Quarantine



Reporter Angela Vidal and her cameraman Scott are doing a story on the night shift of the local firefighters to see what it is they do every day. So far it’s been very quiet, but they’re excited to finally get some “action” when a call finally comes in. But what’s just supposed to be a routine, late-night medical distress call from an apartment complex turns into a night of horrors when the woman in distress seriously wounds one of the responding officers. But things get worse when everyone runs downstairs to get the man medical help, only to discover that the building they’re in has been completely locked down by the CDC, trapping everyone inside. Confusion over the situation quickly leads to panic, as whatever disease that caused the woman upstairs to become violent starts to spread through the other residents of the complex, forcing everyone inside who isn’t infected to fend for themselves.



Quarantine is an American found footage horror film from 2008, and is a remake of the Spanish horror film REC from just a year prior. The film became rather infamous at the time of release, for spoilering the final seconds of the film, both in the trailer AND in several variations of the movie poster. Which, honestly, is a dick move and really makes me wonder who the hell was in charge of marketing. But as for the remake itself it’s…actually pretty good? Or at least it’s surprisingly faithful to the original, both in content and tone, even despite the various changes it made. Of course, even after re-watching the two films I’d still give REC the edge of being the better movie, but shockingly I think Quarantine comes in at a close second due to the clear effort they put into it.



The biggest and most significant difference between the films lies in the ending, where the cause for the outbreak is revealed. In the original a rather vague religious explanation is given, and then further expounded upon in the sequel. But in Quarantine the explanation is changed into a form of biological warfare, specifically a very nasty, fast-acting, and highly contagious and potent form of rabies. Neither reasoning changes the behavior of the infected, as the inflicted characters in both films act similar to what viewers would likely expect from crazed, bloodthirsty zombies. However, the English version does do a better job of explaining the condition and what’s going on. Which does sort of take out some of the mystery present in the original film, but is probably a better fit for viewers who don’t like endings that feel so hazy. Because though REC does offer an explanation for the events in the film, it’s still very indistinct and a lot of it is done via quick glances at newspaper clippings, so it can be very easy to miss with only one viewing. Hence the more detailed explanation seen in REC 2.



Beyond that large discrepancy, the film is almost a shot-for-shot remake of the original, just with a slightly different floor plan for the apartment complex from the original film (though the lobby looks to have been rather faithfully recreated.) So all the other differences are quite minor, with some working in the film’s favor, and some not.

For instance, REC does a much better job of making you feel sympathy for its characters. At one point Angela performs an interview with all the various residents of the complex, so we get a feel for each of them and a small glimpse into their lives. But while Quarantine also has a similar interview scene it limits that interview to only two characters, presumably because they’re the only two truly relevant to the plot. So instead of trying to invoke sympathy or connection to the other characters, the English version just treats them more like the slaughter fodder they are.

Another notable difference is how Angela is portrayed. In REC Manuela Velasco’s Angela has more of a calm determination surrounding her. Sure, she might scream or freak out from time to time, but you can tell she’s also transitioned into “survival” mode at some point and trying to think her way out of things. But Jennifer Carpenter’s portrayal of Angela is a lot more, hrmmm, shall we say desperate? She screams more, she panics, and by the end she’s so freaked out that her cameraman has to frequently reassure her just to try to calm her down. She never gets to “survival” mode, instead she has permanently stalled two gears earlier at “scared shitless” and that’s pretty much where she stays. And while her inability to chill for more than five seconds at a time can end up being a little grating, it also honestly feels more genuine. Because as annoying as her sniveling may be at times, it’s probably a more accurate presentation of how most of us would react if we found ourselves in a similar situation, so I can’t really fault her too much for it.



So color me shocked that out of the remakes I watched this month, that the found footage Quarantine probably ends up being the best of the bunch. It makes a few changes, but still ends up being surprisingly faithful, and accurate and honest in tone to the original. It looks good, the performances are great, and it even honors the original’s choice of soundtrack by not having a soundtrack at all. It’s still not quite as good as REC is, but unlike some other remakes you can tell that the filmmakers had respect for the source material and tried to keep the new film as faithful as possible. So while REC still edges it out, Quarantine is an acceptable alternative if you find you’re not in the mood for subtitles that day.

Quarantine is available on a variety of streaming services.

Quarantine is also available on DVD and Bluray.

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