“That’s how Dad did it, that’s how America does it… and it’s worked out pretty well so far.”
T. Stark was sales-pitching his newest weapon when he delivered that line, but he could have been talking about the U.S.’s aggressive Hey! Wait a minute! We should have made that! Wait, we just did. Nevermind attitude when it comes to foreign horror flicks. Quarantine is the remake of [Rec], a Spanish horror (S-Horror?) movie that was released way back in 2007 to some acclaim. By the way, it’s a fairly labyrinthine decision-making process that allows for this following line of thinking: “Subtitles would adversely impact the financial possibilities for this story in U.S. theaters. Do you think we can get Rade Serbedzija for our remake?”
The newly released trailer for the redo (click here) makes it look like a cross between Cloverfield and the little seen (but worth seeing) Right at Your Door. The story follows a television reporter that is doing a piece on a group of firefighters. When they leave to answer an emergency call at an apartment building, the reporter and her cameraman tag along to capture the action. In the spooky building, things get a little out of hand. Out of hand = monster outbreak. To make matters worse, the group gets trapped in the apartment building once the government finds out that the monstervirus is spreading. The cameraman, as tradition dictates, keeps rolling.
Jennifer Carpenter, the twitchy actress who screamed her lungs out in The Exorcism of Emily Rose and who plays the hero serial killer’s sis on Showtime’s great Dexter, is the star here. I like Carpenter, and it’s nice to see her getting more and more work. I mean it wasn’t that long ago that she was starring in cable staple Lethal Eviction alongside Judd Nelson and Stacey Dash. Way to pick up sticks, J.C.! Anyway, she may be the star, but it’s going to be pretty damn hard for her to shine with the combustible combo of Serbedzija and Johnathon Schaech bringing their respective A-games.
The movie opens on October 17th. However, for those that have taken solemn vows to keep things real (and have region-free DVD players), the original can currently be pre-ordered from Amazon (click here).
* Thanks to Horror-Movies.ca for the picture.