Quarantine

A remake of the (obviously superior) Spanish film [REC], Quarantine follows spunky reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) as she and her cameraman (Steve Harris’ Scott) accompany a couple of fire-fighters (Jay Hernandez’s Jake and Johnathon Schaech’s George) on what seems to be a routine call within an ornate apartment building – with trouble ensuing as it becomes increasingly clear that the situation inside is anything but routine. There’s little doubt that much of what transpires within Quarantine will seem almost uncomfortably familiar for fans of [REC], as director John Erick Dowdle’s decision to replicate the 2007 chiller on a near shot-for-shot basis ensures that the movie’s various plot twists, character deaths, and even locations are virtually identical to their Spanish-language counterparts. It goes without saying that it’s generally the above-average performances that sustain one’s interest, with Carpenter’s tremendously appealing and charismatic work matched by the efforts of a top-notch supporting cast (which includes, in addition to those already mentioned, Columbus Short, Greg Germann, and Denis O’Hare). And while the jittery camerawork is relatively easy to accept in the film’s initial stages, there does reach a point at which the relentlessly shaky visual style becomes a distraction and essentially ensures that certain sequences are flat-out unintelligible in their presentation. Dowdle’s inability to infuse the proceedings with [REC]‘s atmosphere of pervading dread isn’t as problematic as one might’ve feared, although it’s worth noting that one’s interest does start to wane at around the one-hour mark (with the progressively tremulous environment only exacerbating this feeling). The movie effectively recovers for a climactic stretch that’s as spooky and suspenseful as that of its predecessor’s, and while Quarantine‘s very existence is ultimately pretty questionable, there’s no denying that one could surely do far worse as far as horror remakes go.

*** out of ****