Quarantine (1 & 2)

A documentary TV crew are locked inside a residential building by authorities whilst a virus affects those trapped inside.

This virtual shot-by-shot remake of the Spanish original version ([Rec]) utilises the same "found footage" filmmaking style, although while the original film felt both spontaneous, realistic and had some genuinely terrifying moments, this American version feels forced, manipulated and is laced in the usual Hollywood bullshit. The performances suffer particulalry, especially Jennifer Carpenter, who is nowhere near as riveting or believable as Manuela Velasco's.

Watch the original instead. This is just lazy filmmaking.

The original Quarantine was a shot-by-shot remake of the Spanish horror movie [Rec], so you'd be forgiven for thinking this would also be a shot-for-shot remake of the sequel to that film. Surprisingly, this isn't the case, taking it away from the "found footage" subgenre in favour of a more traditional zombie horror story.

The plot begins promisingly, following the crew and passengers of a commercial aeroplane which was forced to perform an emergency landing at a secluded airport, only to discover that they are being kept grounded by the government whilst a virus creates carnage around them.

It doesn't take long for the story to abandon thrills and tension in order to adopt the more hokey, clichéd, spot-the-stiff horror formulas which Hollywood churns out on a seemingly never-ending assembly line.

Still, it's an improvement on the first film and for a straight-to-DVD movie it's reasonably entertaining, but when it comes to horror films, the superior output of Japanese and European cinema just can't be bettered by Hollywood, who simply must try harder.