[Rec]. Quarantine. Fisticuffs.
I admit it, right from the get-go: I don’t get remakes. I just don’t. That being said, when I saw Rec a month or so ago and it immediately became my favorite horror film in years, my favorite zombie flick maybe ever…let’s just say it wasn’t looking good for Quarantine. I love scary movies–there’s really nothing like the rush of seeing a killer horror for the first time–but I’ve realized in my ripe old age that I have about zero faith in the genre. And when you start throwing numbers at the end of titles or re-recording them in English, that’s when I officially become a skeptic.
And I say “re-record” instead of “remake” consciously. Because in a lot of ways, that’s what Quarantine feels like. So much is the same, the way things go down, when, to whom. Even the apartment building looks like the very same one from the original. And in a way, I don’t know, I guess that’s fine–only because I know that if they’d changed everything I’d probably complain about that, too. But somewhere down the Quarantine line–beside a few choice alterations here and there–”loyalty” starts to feel weirdly close to “thievery.” And you gotta stop and ask yourself, Why was this film made?
For anyone who doesn’t know, both movies revolve around a TV hostess and her cameraman, shadowing a couple firefighters to capture what a typical night in a firehouse is like. So when a call comes in, they tag along. Except things go bad when a sick old woman attacks a cop. Then, without explanation, police outside have the building locked up and sealed shut.
And I’m trying to be fair here. Part of me knows that if I’d have seen Quarantine first, who knows, I might be more enthusiastic about it now. So in that way, you might say Rec “ruined” me. But in the words of the great William Shatner, “I can’t get behind that kinda logic!” If that were the case it would only be so because the latter stole its script and style and story from the former. Quarantine does have its scares, it’s tense, enjoyable–Jennifer Carpenter is great as always. But when Rec was over, I was done. My skin was crawling, my fists were clenched. I had that completely irrational hesitation for a second before I opened my bedroom door, like maybe someone could be out there. It was like I was 7 years old again, swimming in my pool and imaging the Jaws music then freaking out, flailing as fast as I could to the ledge. But I didn’t have any of that with Quarantine. Which sucks. So really, what’s the point?
Rec 2 (which I first wrote about last month, “Do You Dare Return?”) has already been screening for a few weeks at film festivals and will release widely in Spain on October 2nd (get it? Oct. 2, Rec 2? the stuff of marketing genius, right there) So who knows when non-Spanish normal people will get to sink their teeth into it, but check out the teaser embedded below. Personally, I think it’s pretty cool, so vague and ominous. A lot of horror trailers ruin some solid scares because they give things away in their promos, but this one does just the opposite. Just the bloody leavings of a war-zone. Some screams and crashes upstairs. And you know we’re going upstairs.
So the teaser I like. Now I’m just trying to keep an open mind about the whole “sequel” thing. 2 is gonna be up against the same odds that Quarantine was, and I hate to say it, but I’m expecting the same lukewarm result.
Director: Juame Balaguero & Paco Plaza
Release: November 23, 2007
***** 5/5
Quarantine
Director: John Dowdle
Release: October 10, 2008
*** 3/5
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