The Plot
Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) is a Los Angeles television reporter with a regular feature called "The Night Shift," in which she shadows local workers who toil on the graveyard shift. (One wonders who her past subjects were. Cops? Doctors? Owl watchers?) Tonight, she's following firemen, and our story is told through the raw footage shot by her cameraman, Scott (Steve Harris) -- presumably found after the "unpleasantness."
The night begins normally enough, with Angela interviewing firemen Jake (Jay Hernandez) and Fletch (Jonathan Schaech) about their duties and daily schedule: climbing ladders, sliding down poles, towel snapping in the shower. Just when things start to get dull, though, the alarm rings, and Angela is whisked along to a call regarding a sick woman at an old apartment building.
The woman, it turns out, isn't just "normal sick"; she's bloody, drooling, mentally unstable sick. She bites a cop who's on the scene, and as they attempt to transport the sick and injured to the hospital, they realize that they've been barricaded inside by the police. Though the building's phone reception and cable have been cut off, the firemen and film crew are able to discern that the Center for Disease Control has gotten involved, and any attempt to leave is met with deadly force. As the firemen and police inside try to round up the building's tenants, they discover that the disease has spread to other residents -- human and animal alike.
Before you know it, there are sick people all over the building chomping on the uninfected, spreading the disease beyond control. A veterinarian who lives there hypothesizes that they're dealing with a strain of rabies, which he grimly declares to be both incurable and fatal. Angela and Scott keep the camera rolling throughout the ordeal in order to document what the government is so desperately trying to cover up. Little did they know it would become a major motion picture.
The End Product
Quarantine accomplishes what the best examples of first-person, POV horror movies do so well: it immerses you in the world of the film, generating visceral thrills at a frenetic pace. It relies on taking the control out of viewers' hands and making them feel unsafe and constantly on edge. The actors sell the concept with gusto, and the seemingly ad-libbed dialogue is realistic enough to make it believable.
On some level, though, the film is almost too realistic. The shaky camera movements and obscured views -- part and parcel of the POV style -- are at times disorienting enough to jar you out of the situation (this coming from someone who thoroughly bought into Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project). And as fine a job as Carpenter does, she becomes an all-too lifelike blubbering mess by the end.
The script is about as basic as it gets, eschewing character development and plot twists for nerve-jangling thrills -- something that aids in the film's pacing but which makes for a shallow, repetitive experience that eventually feels like a first-person shooter video game. As the infected pop around every corner to attack, you might find yourself reaching for your Playstation light gun.
Still, while it lacks the cohesiveness and complete immersion of Cloverfield, Quarantine is an oft-potent example of scary moviemaking full of wince-worthy moments that might have you watching through your fingers.
The Skinny
- Acting: A- (Realistic portrayals, from the casual opening moments to the harried finish.)
- Direction: C+ (The POV style could've been handled more cleanly, without as much disorientation.)
- Script: C+ (Even for a genre film, it lacks depth or any intriguing twists.)
- Gore/Effects: B (Good special effects and makeup, although you don't get to see much of it, with the camera moving constantly.)
- Overall: B- (A strong, scary -- yet far from perfect -- first-person experience.)
Quarantine is directed by John Erick Dowdle and is rated R for bloody violent and disturbing content, terror and language. Opening date: October 10, 2008.
