Quarantine - Decent (but unnecessary) remake

There are two ways of looking at ‘Quarantine.’ The first is that it’s actually the (Hollywood) remake of Spanish classic horror film ‘REC.’ If you’ve already seen REC then you probably don’t need to see the remake. It doesn’t bring anything new to the story and is – almost – a shot for shot remake, albeit in English without the subtitles.

However, if you can’t be bothered watching the Spanish film with English subtitles (and you’re also a bit of a horror/zombie fan) then you may appreciate 'Quarantine.' It’s one of those ‘found footage’ films. This basically means that it’s shot from point-of-view at all times, as we follow a reporter ('Dexter’s' Jennifer Carpenter) as she reports on a fire crew who have been called in to investigate a building late at night. Of course things go horribly wrong when the Government seal off the premises, trapping those left inside with a horde of ravenous zombies.

The zombies are the ‘modern’ type – no George Romero ‘shufflers’ here. Instead, we have the type who run at you while screaming into the camera and doing their best to bite your head off.

It’s worth making mention of the film’s set. It was a purpose-built apartment complex, made specially for the film. Therefore the cast can run pretty much where they like and you get a good sense of their claustrophobic environment. Plus, having a decent leading actress helps elevate 'Quarantine' over the dozens of run-of-the-mill zombie/B-movies out there.

With so many undead movies out there, it’s difficult to get that excited over 'Quarantine.' However, if you’re not (also) totally sick of ‘found footage’ movies, haven’t seen 'REC' and feel like sitting through quite an intense little offering, then you might like to give this one a go.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one