Tonight’s film, Quarantine, is the American remake of the Spanish film [REC]. A news reporter, Angela, and her cameraman, Scott, follow a group of firemen to an emergency at an apartment building where a woman has been screaming in her locked apartment. When she becomes violent with the emergency workers, all hell breaks loose as whatever virus she has begins to spread. The doors are locked from the outside to quarantine everyone within, leaving everyone to fend for themselves against the blood thirsty homicidal hoard of the infected.
Gradually, more and more people become sick with what turns out to be an advanced and mutated form of rabies. If anyone attempts to leave the building, there are armed men outside prepared to shoot them. The power is cut, leaving everyone weakened by the darkness and, despite the danger, Angela and her cameraman continue to roll film through it all to record all of the events happening. From the start they had hoped something would happen. They got a lot more than they bargained for.
Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) as Angela is the best part of the film. She does such an incredible job of being terrified that you actually feel it. Her frightened expressions are top notch and her screams are certainly memorable. In fact, her screams were so realistic, my cat Edward Kittyhands wouldn’t come into my bedroom until it was over.
The unsung hero of the film is the cameraman, Scott (Steve Harris). He throws himself into danger numerous times to protect Angela, even using his camera as a weapon. Despite all of the cops and firemen around, Scott proves himself the most dependable and able of the group.
Other horror actors you might recognize in the film include Dennis O’Hare (American Horror Story), Jay Hernandez (Hostel) and Jonathan Schaech (Hush). O’Hare is a drunken resident who, despite his inebriation, seems to be very logical about the situation. Hernandez and Schaech are the firefighters that Angela has been assigned to follow.
I’m not sure if you would consider Quarantine to be a zombie film or not but no matter how you classify it, the film delivers solid scares. I have never been disappointed by Jennifer Carpenter and I really hope she comes back to claim a scream queen status because those pipes will most definitely earn her that title.
