Quarantine (film)

Quarantine
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Erick Dowdle
Produced by	Doug Davison Roy Lee Sergio Aguero Carlos Fernández Julio Fernández Clint Culpepper
Written by	John Erick Dowdle Drew Dowdle
Starring	Jennifer Carpenter Jay Hernandez Columbus Short Greg Germann Steve Harris Dania Ramirez Rade Šerbedžija Johnathon Schaech
Music by	Pilar McCurry
Cinematography	Ken Seng
Editing by	Elliott Greenburg
Studio	Vertigo Entertainment Andale Pictures Filmax Entertainment
Distributed by	Screen Gems
Release date(s)	October 10, 2008 (2008-10-10)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$12 million
Box office	$41,319,906

Quarantine is a 2008 American science fiction horror film, directed by John Erick Dowdle and starring Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez, Columbus Short, Steve Harris, Rade Šerbedžija, Greg Germann, Bernard White, and Johnathon Schaech. The film is a remake of the Spanish horror film REC with a few exceptions such as added scenes and dialogue. Shot in the "found footage" style, the movie was released on October 10, 2008 by Screen Gems. The film features no incidental music, being "scored" only with sound effects. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics and was a box office success.

Plot

A television reporter, Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman, Scott Percival (Steve Harris), are assigned to follow two firefighters: Jake (Jay Hernandez) and Fletcher (Johnathon Schaech) on their night shift. The crew responds to an emergency call from an apartment complex. The apartment manager, Yuri (Rade Šerbedžija), says that he and other residents heard screams from an old woman's room named Mrs. Espinoza, who has locked herself in her apartment. Jake, Fletcher, Yuri, police officers Danny (Columbus Short) and James (Andrew Fiscella), and the camera crew go to the apartment, where they find Mrs. Espinoza in serious conditions; she is bleeding severely and foaming at the mouth. Moments later, they are attacked by Espinoza, who bites James in the neck. They take him downstairs for medical assistance, while Fletcher stays with a now sedated Mrs. Espinoza upstairs. However, when they get downstairs, they find the apartment doors have been locked from the outside, leaving everyone, including several residents, trapped inside. Upstairs, Fletcher is attacked by Mrs. Espinoza and thrown from the railing to the ground, leaving him in serious condition. Lawrence (Greg Germann), a veterinarian, starts tending to the injured as best as possible.

Angela and Scott return to Espinoza's apartment where they witness the cleaning woman die. Jake and Danny show up and find Espinoza, with blood on her mouth and dress and her eyes bleeding. She charges at them, but Danny shoots and kills her. Jake, Scott, and Angela head room to room to bring down anymore guests; they bring down Randy (Denis O'Hare), Jwahir (Sharon Ferguson) and Nadif (Jermaine Jackson) (an African couple who don't speak English), and Elise, a woman who has many similar symptoms as Mrs. Espinoza.

The residents begin to panic as the CDC quarantines the building. Meanwhile, Angela interviews the tenants. A little girl named Briana (Joey King) is sick with the flu and says that her dog Max is at the vet because he's sick as well. After the interviews, Lawrence explains more about the conditions of Fletcher, Elise, and James; they all have rabies-like symptoms.

Angela and Scott follow residents Bernard (Bernard White) and Sadie (Dania Ramirez) back to their apartment to check the TV news. On the way, they witness Randy being killed by a dog. Once inside the room, they watch the televised report which states that everyone has been evacuated from the building, then the power goes out. Elise appears, turns violent and starts attacking the others, but Scott bashes her head in repeatedly with his camera.

Two health inspectors wearing HAZMAT suits arrive and attempt to treat Fletcher and the policeman by taking a brain sample. Suddenly, Fletcher attacks and bites one of the inspectors. While evacuating, Lawrence is trapped with the infected and is bitten.

The surviving health inspector reveals that the previous day, a dog was taken to a local veterinarian. The dog became violent and killed or infected the other pets at the clinic, causing them to be euthanized. The CDC traced the dog back to the apartment building. The inspector tells the residents that this unknown but highly virulent disease turns people into bloodthirsty savages. Angela discovers that the infected dog was Max, Briana's dog.

The remaining survivors become skeptical that Briana's illness is actually the flu. Suddenly, Briana becomes savage as well and bites her mother, Kathy (Marin Hinkle) before escaping upstairs. Kathy is handcuffed to the stair railing to stop her from trying to protect Briana. Angela, Scott, Jake and Danny find Briana in Espinoza's apartment. When Danny attempts to sedate the girl, Briana bites him. They rush downstairs only to find everyone else running upstairs in fear, for they find the infected have broken through the shutter. Jake tries to close the shutter, as Angela tries to free Kathy. When they can't find the key, Jake drags Angela upstairs, leaving Kathy to die by the infected. As everyone runs upstairs, Jwahir and Nadif are both separated and bitten.

Angela, Jake, Scott, Sadie, Bernard, Yuri, his wife Wanda (Elaine Kagan), and the inspector lock themselves in an empty apartment. The inspector locks himself in an adjacent room when he realizes he has been bitten. They also realize Sadie has been bitten when she coughs up blood on herself. Bernard pleads with them not to kill Sadie, and out of desperation tries to escape, but he is shot and killed by a sniper. Yuri remembers another way out; in the basement, there is a large drain that is connected to the sewers, but the keys are in his apartment. Suddenly, the health inspector and Sadie succumb to the infection and kill Yuri and Wanda. As they try to escape, they must fight off the infected as they work toward Yuri's apartment. After Jake and Scott break Sadie's neck, the group reaches Yuri's apartment and find his key ring.

Jake is killed by Yuri, leaving Angela and Scott as the only survivors. Rather than making their way to the basement, they are forced upstairs to the attic apartment by the remaining infected. They search the apartment and discover that its former tenant was a member of a doomsday cult; he broke into a chemical weapons lab and stole a virus.

As Angela and Scott continue through the apartment, a door opens from the attic and Scott uses the light on the camera to investigate. An infected boy swats at the camera, breaking the light. Scott turns on the camera's night vision. Scott and Angela hear loud banging noises inside the apartment. When Scott looks around, he sees a man.

The man, a ghoulishly emaciated figure, searches the kitchen area, unaware of Angela and Scott's presence. Scott tries to escape but trips and is viciously attacked. He drops the camera. Angela retrieves it and sees the man eating Scott. Unable to control herself, she cries out and is attacked as well and drops the camera. The camera records Angela being dragged into the darkness, screaming.

Cast

• Jennifer Carpenter as Angela Vidal (Reporter)
• Steve Harris as Scott Percival (Cameraman)
• Jay Hernandez as Jake (Fireman)
• Johnathon Schaech as George Fletcher (Fireman)
• Columbus Short as Danny Wilensky (Officer)
• Andrew Fiscella as James McCreedy (Officer)
• Rade Šerbedžija as Yuri Ivanov (Apartment manager)
• Greg Germann as Lawrence (Veterinarian)
• Bernard White as Bernard
• Dania Ramirez as Sadie
• Elaine Kagan as Wanda Ivanov (Yuri's wife)
• Marin Hinkle as Kathy (Brianna's mom)
• Joey King as Briana (Little girl)
• Jermaine A. Jackson as Nadif
• Sharon Ferguson as Jwahir
• Denis O'Hare as Randy
• Stacy Chbosky as Elise Jackson
• Jeannie Epper as Mrs. Espinoza
• Barry Sigismondi as Bob Orton
• Craig Susser as Hazmat Doctor
• Doug Jones as Thin Infected Man

Release

Quarantine had an initial release date of October 17, 2008, but was moved forward and released on October 10, 2008. Quarantine was released February 17, 2009, on DVD and Blu-Ray.

In Australia, the original release date was November 6, which was pushed back to December 4.

Reception

Quarantine, which was not screened for US critics, received positive to mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 59% of critics gave positive reviews based on 77 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an aggregate score of 54%, based on 10 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". Quarantine received a 70% from Bloody Disgusting and Fangoria magazine gave the film a 87.5%.

In Australia, Empire magazine was lukewarm in its response. "Just when you thought it was safe to declare Spanish zombie flick REC one of the year’s best horrors, the Hollywood remake is already squatting upon us." They were critical of the rushed and copied-verbatim style of the remake. They weren't entirely dismissive, though, adding that "it shows the strength of the source that Quarantine still offers a clammy, pulsing, flipping, fingernail-scraping experience." They also stated "while Jennifer Carpenter shows she hasn’t lost the lungs from her death-rattling screams in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, she forever feels like an actress playing a reporter. ... Any edginess has been painted over with a thick slap of Hollywood gloss, which begs the question: doesn't a slick remake of a reality horror rather defeat the point?" They finished by labeling the film "efficient enough" but that viewers who had already seen Rec should steer clear.

On its opening day, the film grossed $5,379,867, ranking #1 in the box office. The film opened at #2, behind the second weekend of Beverly Hills Chihuahua, earning $14,211,321 in its opening weekend. Its total gross is $41,319,906 worldwide.

Sequel

In March 2010, Screen Gems announced that John Pogue will direct the sequel, Quarantine 2: Terminal, which will focus on an outbreak in an airport. This storyline will deviate greatly from the sequel of REC. REC² deals with the immediate aftermath of REC, still based in the apartment block, and not in an airport.

Mercedes Masohn and Josh Cooke have been cast as the leads, a stewardess and a kindergarten teacher.

Awards

• 2009: Reaper Awards "Best Zombie Film"
• 2009 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards: 2nd place for Best Make-Up/Creature FX (Robert Hall)
• 2009 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film nomination

External links

• Official website
• Quarantine at the Internet Movie Database
• Quarantine at Box Office Mojo
• Quarantine at Rotten Tomatoes