Quarentena 2

While QUARANTINE was the American remake of the Spanish zombie film REC, QUARANTINE 2: TERMINAL is not a remake of REC's sequel, REC 2. Instead, it's a stand-alone sequel that sees a group of survivors struggling to cope when one of their number is infected during a routine flight from LAX.

Sadly, QUARANTINE 2 turns out to be as familiar and by rote as you'd expect from this stagnating genre. The whole zombie thing has truly be done to death (or should that be un-death?) these past few years, and nowhere is that more evident than here. In fact, this isn't even the first zombies-on-a-plane film I've watched; I've already had the misfortune of sitting through FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, which was equally poor.

Most of the film is set within the bowels of an airport terminal, which just has the normal disused warehouse look to it. The small cast are full of uninteresting characters and the acting is uniformly bland from the entire group. The director has some experience of writing cheesy B-movies but his inexperience behind the camera shows. They also get rid of the whole 'found footage' aspect here, which was a bit disappointing; at least it would have made the attempted scares more immediate.

In Los Angeles, the police put a residential building in quarantine. Meanwhile, the flight attendants of the Trans Sky Air Jenny (Mercedes Masöhn) and Paula (Bre Blair) are welcoming the passengers of the flight TS Air 318 from Los Angeles to Kansas City with Captain Forrest (John Curran) and Co-Pilot Wilsy (Andrew Benator). The teacher Henry (Josh Cooker) brings a cage of hamsters to the cabin, but Jenny tells him that it should be transported in the cargo hold. However, one hamster bites the fingertip of the fat passenger Ralph (George Back).

Sooner, Ralph vomits and becomes aggressive, attacking Paula. The male passengers help Jenny and lock Ralph in the bathroom while Captain Forrest requests an emergency landing. When they land in the airport, they find all the gates closed and the Captain heads the plane to an abandoned terminal. The employee Ed (Ignacio Serricchio) helps the crew and passenger to reach the exit, but they find that they are closed. Sooner they discover that the place is in quarantine and there is no way out.

"Quarentine 2: Terminal" is a surprisingly entertaining horror film, with a refreshing story of deadly virus and good performances. My expectations were very low, since the first "Quarentine" is a simple rip- off of "REC". However, the writers have succeeded in this American sequel, since they changed the religious focus of "REC 2" that happens inside the same building to a terrorist (the present American paranoia) view, with the virus outbreak in a flight. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Quarentena 2" ("Quarentine 2")

A plane is taken over by a mysterious virus. When the plane lands it is placed under quarantine. Now a group of survivors must band together to survive the quarantine.

A sequel to a remake... that is the first thing that will come to your mind. First they remade "Rec" and now they have made a sequel to that remake. (Oddly enough, "Rec 2" has a preview on this DVD.) But do not be fooled... this film diverges from the remake and has nothing to do with "Rec", so trying to compare them is more than just a tad unfair.

Many people consider this film to be better than the first one (including Fangoria's Michael Gingold), which initially came as a shock to me. But those people may just be more vocal. The silent majority (those who vote on IMDb) currently (August 2, 2011) have the first film at 6.1 and the sequel at 5.5 -- neither are numbers to brag about, but one hopes to get at least a 6, right? I will remain silent on this debate, though I will say this film was better than expected.

In fact, let me lay it on the line: this might be the most pleasant surprise of the year. While I feel as a horror fan I was obligated to at least check it out (and not necessarily like it), I found the film kept my attention very well, even in the wee hours of the night. I would recommend this to just about anyone -- even if they never saw the first film! (The connection is mild and easily explained, so you need not be intimately familiar with the first.)

The DVD is not much to speak of -- there are no special features whatsoever, aside from some previews (which are more annoying than anything, considering that if you watch the movie five years from now, they will not be new anymore). But the film itself has enough action, gore and more to sell itself, at least for a rental.

The plot is thin, pretty much "Night of the Living Dead" or "The Crazies" but in a different location. But then, most films (especially horror) are derivative, so I will not harp on them too much for this. They make up for it with some decent gore, blood and vomit (one head-bashing scene is pretty great). I am sad the director chose to tastefully censor a suicide, but oh well.

The scene that will stick in your mind? A needle sequence that might make many viewers squeamish! I will say it is the best needle scene I can recall since Dario Argento's "Opera". If you watch this film for no other reason, let this be why. I give it my seal of approval.

There isn't really all that much to say about this movie, except that it's pretty much more of the same. It wears its influences on its sleeve, being highly derivative of 28 Days Later, which itself was already fairly derivative. If this is a big problem for you, I'd suggest that you avoid Quarantine 2, because you're just going to get mad at how little originality is on display.

Instead of remaking Rec 2, this movie is more of a standalone story set in the same universe as Quarantine. This time, instead of being set in an apartment complex, it's briefly set on an airplane, then a terminal. Rec (and Quarantine, the American remake) was notable for being shot first person, while this movie is not. That might disappoint some people, but I wasn't really fond of the trend in the first place. The story is contemporaneous with the story of the first movie, with brief references to it here and there. You don't need to have seen the first movie, but that's partially because this movie is so derivative of other movies, you've already seen this plot several times before. That said, as far as these sorts of movies go, this was fairly well acted and competently directed, though the director falls back on using extremely loud noises as a rather annoying crutch. Just when you think there might be character development, extended dialogue, or a moment for reflection, there's an extremely loud noise and a rabid person bursts through a wall. Often, first time directors will err on the side of slow pacing, though I think the characters obviously suffered a bit for the relentlessly fast pacing. The writer/director also wrote Ghost Ship, which was laughably bad. Unfortunately, he hasn't really progressed as a writer since then. I guess if you didn't mind Ghost Ship, you won't be offended by this, either. However, as silly as I found Rec 2's supernatural aspect, it was an interesting twist to the whole "rage virus" subgenre of horror movies. Quarantine 2 plays it straight and just lets loose a bunch of rabid humans on a clichéd group of people who perpetually seem to populate the scripts of hack writers.

If I seem overly harsh, it's only because I'm tired of watching the same movie over and over with very little variation. If you're a fan of scifi/action/horror movies, you've seen this all before, right down to the characters, the action sequences, and the supposed "homages". Why bother being original if nobody calls you on your lack of creativity?

Quarantine : the terminal¨ by John Pogue deals with a plane is taken over by a terrifying virus , when it lands it is placed under quarantine . Passengers soon learn that a man has been infected by something unknown and after being attacked by the zombie-like people . All of them are trapped inside a terminal quarantined , after the outbreak of the mysterious virus which becomes humans into bloodthirsty murderers and then getaway is not an option . A flight attendant Jenny (Mercedes Mason) leads the distressed people inside the quarantined building and occupying to spend themselves the night against the zombies . But communication means have been cut-off and no way out . Now an unfortunate bunch of survivors must band together to survive the quarantine when they are brutally attacked by psycho people who have been possessed by strange and eerie forces . The astonishing group attempts the escape but they only encounter that have been sealed off and try to avoid the bloody attacks .

Horror story filled with suspense , restless terror , thrills and lots of gore and blood . Regular follow-up full of eerie scenes with zombies and creepy attacks . This following deals with the most deadly mutant virus just went airborne , it packs a sinister and horrifying atmosphere by means of shaky camera as well as the former Spanish film titled ¨REC¨ . This sequel to one of the highest earning horror movies of the last years titled ¨Rec¨ , that was shot in documentary style and itself takes place from point of sight from cameraman . It was followed by Rec II and Rec III , Genesis , all of them written/produced/directed by Paco Plaza and Jaume Balaguero , two magnificent experts on terror genre . And the American remake : ¨Quarantine¨ , a solid film , itself is realized in similar premise to the Spanish originals , it was directed by John Erik Dowdle with a good cast as Jennifer Carpenter , Jay Hernandez , Johnathon Schaech , Steve Harris and Rade Serbedzija . Being continued by this ¨Quarantine 2: Terminal¨ (original title) with unknown cast as Josh Cooke , Mattie Liptak , Ignacio Serricchio , Bre Blair , Noree Victoria , it is an acceptable movie but mediocre , a so-so terror story plenty of suspense , restless horror , and in thrilling style . The flesh-eating infected appearances deliver the goods , plenty of screams , shocks and tension . The horror moments are compactly made and fast-moving . It packs tension , shocks , thrills , chills and lots of gore and blood , but the original is far superior . Well worth seeing if you like videos and shaky cameras , such us : ¨Blair witch project¨, ¨28 Days/Weeks¨ and ¨Cloverfield¨ . It has a dark cinematography and exciting musical score . The picture was professionally directed , but with no originality , by John Pogue who has written/produced/directed various successful films , such as : ¨Quiet ones¨ , ¨Ghost ship¨ , ¨Us Marshals¨ , ¨The Fast and the Furious¨ and ¨Skulls 2¨ . Rating : 5,5 , passable follow-up that will appeal to horror fans