New U.S. Release

Quarantine

By JOE LEYDON

'Quarantine'

A Sony Pictures Entertainment release of a Screen Gems presentation of a Vertigo Entertainment/Andale Pictures production. Produced by Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Sergio Aguero. Executive producers, Glenn S. Gainor, Drew Dowdle, Julio Fernandez, Carlos Fernandez. Directed by John Erick Dowdle. Screenplay, John Erick Dowdle, Drew Dowdle, based on the film "REC" written by Jaume Balaguero, Luis A. Berdejo, Paco Plaza.
 
Angela Vidal - Jennifer Carpenter
Scott Percival - Steve Harris
Jake - Jay Hernandez
George Fletcher - Johnathon Schaech
Danny Wilensky - Columbus Short
James McCreedy - Andrew Fiscella
Yuri - Rade Sherbedgia
Lawrence - Greg Germann
Bernard - Bernard White
Sadie - Dania Ramirez
 

Predicated on the idea that whiplash pans, inconstant focusing and other faux cinema verite embellishments can refresh even the moldiest of zombie-movie tropes, "Quarantine" is a modestly inventive, sporadically exciting thriller that nonetheless proves too faithful to its central conceit for its own good. Based on the 2007 Spanish-produced "REC," pic repeatedly sacrifices coherence, and undermines audience empathy, with its vertiginous shaky-cam approach. Poor word of mouth could hurt theatrical biz, but homevid viewers might bite.

Working from a well-structured script he co-wrote with sibling Drew Dowdle, director John Erick Dowdle ("The Poughkeepsie Tapes") deceptively dawdles over the opening scenes as reality TV reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman, Scott (Steve Harris), ingratiate themselves with their latest subjects, firefighters Jake (Jay Hernandez) and Fletcher (Johnathon Schaech).

The pace quickens only slightly when a 911 call leads the firefighters and two LAPD officers -- and, of course, Angela and Scott -- to a small downtown apartment building where an elderly resident is found covered in blood and breathing erratically. Unfortunately, she's not nearly as fragile as she appears: Without warning, she attacks one of the cops, ripping away a huge hunk of the poor guy's throat with her teeth.

A bad situation soon worsens as the luckless folks inside the building find the complex has been sealed off by the Center for Disease Control and various heavily armed military types, as whoever turned the old woman into a flesh-eating marauder is highly contagious.

Ratcheting up the suspense, helmer Dowdle unfolds the action more or less in real time while presenting everything from the p.o.v. of Scott -- or, more specifically, his video camera. (Think "Cloverfield," writ small.) "Quarantine" relies heavily on shadowy atmospherics and cheap-but-effective shocks, while the infection slowly but surely decreases the number of non-zombies in the building.

Fortunately, the bogeymen can be pounded into submission, or killed, with blunt instruments. Pic's highlight is a shocking, hilarious scene in which a zombie is beaten to a bloody pulp with the omniscient video camera.

Unfortunately, Dowdle goes overboard with the fake-reality-TV excess, dashing the camera hither and yon so frenetically that it's difficult, if not impossible, to keep track of who's where, and how individual characters might be interconnected emotionally or spatially. By the time Angela is flailing about in the darkness of an attic lab, her frenzied gestures may produce giggles, not shivers, from a sensory-overloaded aud.

Even so, perfs are credible across the board. Harris gets minimal screen time, but still manages to limn a compelling character. And considering the limitations imposed by the storytelling gimmick, pic's ending -- not unlike the finale of "The Blair Witch Project" -- is surprisingly satisfying. (It might have been even more impressive had it not been excerpted in the theatrical trailer.)

Credit d.p. Ken Seng's HD lensing and Jon Gary Steele's production design for raising the creepiness quotient.

Camera (Deluxe color), Ken Seng; editor, Elliot Greenberg; production designer, Jon Gary Steele; art director, Chris Cornwell; set decorator, Dena Roth; costume designer, Maya Lieberman; sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS/DTS), Shawn Holden; stunt coordinator, Lance Gilbert; associate producer, Nicolas Stern; assistant director, Adam Druxman; casting, Lindsey Hayes Kroeger, David H. Rapaport. Reviewed at AMC First Colony 24, Houston, Oct. 10, 2008. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 86 MIN.