Quarantine!

I happened to catch the movie Quarantine on TV a few weeks back. I had a dim recollection of the ad for the movie, the one where the girl gets dragged suddenly back into the darkness. It was a genuinely creepy moment in a genuinely creepy ad.

But would the movie be scary?

It was by and large. This is one of those movies in the cinema verite style of


The Blair Witch Project


and Cloverfield.

The premise is straightforward enough. A reporter and her camera man are following a team of firemen/paramedics as they respond to a call in an older apartment building filled with a wide assortment of different types of people. They find an old woman suffering from a mysterious disease that seems to make her crazy and dangerous, as she attacks the firemen and the cops who also responded to the call. It spirals from there as whatever afflicts the woman seems to be transmitted by biting. The people attempt to get help but the building is put under quarantine and those trying to leave are stopped and threatened with death. Even the cops and the firemen are stranded. The situation gets worse and worse and there are even a few secrets to solve as we do indeed discover the secret of the apartment house.

It's fun, and hectic, and at times really creepy. I thought the mystery did indeed pay off, so the thrill ride was worth the effort.


It seems though this movie is an English-language remake of a Spanish movie titled REC and reports I find say that the Spanish original is even scarier. I need to find it.

I've read that a sequel is in the works, but I despair they can recreate the claustrophobic mania that fueled the first one. These kinds of stories are almost impossible revisit effectively.

This one is recommended, but it's definitely not for kids.

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