Quarantine Movie Review

Here is a LookingForClues movie review of a horror movie with a handheld camera perspective, Quarantine. At Amazon.com, the ratings are all over the place, averaging at 3 stars. After you read our review, why not buy a copy - and see what YOU think of it. This movie is out on DVD - Own it now! Plot Synopsis: Based on the Spanish-made chiller [REC], Quarantine is an effective piece of scare machinery that derives most of its terror by viewing the action from the perspective of a cameraman covering a routine emergency call that blooms into a nightmare. Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) is a TV host who accompanies a firefighting unit on a disturbance call at a decrepit apartment building. Once inside, the group discovers that the tenants are infected with a disease that has turned them into ravenous cannibals--and that all possible exits have been sealed off by a government-issued quarantine. As POV horror goes, QuarantineThe Blair Witch Project with the super-sized shocks of Cloverfield (without its nausea-inducing camerawork), and it largely delivers in both departments. Characters are stock at best, and the relentless jumping and shrieking gets wearying before the end credits, but the cast is game, especially Carpenter (a world class screamer, as established in The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and Jay Hernandez as one of the firemen, and the technical aspects (including some gruesome gore) are top-notch. -- Paul Gaita More... Please read our review of Quarantine, below. To get your own copy of the movie, please click on this ad, or click on one of the other DVDs for sale at Amazon.com.

Quarantine Yourself For A Scare by Lynda Rey   04/28/09 It is highly likely that a huge bulk of the people in this world aren't quite the biggest fans of feeling trapped without escape. Who likes the feeling of suffocation? Who can be fond of having no refuge, in either the inside or the outside of their bubble, which unfortunately offers no safety at all? Ah to be quarantined, even if for one's benefit, can drive even the sanest person to the edge of their sanity. But you can't help but feel a little curious about what such a situation can hold for you. Never fear, with Hollywood's fantastical worlds, we the people can experience the smothering, smoldering effects of being stuffed in a confined place without hope of leaving. Throw in a few ravenous fiends on a rampage, and you've got a complete package for a horror movie. Behold, the world of "Quarantine," one of the latter additions to the latest craze in movies: the first-person, hand-held camera perspective, the sort that literally sucks you in and leaves you feeling just as doomed as the characters. This movie, though creepily scary, is hardly original. I should make it known that "Quarantine" is almost an exact replica of an overseas film from Spain released a year earlier called, "Rec." Never having the privilege to see "Rec," released in this nation's theaters, I can't speak with any certainty on the similarities and differences of the two. But I can guess they're almost a mirror image of each other. And since the good old American people, especially those without the benefit of an internet connection, weren't quite so privy to the scary world of "Rec,"---why, I have no idea---Hollywood brought out its own version for us to feast our eyes on. "Quarantine" is America's "Rec," whether we want it that way or not. And it just had to do. After catching a few scenes of "Rec" on the internet, I just knew I had to get my rear in a theater seat to witness "Quarantine," and boy am I glad for it. True, a huge part of me would have preferred to see the original in all its glory, but the other part of me was thankful to see something on the big screen. Thankfully, the movie starts off right away, as these sorts of movies do. We get to meet our characters very early on, like news anchor Angela (who, in my opinion, was portrayed with the right amount of girly innocence by Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott (Steve Harris, with his right amount of an "every day man" vibe). The two are filming a documentary on a typical night for the firemen of the local fire department. Just when things were, in their eyes, dragging and uneventful, a sudden call lures the firemen to the source, and the crew happily tag along to film. Little does everyone know, they will be entering a place where their very lives are at stake. After mere minutes of entering the old apartment building, all hell breaks loose, and it does so little by little, one spark at a time. Just as the firemen, police, and camera crew try to leave after a tragic incident, the doors are slammed by police from the outside and chained up. All of us, the audience and the characters, are puzzled and confused, and probably a little jittery. Who wouldn't be? After discovering a vomiting, very sick resident who happens to have the strength of a bull, anyone can feel a little nervous. What's worse, more residents begin to show the same symptoms of an unknown disease, and no one knows what. "Quarantine" is a perfect sort of horror movie, but one that doesn't give us all the answers. We just get to experience the horror of the unknown right alongside our camera crew, except it is us who get to see it all happening in front of the camera. Ah, the beauty of a first-person point of view. To me, there's no better way to get scared. "Quarantine" is of course not free from flaws. They are definitely there. However, to point them out is no easy task when one likes the film as much as I did. To be cast into the darkness with the ravenous teeth of a diseased crowd, wondering what sort of gore I'll have to see, is what makes this movie worthwhile. It is scary. The scenery is suffocating, but in a good way. And boy is there ever gore. Blood from every angle, it seems, reaches out to the camera crew. People scream and run and try to hide, but the room just gets smaller and smaller as their every escape route is sealed tight. I must say, the make-up effects are wonderfully done as well. You'll likely squirm and wince at the scattered diseased residents, wondering what you would do if you find yourself in that predicament, trapped in utter darkness with nowhere to go. One can only imagine. For the horror fans out there, this one's definitely worth a go, if you're not too picky. And for the fans who are seriously loving the handheld camera perspectives, shakiness and all, like those seen for past movies like "The Blair Witch Project" or "Cloverfield," then this movie will not disappoint. You've got some nifty goodies to keep you busy for awhile in this DVD, though not as fully stuffed as I like my DVDs to be. But there's a nice "making-of" documentary, and behind the scenes featuring the make-up effects used and the movie's stunts. So if you're ready to quarantine yourself in your room to experience a nice little scare that is more intimate and a tad creepier than other movies, then this is your pick. Have fun. Lynda is 27 years old, lives in Indiana, and hopes to one day pursue a career working with animals. She enjoys many forms of self-expression, including art, poetry, and writing, which is one of the latter additions to her list of hobbies. Comments

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