Quarantine

Canadian Charles Wilkinson, who wrote and directed this banal affair, seems inadequately prepared to handle his subject: autocratic control of a populace, as a feature film. Made in British Columbia with a Canadian cast, some of whom have done good work elsewhither, this piece stars Beatrice Boepple (who, after a short stint in cinema, blessedly chose a career change) as a rebel against the system who nearly single-handedly routs a governmental conspiracy. Cinematographer Tobias Schliessler attempts to make some scenes interesting but the script is so jumbled and inane that one immediately wishes for events to move along toward some sort of conclusion. Despite a narrow operating budget, the writer/director attempts to graft a surfeit of sub-plots onto an already shallow point of view, with predictable results. Awkward usage of extras and stunt personnel seals the fate of any movement to achieve narrative flow, and one cannot help but wonder about what sort of film was intended to be made.

I'm only giving it an 8 out of 10 because it is a little dated so I wouldn't watch it too many times, however the content is great. Set in a dystopian 1984 - like Dictatorship regime where an 'alleged' disease is spreading out of control and quarantining as many people as possible seems to be the favoured cure.

Blown away to see 2 Stargate SG-1 celebs sharing as intense screen time as this. Garwin Sanford and Tom McBeath as opposing idealist both pitted against each other's ideals more so than each other personally.

Filmed in BC, Canada. I'm watching it right now which prompted me to write this. I fear it has been quite edited unfortunately, definitely for language, a few 'F words' , 'Moth---ker', I think there's some scenes cut to. I'd love to have a copy of this unedited and on DVD, I'll try looking into it.

My review was written in August 1990 after watching the film on Republic Pictures video cassette.

This Canadian sci-fier starts swiftly and promisingly in the genre of "1984" but soon sputters into boredom. Direct-to-video release is a tough slog.

Filmmaker Charles Wilkinson's half-baked storyline doesn't mention AIDS but has relevance in its more universal theme of a future police state in which the methods used to combat a plague have become gimmicks to control the populace.

It's been five years since suspected carriers were rounded up and quarantined, but Senator Ford (evil Jerry Wasserman) insists on keeping folks under lock and key. In fact, he's expanding the roundups and quashing any opposition, starting by arresting doctor Lee Taylor and putting him on trial.

After some good commando action scenes in which heroine Beatrice Boepple penetrates the headquarters, film settles into completely unconvincing cat and mouse action Script deficiencies rise to the surface: Boepple is Taylor's daughter, she kidnaps computer expert Garwin Sanford who's Wassermans' chief assistant, Sanford is two-timing Wasserman by bedding down his wife Michele Goodger, etc. The convoluted relationships among all the principals makes for zero credibility.

The germ of an idea here on how repressive tactics, called for in the name of some national security emergency, can become standard operating procedure gets lost. Sharper scripting could have driven this theme home as well as bringing out the AIDS metaphor more concretely.

Acting is okay: Boepple handles fighting and loving scenes well. Tech credits don't do justice to the sci-fi premise.

In an authoritarian society, a quarantine committee has been sending suspected infected into an isolation concentration camp for the last 1825 days. The system does not work. Both sick and unsick are packed together. Senator Ford ruthlessly determines the infected no matter how limited the evidence. Revolutionary Ivan Joad tries to assassinate Ford. She barely escapes taking important programmer Spencer Crown hostage. Eventually, Spencer joins her in trying to overthrow the system.

This premise has more prevalence today than ever before. For that, I could give this movie an extra point. It was always an interesting premise. It's just more meaningful in 2020. It's too bad that it looks so crappy. It's a cheap Canadian sci-fi film. It's definitely a B-movie. It has a few good actors which makes it almost passable.