Quarantine

Horror from behind a hand-held camera has never looked so good as it does in the new “zombie” movie, Quarantine.

Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott (Steve Harris) are filming a special about the exciting, non-stop life of the local Fire Department. They arrive for the night shift, and find things completely calm and non-eventful. They spend some time getting to know the firemen, their good and bad sides. The night is full of fun and laughter. That is until they get a call to an apartment building where a woman is screaming bloody murder.

Angela and Scott, alongside their new fireman friends, Jake (Jay Hernandez) and George (Johnathon Schaech), enter the building, and make their way up to the woman's apartment with two police men, filming the entire time. The woman they find is erratic and disturbed. They try to sooth her and calm her down, unsuccessfully, especially after she attacks one of the police officers. The woman seems to be infected by something, something that is making her aggressive, and progressively less human. This infection seems to be spreading throughout the tenants that have been bitten by an infected person.

Although things couldn't seem to get worse, they do when they all get cut off from the outside world by quarantine. No phones, or television to explain what is going on. From here on out, shit hits the fan inside the apartment building, for everyone now trapped inside, taping everything for the world to see.

While I have come to not expect much of a plot from horror movies, the way that lays out the explanations for the zombie like creatures was greatly appreciated. This is mainly due to the fact that it comes the way you would expect it to if it were real life. Overall, the plot, the acting, the movie as a whole, felt very real, which kept the suspense high throughout the entire movie. And trust me, this movie was suspenseful, and terrifying from beginning to end.

Jennifer Carpenter (“Dexter”) was surprisingly good in this movie. In her television role, she comes off harsh, and very in your face, but she is very toned down in this movie, and I liked her a lot more.

The other main actors, Jay Hernandez (Lakeview Terrace) and Steve Harris (Minority Report) were also good, and really added to the movie. Hernandez has an amazing presence on screen, and I am so glad that he keeps getting roles in good movies. I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys horror movies, and doesn't mind movies filmed to look like they are from a hand held camera.

Final Words: Saw it. Liked it. Jake was mercilessly killing everything, and I liked it.