QUARANTINE
US, 2008, 89 minutes, Colour.
Jennifer Carpenter, Steve Harris, Jay Hernandez, Johnathon Schaech, Columbus Short, Rade Serbedzija, Greg Germann, Dennis O’Hare?.
Directed by Erick John Dowdle.
This is scary stuff, especially for those who have not seen the original Spanish film, Rec, which was in cinemas less than a year before this remake. Rec was a brisk 80 minutes or so. Quarantine is a little longer, mainly because of a stronger development of the opening sequences, setting the scene with a television reporter following a firefighting squad. Otherwise, the remake follows the original quite faithfully while taking the opportunity to make a few adjustments.
The Blair Witch Project successfully persuaded many film-makers that they could make their films more 'realistic' and 'atmospheric' if they used hand-held cameras to place the audience in the middle of the action. Digital cameras have developed this capacity since then – seen to effect in 2008 in the monster thriller Cloverfield and in George A Romero's latest zombie episode, Diary of the Dead.
The premiss of Rec and Quarantine is quite straightforward: firefighters and police (with the television reporter and her cameraman in tow) are called to an apartment where some of the residents are sick. Almost immediately they are closed in by the authorities without explanation (which does come later so that audiences are satisfied that there is a reason for the turmoil and the fear, reminiscent of 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later). With the hand-held camera and the action taking place within the building, there is a claustrophobic effect, the audience knowing something of what the residents are feeling.
This is why the film is so effective. This could happen in our terrorism-anguished age. Authorities could seal up a building, trapping police, firefighters and residents. People in panic do behave like this. Faced with imminent and ugly death from a mysterious infection, how would we react? And it all takes place overnight, more and more in the dark.
The device of having a TV camera operator filming all the time, with interruptions, threats to himself and his aiding his more and more hysterical reporter adds to the tension.
In terms of classification, the UK censors gave it an 18, maybe because of its 'realism' but it is far more real and challenging than many of the hyped-up horror and violent action shows that receive a 15 classification.
1.An effect horror film? Terror? Audiences identifying with the situation and characters? Plausibility? Real?
2.The adaptation of the original Spanish film, staying close to the original?
3.The time span, just one night?
4.The camerawork, hand-held, the focus with the television cameraman, his framing, light and dark, the night vision? The editing of the film? Audiences identifying with the point of view? The focus and its limitations? The atmospheric score?
5.Angela and her TV personality, her program, saying her lines, fluffing them? Her work with Scott behind the camera? She on camera throughout the film? Hearing his voice, sometimes glimpsing him, reflection? The credibility of his camerawork in the realism of the plot?
6.The introduction, Angela and her program, her being with the firemen, following them around?
7.At the firemen’s centre, Fletcher and Jake, the tour, the realism of the offices, the men, the meals, locker rooms, the talk, the chatty atmosphere, the situations? On the ready? Their being called out?
8.The apartment block, going in, being locked in? Only glimpses out the windows and the doors to the outer world? The darkness, the manager, the people gathering on the ground floor? The woman, her illness, the infection, her disfigurement? Her attack, her death? The nature of the infection? The mother and child, the story of the dog, the vet explaining rabies? The police in the apartment block?
9.The clash between the police and the firemen? The policeman in charge? The having to cope, the fears, the uncertainties, going around the building in the dark, the searching?
10.Being quarantined, the building being locked, the windows blocked in? The residents and their panic, fears of death, the various voices? The information from outside? Watching the TV – then losing it? The inspectors coming in, their protective suits, the search, the tests – and the infections?
11.The building, the floors, the elevator, the layout, the search, the variety of people, people hiding?
12.The mother and child, the story, the dog, the vet and his opinions, the rabid rabies, the blame – and the child killing its mother?
13.The vet, common sense, his help? The manager and his trying to find an alternate exit? The group trying to exit the building, their failure? The businessman, his being drunk, surly, death in the elevator? The Somali couple and their not being able to speak English? The rest of the residents and their being ordinary? Dealing with the situation, together, in the dark, the various infections, rabid and their deaths?
14.The nature of the rabies, the effect of the deaths, the residents turning into zombies, the attacks?
15.The policeman, his authority, the panic? The exits? His being infected? Fletcher and his infection and death? Jake, his help, finally being taken?
16.Angela and Scott, Angela becoming more and more terrified, panic? Their survival? The camera, going up the stairs, the night vision? The attic? Angela feeling trapped? The discovery of the clippings, the lab, the chemicals, the conspiracy, the apocalyptic tone? The glimpses of the creature?
17.The tension in the dark, Scott and his holding on, Angela and her fears, Scott’s death? The finale with Angela being dragged away?
18.How well did the genre work, its visual style, the plausibility of the plot and characters? Terror and atmosphere?
