Sony PicturesReview in a Hurry: Effective scares make up for some dodgy storytelling in this horror vérité about a TV crew trapped in an apartment building teeming with plague victims.
The Bigger Picture: Some days it turns out you really should have called in sick. It's one of those days for fledgling TV reporter Angela (Jennifer Carpenter): One minute she's doing a ride-along puff piece on L.A. firefighters; the next she's screaming her head off as infected cannibals chase her. (Screaming a lot. Also panting, crying and shrieking; Carpenter's lungs should get second billing.)
If you walked into Quarantine with no idea what it was about, you'd be in for a series of nasty shocks. Even the most jaded, sadistic gore fans are bound to cringe at a few of the touches in director/cowriter John Erick Dowdle's remake of the Spanish horror film [REC]. Factor in the dizzying handheld camera work (Quarantine is shot from a single, frequently jiggly POV), and you could walk out feeling a little green around the gills.
Which is probably the point, and which is why Quarantine succeeds on those dubious merits. But just barely. As panicked as the film's denizens may be, they're also all clearly infected with a bad case of the stupids, which turns the story's occasional pauses for breath into minutes of agonizing thumb twiddling. Since nobody's smart enough to figure out what's going on, all the human conflict is pointless bickering.
The movie's certainly scary enough; the action is dimly lit and chaotic but not so frenetic you can't keep up. The performances are forgettable but adequate. Dowdle seems to be an able quick-and-dirty filmmaker, kind of like a cinematographic paramedic. But to be anything more than a disposable fright flick, Quarantine needed a doctor.
The 180—a Second Opinion: It's either Blair Witch writ large or 28 Days Later writ small, and that may not be enough of a sweet spot for your tastes.