Eyewitness news: Jennifer Carpenter in Quarantine.
Unfortunately, as soon as they enter the
premises, the outside world boards up the joint, as feds and SWAT teams
prevent anyone from exiting. Meanwhile, the confused, angry
inhabitants, some of them literally foaming at the mouth (uh-oh),
ponder their predicament, with murder and madness becoming inevitable
realities, as an increasingly agitated Angela instructs her camera guy
to “Tape everything!” And without wishing to tip this movie’s hand
(although its title is a living-dead giveaway), genre fans will know
where it’s heading, especially when inadvertent allusions to 1972’s The Crazies, George A. Romero’s insane exercise in outbreak hysteria, kick in.
But getting there is mostly a fun ride
for monster-movie buffs. Fraternal filmmakers John Erick Dowdle
(director and co-writer) and Drew Dowdle (co-writer and co-producer)
have visually compressed the proceedings into a series of single takes
a la Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, incorporating master shots and
prowling hand-held tracking shots devised by director of photography
Ken Seng. This translates into plenty of well-choreographed scenes of
intense dramatics and flailing action, with some performers getting
into improv mode to ratchet up the tension. The Dowdles also refuse to
employ a sinister music soundtrack to goose easily frightened viewers,
with some of the on-screen jolts actually making sense: When a
frightened Angela peers down a darkened hallway, Scott suddenly slaps
her on the shoulder because her head is ruining the shot! (At one point
Scott sees himself in a mirror’s reflection; it’s a nod, perhaps, to
Robert Montgomery’s 1946 first-person detective drama Lady in the Lake.)
Still, it’s hard to hail the Dowdle bros as the next great horror auteurs. Quarantine is based on a 2007 Spanish movie titled REC,
which has yet to be issued at stateside bijoux or on home video, so
U.S. viewers won’t know whether the Dowdles have merely offered a
scrupulous shot-by-shot replication. What can’t be taken away from
their achievement, however, is their skillful handling of the actors’
performances. The players—who all perform lots of running up and down
the three-story interior set created by production designer Jon Garry
Steele—include solid, believable work from Hostel’s Jay Hernandez as a heroic fireman, Serbian marquee star Rade Sherbedgia as the building manager and Ally McBeal’s
Greg Germann as a veterinarian who puzzles out the complex’s true
danger. And Jennifer Carpenter offers this film’s most impressive
character arc, morphing from the opening scenes’ eye-candy TV reporter
to the finale’s quivering mess of fearful emotions.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s new DVD presents Quarantine
in a pristine letterboxed (1.85:1 ratio) edition that makes this
low-budget ($12 million) shock-o-rama somehow seem more visually deluxe
than it should be. The Dowdle brothers chat about their feature on a
commentary track, with extras that include a 10-minute “making of”
featurette (with revelations of how the moviemakers performed some
editing cheats within their single shots); the seven-minute “Dressing
the Infected: Robert Hall’s Makeup Design” (one supporting player
demonstrates her drooling technique with a mouthful of Bromo powder to
achieve that necessary foaming effect); and the three-minute “Anatomy
of a Stunt” (a breakdown of stunt double Dartenea Bryant falling over a
stairwell railing). And among the 16 (!) trailers for Sony Pictures’
upcoming multiplex and DVD product, there’s a two-minute coming
attraction for REC, with images that look mighty similar to the ones in Quarantine.
—Bill DeLapp
