Quarantine

Last year’s cult phenom [REC] was that rare bird, a genuinely scary horror flick. Of course, since it was a Spanish movie it couldn’t be sold to American audiences because … well, subtitles and all that. So Hollywood remade it. Pretty much shot-for-shot. TV fluff-chick Angela (Jennifer Carpenter of Dexter) and her cameraman tag along with the crew of a fire station as they go about their typical shift, until the typical goes all FUBAR when a routine call suddenly involves zombies infesting an apartment complex. (Well, rabies-crazed gut crunchers shrieking out of dark shadows and the naught, but same thing.) And apparently the authorities have a zombie contingency plan, ’cause before you know it, the place is sealed off with everyone inside being picked off one-by-one and then jumping up to join in on the mayhem. As a remake, Quarantine misses what made [REC] so effective. Part of the problem is Carpenter, whose character is such an annoying twit that you want her dead. A bigger part is the director. But since Quarantine is a shot-by-shot remake, he doesn’t bugger it up too badly. So if you haven’t seen [REC], Quarantine should still deliver the goods. Feather River Cinemas, Paradise Cinema 7 and Tinseltown. Rated R