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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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ARTICLES BY TOM MEEK

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There's not much joy but there's plenty of noise of the rafter-rocking gospel singing variety in Tony Graff's musical dramedy.

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For 50 years, Alvin and the Chipmunks have been driving parents nuts with their helium-infused banter and shrill bastardizations of pop music.

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If Rod Lurie's errant remake of Straw Dogs didn't tickle your morbid fear of home invasion, then perhaps the latest from Joel Schumacher ( Falling Down ) might do the job.