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Title:
Quarantine, Media: Blu-ray Disc, MPAA Rating: R, Region: A, B, C....
Starring: Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez, Columbus Short, Greg Germann,
Steve Harris, Dania Ramirez, Rade Sherbedgia, Jonathan Schaech, and Doug
Jones....
Based On The Motion Picture “REC” Written By: Jaume Balaguero, Luis A.
Berdejo, and Paco Plaza, Directed By John Erick Dowdle....
Languages: English and Portuguese Language Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound,
and French and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound,
Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and English
Spanish, French and Portuguese Subtitles, Running Time: 89 minutes
Quarantine is an American remake of “REC” and stars Jennifer
Carpenter (Dexter) as a TV news journalist out on an assignment recording
a 48 hour cycle a group of LA firefighters routinely follow and proving she can
hold her own, playfully so, with the other firefighters that include Jay
Hernandez (Hostel) and Jonathan Schaech (The Forsaken). When her and her
cameraman follow the fire company on a call to an urban dwelling, she soon finds
herself along with a motley group of tenants and so forth at the center of an
epidemic no one has ever seen before, but is dangerous enough that no one is
being allowed to leave. They are being quarantined at gunpoint while the outside
world has been told lies regarding their safety. The camera captures the
gruesome spectacle that follows as people become infected with SPOILER
ALERT *** - a mutating hyper form of rabies. - ***
SPOILER ALERT
While Quarantine follows a formula similar to Cloverfield and The
Blair Witch Project, it actually has more in common with the style of point
of view camera work used in George A. Romero’s Diary Of The Dead only
the camera work is even less shaky because it is not seasoned film students
behind the testament, but a professional network videographer. The supporting
cast features Dania Ramirez (Heroes), Rade Sherbedgia (Eyes Wide Shut),
Greg Germann (Ally McBeal), and in a memorable role, Doug Jones (Pan’s
Labyrinth). The infected in this film react quite similarly as the infected
in 28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later and are not reanimated corpses though
their attacks are so frenzied that it takes more than a gunshot to bring one
down unless of course it is a direct shot to the head, which is the one sure way
to kill off just about anything and while the film is not a zombie flick, it’s
close enough to fit into the genre. Before learning it was actually a remake of
a foreign film, I thought Quarantine was another movie based on a video
game like the Resident Evil series. The official
theatrical website looked a bit like a game and featured a playable online
game in it too.
Jennifer Carpenter proves she can not only hold her own with the boys in crisis
mode, but in the film she does a fantastic job at appearing absolutely
terrified, which does a great deal to pull the viewer into the moment. She is
definitely an excellent “screamer” when it comes to the genre’s obligatory
woman in peril sequences. There is no official music soundtrack to Quarantine
since it is meant to mimic a video account of actual events, but the Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 Surround Soundtrack captures the excellent sound effects for the
building settling and things creeping off camera that it creates this real
unnerving aura that permeates the viewer even while the credits roll. English
and Portuguese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Soundtracks are encoded onto the
Blu-ray Disc along with French and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtracks and English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as
English, French, Portuguese and Spanish Language Subtitles are available as
options. The feature length audio commentary track with Writer/Director John
Erick Dowdle and Writer/Producer Drew Dowdle also features optional English
Subtitles, which is a nice touch, but I have two caveats about the extra value
features included on the Blu-ray Disc Edition. One is that not once is it ever
even mentioned by anyone that this is an American remake of a very recent
foreign feature release. Now if I did not bother to read the credits on the back
of the case or look up the film online, I’d think this was an original film,
which it is not. It’s a remake and the brothers could have expressed that fact
in their commentary. The other caveat I have is that the theatrical trailer is
not included on the disc itself though you can download either a standard
definition or high definition version from the Sony BD Live site. While on DVD
especially, many distributors have dropped including theatrical trailers and TV
spots on their video releases, I still feel that one should always be included
and one should not have to download it either. If you have an earlier Blu-ray
player that is not Profile 2.0/BD Live compliant then you are out of luck if you
expect to have the memorable trailer at all.
The film looks terrific with an AVC encoded 1080p high definition (1.85:1)
aspect ratio presentation that captures the film’s theatrical exhibition
presentation beautifully for home video users. When I screened the film on
Blu-ray there were no BD Live features exclusive to Quarantine, but that
could have changed or will change. The extra value features included on the disc
are identical to the DVD counterpart, which will be reviewed here presently.
Basically one gets three featurettes covering the making of the film, a look at
one of the memorable stunt sequences in the film that is a visual highlight and
an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the makeup design. High definition
trailers for Resident Evil: Degeneration, Passenger, Vacancy 2: The First
Cut, Lakeview Terrace, Pineapple Express, and Hancock wrap up the
bonus materials included on this Blu-ray Disc edition.
Quarantine is available on Blu-ray Disc now at retailers on and offline
courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
© Copyright 2009 By Mark Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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