Every now and then, Jim uses his "MyCokeRewards" points, because he drinks an ungodly amount of Coke Zero, and we rent free movies.
Fortunately, we both agreed on two horror movies, and one of them was Quarantine.
We watched the preview on OnDemand and I was pumped!
Here's the trailer...so great:
Quarantine is the 2008 remake to the 2007 Spanish film, REC.
Here's the trailer for REC:
You can watch the entire film for REC here, it's a playlist separated into parts. That's what I did. Trust me, it's great.
Quarantine is almost shot-for-shot identical to REC. Here's the plot:
Basically, a news reporter (all pictures taken from Quarantine stills, btw):
and cameraman (Angela and Scott...or Pablo if you're watching REC) are filming a night segment following around fire fighters in Los Angeles. Everything is filmed as though you are behind the camera lens, kind of like Cloverfield, but less shakey for the most part. Anyway, Angela meets and becomes friendly with two firefighters, Fletch and Jake. They receive a call to an apartment building, where they discover a woman drooling blood, and foaming at the mouth.
(This might not actually be the woman in the beginning, I can't really remember, but this pic is pretty sweet).
Two police officers are already there, along with Fletch and Jake, and many of the apartment tenants. The woman attacks one of the police officers:
and throws Fletch over the stairwell.
Both are bitten by the woman.
At this point, the law enforcement and SWAT teams outside board up the building, quarantining it off from the rest of the world. Snipers are set up to not let anyone escape the building. The electricty goes out, and cell phone services are cut off. We also find out after some time in the movie when Angela, Scott, and some tenants sneak upstairs to an old tv, that the chief of police assures news reporters outside that "everyone has been evacuated". Which isn't true. Obviously. There is then an awesome scene where Scott beats an infected girl to death with the camera lens. Incredible.
Camera smash death scene doesn't happen in REC, which is a shame.
As time goes on, people in the building are getting sick, bitten, and become infected and insane. Fletch, despite a major compound fracture and a major fall on his face earlier, is up and walking...and foaming at the mouth.
They sedate Fletch and bring him to the back where the Police officer who was bitten and another sick girl are being contained. A veterinarian living in the complex tends to the wounds and discovers that the symptoms being suffered are like accelerated Rabies that he's seen in animals.
Everyone is forced to wait in the lobby area in a group, and as they do a headcount, it is learned that there was a man from Boston renting the attic apartment but hasn't been seen for over a month. At this point, Angela interviews a young girl and her mother who explain that she has bronchitis and her dog, Max, was sick too, so her dad brought him to the vet and can't get back into the building.
At this point, the other remaining police officer receives word that the CDC is coming in to take blood samples and assess the wounded. The vet tells them that a blood sample can't determine rabies, but rather a brain sample. This causes a scuffle.
Anyway, the CDC comes in in their space suits
and they begin drilling into Fletch's skull. Fletch comes to and attacks one of the CDC men. The other CDC guy tells Jake and the rest of the people in the building that a sick dog was brought the vet and began attacking and killing the other animals. Angela ties this together with her earlier interview and discovers that the little girl with the dog Max is infected.
The little girl bites her mother, and runs off. This causes a frenzy and everyone is running around and Jake exclaims "We've lost control of the building". Angela begins to suffer an emotional breakdown, and everyone is running for their lives.
People are bitten, one guy tries to escape and is shot by a sniper (so much for everyone being evacuated huh?).
The landlord tells Jake and Angela that there is an escape through a drainpipe in the sewer, but that the keys are on the third floor. They make it up, get the keys, but Jake is killed by the now-infected landlord.
Angela and the cameraman are the only two left. They try to get downstairs, but are surrounded by the infected, so they are forced to go upstairs. They somehow end up in the Boston man's attic apartment and think that he is gone and the room is vacant.
They find news articles about doomsday and discover that the Boston man has been experimenting with the virus that has infected everyone. They end up having the light blown out by an infected boy, and use night vision to see the emaciated and gaunt Boston tenant roaming around in the dark. Angela can't see anything, only Scott through the camera, and it is an extremely intense moment. Angela ends up making noise, causing the insanely creepy Boston man to attack Scott and eat him. Angela, now searching in the dark, finds the camera, is attacked as well...drops the camera...tries to drag herself toward it in the pitch black, and is dragged off into the darkness.
Terrifying.
At first, I didn't recognize anyone, but then...I picked out that Fletch was played by Johnathan Schaech (Jimmy from That Thing You Do) and Jake the hunky fireman was played by Jay Hernandez (Crazy/Beautiful and Hostel) as the two firemen. I also was so impressed by the star of the movie, Jennifer Carpenter, that I looked her up and she is from The Exorcism of Emily Rose, White Chicks, and she is married to Michael C. Hall from Six Feet Under and Dexter.
I felt that the acting in this was very believeable. Angela, although sometimes annoying with her freaking out, was pretty accurate as to how I think anyone would behave in that given situation. The infected were awesome, vomitting blood, biting, screeching. It was really, really scary. I jumped about 6 or 7 different times. The filming through the camera lens was even more scary because you felt like you were right there in it. This movie must have been great at the theaters.
Seriously, rent this movie, or even watch REC....or both....you will love them!
