As far as I’m concerned, this is classified as a Zombie movie. So it will be included in my Top 10 list of Zombie Movies as soon as I decide I want to write that. There is, however, Fear of Zombies to be read in the interim. For now, here is a Things I Fear Movie Review of Quarantine.
The basic premise of the movie is that several tenants of an apartment are infected with an unknown virus that makes them very aggressive. They don’t know what caused the outbreak, but it’s bad. In fact, it’s so bad that the government/emergency service folk issue that the building needs to be locked down. No one can get in or out. You might say that the building is placed under…Quarantine!
It takes less than 20 minutes for the plot of the movie to develop. From then, it really escalates fast. The first 19 or so minutes are almost entirely devoted to character development for the two main characters. It’s a really good set up that shows that the characters aren’t as important as the plot itself. The characters themselves aren’t necessarily that important, but it’s good to get a sense of who you are watching get torn to pieces. The first one is a news reporter for a station that clearly no one watches. The second is her cameraman who films everything.
A point of note: the entire movie is basically filmed in through the perspective of the cameraman. It’s like the Blair Witch Project with a better camera. That adds a cool element to the movie because it makes it seem more realistic. What’s great about it is they don’t proclaim that it’s “lost footage” or “real events” at the start of the movie. They just…start filming.
So the mysterious virus spreads and people start dying and a rat gets squished by the cameraman. As time goes on, more and more people are infected until the building is almost entirely overrun by the “zombies”. Except for- take a wild guess- the two main characters. But don’t worry. They get theirs soon. So the two of them are running around aimlessly for a while until they find a room that kind of explains what is going on while at the same time doesn’t explain anything. Then they see the kid from The Grudge followed immediately by Gollum who is all grown up. And before you know it, the credits are rolling.
All in all, the movie itself is actually pretty damn good. As was this Quarantine Movie Review, if I do say so myself. If you did your research prior to watching it, you will know that this movie is basically just a Hollywood re-make of [REC]. Much like The Grudge is a re-make of Ju-On. I use the term “re-make” loosely because they basically just figured they can steal the movie and turn it into a bigger success than the original. Like The Host becoming Cloverfield. Meh. That’s for my imaginary lawyers to debate. Ignoring that, Quarantine is well worth watching. It’s full of non-stop action, a lot of gore, frightening moments and a man with a moustache. I would recommend it for sure and then I would tell you to share your opinion on Facebook.
