Quarantine

Review by Sean Lynch
View Trailer : Quarantine

The teens of the 1960s were thrown some toned down psychological thrillers courtesy of Hitchcock.

The horny lads of the 1970s and 1980s were inundated with cheaply made, gory as hell, iconic slasher flicks.

Those in the 1990s were asked to take the piss out of previous generations thanks to Scream, while the 2000s and the likes of Saw and Hostel finally introduced us to the phrase "Torture Porn".

So where to next?

Well, it seems there is one particular brand of schlock horror that seems to be at the forefront - the cheap as chips "what you don't see, but occasionally do see" hand held camera flick.

Based on the Spanish film [Rec], Quarantine is the latest film to take a simple idea and effectively make some fun, if not slightly disposable, on screen spooks that feel much more epic than they really are.

Shot as if the audience has gained access to raw footage taken directly from a camera that has just been discovered, Quarantine follows television reporter Angela Vidal (Dexter's Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman (Steve Harris) who are assigned to spend the night shift with a Los Angeles Fire Station.

After a routine 911 call takes them to a small apartment building, they find police officers already on the scene in response to blood curdling screams coming from one of the apartment units.

They soon learn that a woman living in the building has been infected by something unknown.

That said - surely the frothing mouth, blood drenched clothes and half eaten dog on the floor would be dead give aways that things ain't right?

After a few more of the residents are viciously attacked, the news crew and remaining survivors decide to make a run for it - only to find that the Centre for Disease Control has quarantined the building.

Add to that the fact that phones, internet, television and mobile phone access have been cut off, as well as government officials not relaying any information to those locked inside (even to the cops and fire fighters trapped inside with Mrs. Frothmouth, Freaky Diseased Young Girl & Co).

The JJ Abram's produced Cloverfield paved the way here (taking over $170 million worldwide, from a budget of just $25 million) and Quarantine seems to have enjoyed similar success (doubling it's budget at the US Box Office earlier this year), and you really get the feeling there will be slew of these hitting our screens well into the next decade.

The key to the new era of Blair Witch Project meets 28 Days Later style of "unedited footage" film thrives due in large part to the fact that they can elude to the events of a big budget Hollywood movie occurring nearby without ever having to fork out the type of budget it takes to actually bring King Kong to the big screen.

Same level of fun, without the hassle of having to ring that kooky Andy Serkis up - what a sweet deal for the penny pinching studios!

And while five more of these types of movies will well and truly out stay this genre's welcome, it is quite a fun little distraction at this point in time.

In fact, Quarantine is enjoyably frightening.

The movie plays out like, and feels scarily similar to, jumping on an old school "Spooky Coaster" ride at a carnival :

You know the scares are coming, you know they are going to be cheap, and you know you're going to feel like a total fool for jumping in fright when something pops out in front of you... but that's what makes it fun.

It's the anticipation of "when" that makes this addictively enjoyable viewing.

While the hard nosed snobby critics (who were desperately trying to push the whole "Well, I'm sure the kids of today would like it - certainly isn't for me" tangent upon leaving the preview screening the other night) - you just know that they secretly got a few joyful moments of this.

Quarantine is a good old fashioned spook. A total guilty, silly - slightly sadistic - but ultimately harmless cinematic pleasure.

3.5 out of 5

Quarantine
Australian release: 27th November, 2008
Official Site: Quarantine
Cast: Jennifer Carpenter, Johnathon Schaech, Jay Hernandez, Steve Harris
Director: John Erick Dowdle