It was only a matter of time before an American version of the excellent Spanish horror [Rec] appeared. Thankfully, John Erick Dowdle’s Los Angeles adaptation takes few liberties with the original.
If it is too hysterical and lacking in characterisation to achieve the same power, at least it doesn’t mess about with the story.
Jennifer Carpenter plays a young TV reporter, out to get a jolly story from the LA Fire Department one night. She winds up in an old apartment block where a screaming old woman starts biting the firemen who come to rescue her, causing anyone who comes near to become as rabid as she is.
Meanwhile, everyone in the building finds themselves locked in, while those outside gather that something highly infectious is within.
When not in a state of high hysteria, the girl gets her cameraman to keep shooting on his handheld equipment, if only to make a record of the implausible events. The Spanish did it all a little better but Carpenter rivals her European counterpart in hollering blue murder.
Quarantine
Cert: 18
