Quarantine DVD Review

A news reporter and her cameraman spending a night at a firehouse accompany one of the trucks on a distress call. At the troubled apartment building, the victim they were suppose to be helping goes crazy and bites one of the rescuers. When they attempted to get help, the fire crew, the news reporters, and the residents of the apartment find themselves trapped inside the building, quarantined by police because of a potential infectious disease.

Quarantine is an American remake of a 2007 Spanish movie called Rec. According to many fans of Rec, Quarantine is a screen-for-screen shot, except the dialogue is in English and the location is Los Angeles.

Naturally, it's very difficult to find reviews of Quarantine without reference to Rec. It's even more difficult to find praising reviews.

If you're like me and haven't seen Rec, then you'll enjoy this movie. It's about zombies!

Quarantine stars Jennifer Carpenter as reporter, Angela Vidal, and Steve Harris as her cameraman, Scott Percival. The unlucky news crew continue to record the events inside the apartment building as they are trapped with the residents and firemen.

The movie is suspenseful. Using the video cam format as in The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, you'll feel being trapped inside the close quarters of the dark apartment building. Also, you'll empathize with the trapped residents as they desperately try to get out while their numbers dwindle. There are plenty of tense moments as members of the group explore ways to get out of the building. And to top it off, no one survives.

The one drawback with the movie is that the trailer and posters gave away the ending. However, Jennifer Carpenter's terrified plea for help in infrared is the best expression of the dire situation that her character faces. Nevertheless, it still spoiled the ending.

All in all, I rate Quarantine a 3 out of 5. It does not come close to the classic George Romero zombie movies, but it's still an enjoyable movie to rent.

The author is a web producer and writes freelance on various topics, including "geeky" fun stuff like Transformers movie action figures and, sometimes, more serious subjects, like finding online medical coding schools.