Quarantine (2008)

O Masterpiece
O Excellent
O Good
X OK
O Mediocrity
O Avoid

Review by Jason Pyles / January 18, 2009

Exactly a year ago today I saw “Cloverfield” upon its theater release, and I loved it. In fact, I ranked “Cloverfield” the third best film of 2008 (acknowledging that I only saw a limited number of critically acclaimed films last year).

“Quarantine,” a much lesser movie, seems to be modeled after “Cloverfield’s” entertaining subjective point-of-view gimmick: I call it “spectator casting,” which is where we, the viewers, are figuratively dragged out of our seats and directly involved in the film. In both “Cloverfield” and “Quarantine,” we essentially become the cameramen.

The spectator always identifies with the camera, because it is the universe-bridging eye that enables us to peer into the world portrayed within the film. Indeed, the exploitation of this association is not new to film or television. There have been variations on this technique for quite some time.

Alfred Hitchcock pulled us into his pictures by trapping us into owning some of his characters’ guilt: We become co-voyeurs in “Rear Window” (1954), as well as in “Psycho” (1960); the latter even has us sympathizing with Norman Bates, a murderer, edging us creepily close to becoming his co-conspirators.

Then on TV, “M*A*S*H” had an episode titled “Point of View” (1978) [Season 7, Episode 10], where our subjective point of view made us the patient, as the cast of the show spoke directly to us (the camera).

And of course, I don’t cite these examples as the first instances of employing this spectator casting device. Unfortunately, I can’t readily reference the first example (perhaps it was the last shot of Porter’s “The Great Train Robbery” (1903), when that six-shooter is unloaded at us).

All this unnecessary prelude is noted for its cinematic interest and merely to state that “Quarantine” isn’t overly novel, though it’s somewhat unusual.

Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) works the evening shift as a news reporter for a local TV station in Los Angeles. She and her faithful cameraman, Scott (Steve Harris), are doing a feature story where they follow L.A.’s finest (the fire department) on some 911 calls.

It turns out that they receive a medical call about some old lady who’s screaming abnormally. This is the portion you’ve probably seen on the previews. The lady has some alarming problems, and bloodshed ensues, all while the camera keeps rolling. But “Quarantine” isn’t about this one lady, as the previews would lead you to believe. Basically, it’s another zombie movie that begins unsettlingly well and progressively transgresses toward mediocrity as it proceeds all the way overboard.

Both “Cloverfield” and “Quarantine” have been criticized for making their viewers experience motion sickness with their shaky, handheld cinematography. “Cloverfield” was tolerable, but the photography in “Quarantine” is irritatingly erratic, which was probably intended to heighten the horror, but alas, it diminishes the overall production.

“Quarantine” does do something original that I don’t think I’ve seen in any other movie: At one point the cameraman uses his camera to pummel “something” to death. Since we identify with the camera, this act makes us the killer — a perverse but brilliant twist on Hitchcockian transference of guilt.

Directed by John Erick Dowdle
Jennifer Carpenter / Steve Harris / Jay Hernandez
Thriller / Horror 89 min.
MPAA: R (for bloody violent and disturbing content, terror and language)

U.S. Release Date: October 10, 2008
Copyright 2008: 318