Those of you who know me can attest to the fact that I rarely get out to see a movie in the theaters.  Time and our 21 month old daughter are the main reasons behind that fact which is why this section contains far more music reviews than movies.  However, with Monday off work and baby sitters lined up, we actually stepped foot into a real theater and watched a movie.  Not a choice of my wife’s, we went to see Quarantine.

From the Sony Pictures official website, here is the film synopsis:

Television reporter Angela Vidal and her cameraman are assigned to spend the night shift with a Los Angeles Fire Station.  After a routine 911 call takes them to a small apartment building, they find police officers already on the scene in response to blood curdling screams coming from one of the apartment units.  They soon learn that a woman living in the building has been infected by something unknown.  After a few of the residents are viciously attacked, they try to escape with the news crew in tow, only to find that the CDC has quarantined the building.  Phones, internet, televisions and cell phone access have been cut-off, and officials are not relaying information to those locked inside.  When the quarantine is finally lifted, the only evidence of what took place is the news crews videotape.

Before I get started, let it be known that I am a huge horror movie fan.  My favorite horror flick of all time would be the original Night of the Living Dead.  I have always enjoyed these movies and probably always will.  As time has passed and more of these movies are released, sadly, I find it harder to truly enjoy them because I have become increasingly critical of the films.

Yet, Quarantine did not disappoint me.

I saw a mixture of other films brought into this: Silence of the Lambs, 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, Cloverfield, and what I felt was a bit of the The Blair Witch Project.

As with Cloverfield, the manner in which this movie was shot I found impressive.  It seems more editing and coordination is needed in order to pull it off effectively.  The darkness of the environment and surroundings helped play into the effect that they wanted to achieve with the way it was filmed.  There were several scenes that I felt were really well done.  Not to give anything away here, but one of the scenes in particular one of the characters is in the foreground scared while your attention is clearly drawn to what is behind the character.  Excellent camera positioning and showing little of “the monster” to create even more drama.  Combine this with the added effect that what you are watching is evidence of an account (such as Blair Witch and even Cloverfield) and I think you have a pretty good combo.

For any fan of scary flicks, you have to know how this will end, especially after reading the synopsis, yet the journey does not disappoint.  The move goes from dark and continues the downward spiral past outright despair and fear.  As you get further into the story, the tension increases.  The lighting gets darker and the movements become jerkier (is that a word?) and the level of gore and violence intensifies as well.

When the movie was over, my wife (who hates these movies) asked me what was different about this one compared to the others.  Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, and to some extent 28 Days Later, and most of the movies of this type feature people who have confined themselves to a space for defense.  However, this movie was different in that a group of people were locked down to a single space without knowing what was going on or how to get out.  Simple twist but I really thought it played out well on screen.

There were other many similar elements as seen in other movies, but overall, I liked the execution here.  Much like the reviews of Blair Witch and Cloverfield, the filming was reported to give viewers headaches.  While those two movies did not bother me, this one did give me a bit of a headache, but only toward the end when the pace really started to pick up.  All in all, I enjoyed the pace, progression, effects, and story.

I don’t do stars or thumbs for rating.  My rating is simply whether or not the movie is worth seeing in the theater and whether or not it is worth purchasing when it comes out on DVD.  My answer to both is a resounding yes.