon learn that a woman living in the building has been infected by something unknown. After a few of the residents are viciously attacked, they try to escape with the news crew in tow, only to find that the CDC has quarantined the building. Phones, internet, televisions and cell phone access have been cut-off, and officials are not relaying information to those locked inside. When the quarantine is finally lifted, the only evidence of what took place is the news crew's videotape.
Member Reviews
Not for the faint of heart. - ElfShotTheFood
Quarantine is a remake of a Spanish horror film that sees a news reporter and her cameraman venturing into an old apartment building with a couple of firemen in response to a 911 call. Once inside the building, the protagonists become trapped when a contagion causes authorities to lock the building down.
What follows is 90 minutes of frantic intensity as the dwindling numbers of non-infected people struggle to survive as their family members, friends, and neighbors violently turn on them.
Quarantine is shot much like Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project, with all the action being shown from the cameraman's point of view. This puts the viewer right in the action, but the jerky camera movements sometimes makes the movie hard to follow during some of the more dramatic sequences.
While Quarantine is intense and delivers the goods for horror fans, at the same time it's quite unpleasant and bleak; at times, the movie is very hard to take. The last 15 minutes is essentially non-stop screaming, and when that's combined with the spasmodic camera work...well, you'll be very glad when the movie finally ends.
Quarantine also can't totally escape its horror roots, as the plot frequently requires characters to do dumb things to build suspense and add to the body count. These parts do create some good jolts though, and fans of movie gore will appreciate some of the after-effects of these not-so-smooth moves.
While most people don't watch horror movies for the acting, the main actors do a good job. Lead actress Jennifer Carpenter plays her role nicely; by the end of the movie you're convinced she's really terrified and isn't just acting. She screams well too. The rest of cast is mostly comprised of no-names, who are required to do little more than say a few lines and then die when the script asks them to.
Horror fans will enjoy Quarantine, but for everyone else it'll probably be too much to take.Can You Say Freaky?? - 0930tracey
I just re-watched Quarantine, seeing as it is Halloween, and I tell you, it delivered the chills-even the second time around! It was a clever premise and the actrors delivered spine tingling performances. I personally liked the ending, it left me shocked and asking questions (even though I had already seen it). I highly recommend this film!Really Edge Of Your Seat Stuff - revsdd
By the time this movie is finished you're almost exhausted! This is a movie that, aside from the first few scenes, keeps you on the edge of your seat waiting for the next bit of horror to emerge. Those opening first few scenes are themselves effective in establishing the basic structure of the movie. Angela (wonderfully played by Jennifer Carpenter) is a TV reporter who's doing a ride-along with some LA fire fighters. Those opening scenes are shot in the firehouse - mostly light banter between the crew and the firemen, and some interesting footage of an LA fire station, while Angela hopes for a call that will give some good footage for her station. When the call comes, she (and the fire fighters) are totally unprepared for it.
The call is to an old building, where an elderly woman is locked in her apartment and won't come out. When the door is finally broken down, it's clear that the woman is sick and out of her mind with a rabies-type virus that causes victims to become extremely violent. She ends up having to be shot, and then the building is sealed off by the authorities. No one's being allowed out and the virus starts to spread very quickly - within an hour of exposure. Is there any hope that anyone could survive this?
This is filmed in the style of The Blair Witch Project. Angela's cameraman carries his camera through the mounting terror and gets a video record that presumably is going to be found at some point, and it's far more exciting than The Blair Witch Project was. I spent significant time on the edge of my seat, because you truly have no idea what's coming next. Under the circumstances the cameraman may have been too conscientious. I doubt I could have kept filming through everything that was happening. The last few scenes offer a hint of where this virus might have come from, and the very last scene concludes the movie on a note of sheer hopelessness that really does leave you drained.
Member Reviews
Read All...
Not for the faint of heart. - ElfShotTheFood
Quarantine is a remake of a Spanish horror film that sees a news reporter and her cameraman venturing into an old apartment building with a couple of firemen in response to a 911 call. Once inside the building, the protagonists become trapped when a contagion ...Can You Say Freaky?? - 0930tracey
I just re-watched Quarantine, seeing as it is Halloween, and I tell you, it delivered the chills-even the second time around! It was a clever premise and the actrors delivered spine tingling performances. I personally liked the ending, it left me shocked and ...Really Edge Of Your Seat Stuff - revsdd
By the time this movie is finished you're almost exhausted! This is a movie that, aside from the first few scenes, keeps you on the edge of your seat waiting for the next bit of horror to emerge. Those opening first few scenes are themselves effective in establishing ...