Reviews

Quarantine

About as scary as a creaky door

By TOM MEEK | October 15, 2008

1.5 Stars

Every second horror film these days seems to be shot by some desperate character with a hand-held digital camera who half the time is running for his or her life from whatever monstrosity is splattering carnage everywhere. This unsettling jostle effect might have seemed fresh in The Blair Witch Project and even Cloverfield, but in the hands of Quarantine writer/director John Erick Dowdle, it’s just another generic cliché. A TV film crew and some firefighters and policemen get sealed off in a dilapidated LA apartment building where an accelerated strain of rabies has turned the residents into — who would guess? — flesh-eating ghouls. Goosebumps might rise in the first few minutes as reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) shadows two firemen into the building and they are suddenly, inexplicably sealed in. But after the first bite, this one’s about as scary as a creaky door.

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Topics: Reviews , zombies, John Erick Dowdle, John Erick Dowdle, More

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[ 05/26 ] "A Natural Order," photographs by Lucas Foglia @ David Winton Bell Gallery

[ 05/26 ] George Orwell's 1984, adapted by Nick Lane @ Gamm Theatre

[ 05/26 ] "2012 RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition" @ Rhode Island Convention Center

ARTICLES BY TOM MEEK

REVIEW: GOD BLESS AMERICA | May 17, 2012
The latest dark comedy from Bobcat Goldthwait tackles both vapid celebrity culture ( i.e. , Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, and American Idol ) and the indignity of being an office drone.

REVIEW: THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS | April 24, 2012
Peter Lord, animator behind claymation staples Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run , directs this very British, very dry romp on the high seas during the time when Britannia did indeed rule the waves.

REVIEW: GOD BLESS AMERICA | April 18, 2012
The latest dark comedy from Bobcat Goldthwait tackles both vapid celebrity culture (i.e., Paris Hilton, the Kardashians and American Idol) and the indignity of being an office drone.

REVIEW: UNDEFEATED | March 15, 2012
Dan Lindsay and T. J. Martin's Oscar-winning documentary about an underequipped high-school football team competing against big-time programs across Tennessee offers a potent contemplation on race and opportunity.

REVIEW: DR. SEUSS' THE LORAX | March 01, 2012
Regrettably, this team loses a lot of Seuss's quirkiness, though not the message about corporate greed and slash-and-burn imperialism.