NEW Quarantine (DVD)

Quarantine is a much better movie than its previews would lead you to believe. Previews make it look like people are trapped in an old building with zombies running amok in it. Maybe they came up from the sewers.

In fact it follows a reality TV reporter who is following an LA fire crew on calls. They go to a building when neighbors have reported screams coming from the apartment of an old lady. What follows is the outbreak of a savage, mind destroying disease where tenants and first responders find them sealed in with those already infected, by the CDC.

Like Cloverfield and Blair Witch, the film is shot from the single camera view of the reality reporter's camera man. Unlike those films the camera work is clean and does not distract the viewer. Watch the long shot when a call comes as the camera man has to follow the reporter down a hall, a flight of stairs and into a truck and realize it was all done in one take without cuts. The first 20 minutes of the film are the `reality show' walking around the fire house, talking to members of the fire crew and setting the stage by letting you meet the key players in the film. This is clearly the set up but it doesn't feel stilted. You don't feel like saying `get on with it" because you care about the characters. Carpenter, as the on air talent is likeable and believable, going from bubbly on air talent, to real reporter as things turn serious to scared human as she realizes just how deep in they are. And she takes the viewer with her.

Previews make this look like just another zombie film. There are certainly elements of that in Quarantine but for the genre it is so much better than much of the competition. They even have an explanation, scary in how reasonable it is, for what is happening. Is it "Sound of Music?" of course not. It is a horror film, but one in which the director has taken a lot of care to make the whole thing frighteningly possible.

This is over hyped rubbish with one of those stupid low budget hand held cameras. Here is a spoiler for you. That picture on the cover and that lone movie clip they show you is the last scene in the movie. It was just starting to pick up and it is over. If you enjoyed the suspense aspect of the movie and the idea of an unknown horror, but failed to loved the bad documentary style, I might suggest "The Possession of David Reilly."

A Los Angeles reporter (Jennifer Carpenter) and her trusty cameraman do an on-site interview w/ the fire department that goes from routine banter to terrifying fight for survival. Carpenter is especially well-suited for her role as perky TV personalty-turned shattered victim of chaotic disaster. She carries a large chunk of the movie. The camerawork goes from controlled to frantic to insane! The horror builds slowly, allowing us to have some fun and get to know the characters (a bit) before plunging us into increasing anarchy. There are some memorable, heart-freezing moments in QUARANTINE that stick w/ me, like the old lady, the little girl, and that firefighter w/ the broken leg! Brrrr! Enjoy...