Despite being an almost shot-for-shot remake of the Spanish horror masterpiece, Quarantine is one of the worst examples of its kind. Made specifically for those who can't read but are too embarrassed to admit it and use the stupid excuse of distraction caused by subtitles as their defence, it is one of those crappy films you deserve to watch if you can't be bothered to read a few subtitles.

Set in Los Angeles, the story follows a television reporter & her cameraman as they are assigned to follow a firefighting crew on their night shift duty. Things are set in motion when they respond to a call coming from a small apartment building but soon find themselves locked inside it along with its residents when the place is quarantined by CDC without an explanation and end up filming much more than they bargained for.

Written & directed by John Erick Dowdle (The Poughkeepsie Tapes), the film fails at everything that the original managed to get right with immaculate precision for this film has no understanding whatsoever of what actually made [REC] work so well in the first place. The direction is terrible as Dowdle is unable to recreate the bone-chilling atmosphere and the screenplay is poorly written as well for the dialogues end up feeling quite forced.

Another problem with this picture is its unconvincing cast. They all seem so well rehearsed with their lines and equally aware of the camera hovering over them that they end up trying way too hard, because of which the whole realistic approach this film was aiming for falls apart. Jennifer Carpenter's performance is better than the rest but still not good enough to keep the film together. Camerawork fails to recreate the frenzy, chaotic style of the original, Editing is a mixed bag for the pacing is fine but its runtime is unnecessarily extended.

On an overall scale, Quarantine is a half-assed attempt to remake one of the scariest films ever made and, despite being filmed with six times the budget, fails to improve upon or even match any of the aspects of the original. If Americanising a film usually means lowering the IQ of the characters and allowing them to act stupidly, as evident in so many other examples, then world cinema would definitely be a much better place if no foreign language film is ever allowed a Hollywood adaptation. All in all, Quarantine is a cinematic turd that itself should be quarantined from the filmgoing audience. Skip it & savour the vastly superior [REC] instead.