[photopress:quarantine.jpg,thumb,alignleft] Redundant reboot
Oh dear – another ill-advised US remake of a European horror classic…
Regular Picturenose and Expatica readers will recall that I have previously raved over the recent work of Spanish horror directors, with [Rec] by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza a particular standout. Their tightly constructed nightmare for the The Blair Witch Project (1999) generation provided further evidence that the young directors are among the finest working in the genre today – Balagueró’s previous work, for example, also includes the excellent Fragile (2005), Darkness (2002) and, perhaps his best, Los Sin Nombre (The Nameless) (1999).
All of the above provide proof that intelligent horror is not dead – these are films for discerning viewers whose appreciation of fear and awe does not begin with a worm-ridden corpse and end with a stake through the heart. And so to the remake. Quarantine (2008) is the seemingly unavoidable US replica that comes along whenever a genre director/writer in Europe/Asia has a really good idea and makes it into a really good film. Here’s the news – [Rec] was a cracking chiller. John Erick Dowdle’s film, by comparison, is an idiot offspring.
On an assignment to cover a night shift at a Los Angeles fire station, TV reporter Angela (Jennifer Carpenter) is reporting on the fireman’s lot. Her fortunes appear to change when a call comes through for emergency assistance at an apartment complex. Tagging along with her newfound friends (including Jay Hernandez), Angela and her cameraman Scott (Steve Harris) arrive at the building, only to be quickly sealed in by faceless government officials. Now trapped with an angry cop (Columbus Short), paranoid residents (Rade Serbedzija), and an anxious medical professional (Greg Germann), Angela and her roving camera discover the horrifying truth behind the quarantine…
The changes made in the remake move away from the original in all the wrong ways, with characters being quickly (and obviously) set up as mere zombie food. While [Rec], like Cloverfield (2007), was a very intelligent, multi-layered visual overload, resembling a chaotic news explosion, the remake is simply too glossy and glib for its own good, with inane handheld blur, iffy technical believability and poor performances substituted for Balagueró’s genuine craftsmanship. Check out the original – it’s on DVD now – and keep clear of this mess.
89 mins.
