Welcome on and all to the 9th part of my weekly blog feature, The 52 In 52. Before you begin reading this article check out last weeks article on Imperium. As always if you have a comment or any feedback on this article or any other leave a comment in the section below this post or by following me on Instagram and Twitter.
I'm going to try something a little different this week. I, like many follow a Vegan lifestyle. Whilst diet is important so are other factors of life such as clothing. I urge all of you, Vegan or not to check out Selfless Soul. This company is a great small business that helps not only promote Veganism but, Eco friendly apparel in general. This is not a paid advertisement it is me simply talking about a company that I think are great. Head over to @by_selfless_soul to check out more from this great little company.
As I mentioned before I'm going to talk about the 2008 horror movie, Quarantine. It's not secret that I'm not a huge fan of remakes so I was a little hesitant to watch this remake of Spanish found footage horror REC. Quarantine was directed by John Erick Dowdle who went on to direct other horror films such as the M Night Shyamalan adapted, Devil and As Above, So Below. Quarantine follows Angela Vidal and her camera man, Scott Percival as they follow a Los Angeles fire department crew for a night. Events take a turn for the strange when they are called to an apartment building that seems more like a crime scene. Sheer horror lurks throughout the building as it is quarantined from the rest of the world.
This is the first film I have watched in the 9 weeks I have been writing this feature that I was left a little flat by. Did I hate Quarantine ? not really I enjoyed it enough but I felt it didn't really live up to the original. The story was very similar to the original however, I felt the ending, slightly different from REC, whilst it made more sense to the setting of the film was not as hard hitting as the original. I really enjoyed the use of character to drive the story, each person had something to add to the story and their narratives unfold at a good pace but, I felt that some of the death scenes, especially towards the end of the film were rushed.
There were little nods to REC that I enjoyed. I'm glad that the basis of the story remained the same, giving the reason for filming a purpose instead of a character simply filming an incident which happens a lot in the found footage genre. The building that the film takes place in is very similar in style to the building used in REC. There are a few things lost with a big studio remake. Whilst the original felt realistic and natural Quarantine feels a little bit too slick in comparison, having Sabrina Carpenter (Dexter) and Jay Hernandez (Hostel, Magnum PI) as the leads also loses some of the realism of the original. The camera work is shaky to the point of being a little annoying.
The effects work throughout is well done. There is a risk of over doing it with the gore and blood in films like Quarantine but, the gore is used sparsely at first and increased as the horror unfolds. There is a claustrophobia to Quarantine that makes it more suspenseful than the usual found footage fare.
Whilst I did enjoy Quarantine I wasn't completely convinced. I feel that this film simply exists for the simple fact that people are too lazy to watch a film with subtitles. Quarantine does have it's charm but, I feel that with a little more time and creativity it could have been a much different film that doesn't simply rehash a much superior film in REC.
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