They won't let us out.

Hello I am the movie encyclopedia and if no one else will see it, I will.

Cinema Verite has become a common part of todays film and television culture. The Office, NYPD Blue, Southland, Cloverfield, Blair Witch Project and Quarantine are all shot in Cinema Verite. Cinema Verite is french for cinema of truth. Essentially its when a film has actors and props and special effects and all that but is shot totally hand held like a documentary. Its a documentary style of filmmaking without being a documentary. But you arent supposed to tell that.

Quarantine is a shot for shot (with the exception of a few lines added) remake of the Spanish horror sensation REC. REC and Quarantine are about a newslady, Angela (Jennifer Carpenter) in Quarantine, and her camera man, Scott (Steve Harris) in Quarantine, shadowing their local fire department for a profile piece that will be shown on the local news. After getting to know the whole fire department, sliding down the pool, eating, and walking into the locker room, they get called to a local apartment complex. The newslady and the camera man follow two firemen around the building only to realize that its filled with rabies infected people (zombies but thats not PC anymore) and they are locked inside because of a Quarantine.

The first thing Im going to say is Jennifer Carpenter and Steve Harris worked their butts off in this movie. Steve is constantly carrying this heavy camera around with him (you see his feet and arms) and saying things every now and again and Jennifer is out in front of the camera trying to be really expressive and very animated in her performance so she doesnt look boring to the viewer. Where Cloverfield failed by being lights flickeringly cheesy Quarantine shines by being nail bitingly tense and full of scares. I was actually rattled once when my phone rang because it was so tense.

The second thing I'll say is that they do a great job making everything seem organic in this movie. Nothing seems fake or cheesy and it looks like what you see with the camera is what is really going on. This is great for the film. Ill also say that it isnt as shaky and wild as some of the other hand held horrors out there.

A lot of people hate on this movie because of the original. And the original IS better. But the US version is great in its own way and does a lot of justice to the source material...something I cant say for many other horror US remakes. So definetly check this one out.

MY VERDICT: SEE IT