On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 38/52 |
Sean Collier |
They're sick! Totally not zombies. Not at all. Also not all that interesting. |
The Blair Witch Project, for better or for worse, fundamentally altered the nature of filmmaking for some. The usage of shaky camerawork to engage the viewer as if they were a part of the story allowed for a type of invasive storytelling in what had been an artificial climate previously. Films such as Open Water and Doom have used the idea of unique camera perspectives to draw the viewer into the movie’s world. Perhaps no title is more well known for accomplishing this than Cloverfield, the $46.1 million opener whose clever marketing campaign of viral videos turned it into the rarest of rare January blockbuster. Sony Pictures now seeks to duplicate the success Paramount experienced with that production by offering a release with a similar implementation.
A re-make of the 2007 Spanish movie, [Rec], Quarantine is filmed in the same first person perspective as Cloverfield. Just as was the case then, the cameraman is a member of the cast who occasionally will drop the fourth wall and become a part of the proceedings. The premise of [Rec] as well as Quarantine is simple. An emergency medical outbreak occurs in an apartment building, so the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC for short) quarantines the area. This is bad news for ambitious reporter Angela and her film crew. They find themselves live on the scene in order to get a scoop about the curious behavior being demonstrated by one of the residents. The problem is that once the government locks down the building, they are stuck inside. And that curious behavior, well it sure seems a lot like the sort of activity last seen on camera in 28 Days Later.
Angela is startled upon encountering a now-deformed tenant who hisses at her before aggressively attempting to take out the film crew. Simultaneously, the people outside the building unearth the truth about the cause of the disaster and how it impacts not only the people inside but also the unlucky pets at a veterinary clinic. The end result is that Angela and her trusty crew are trapped on the wrong side of the wall, and they must fight for lives as they attempt to survive an outbreak of infected residents who seem to have it in for all other living creatures.
Quarantine as a film project is rather straightforward. As was the case with Cloverfield, however, the marketing for the movie has been anything but. A pair of viral videos was released in March that allegedly chronicled an incident, Case 1017. Originally leaked as real life events, they were later confirmed as a hoax, an attempt to build up the awareness for Quarantine. Shady though the practice may be, the reality is that it gave several million views worth of free marketing to the project. And given the way that Cloverfield absolutely tore up the box office on its opening weekend, taking a page out of its advertising playbook is quite savvy. Despite having no one legitimately famous in the cast (the biggest names are Jennifer Carpenter, who plays Dexter’s sister on Dexter, Columbus Short of Stomp the Yard and Steve Harris of The Practice), Quarantine is poised to be a stellar performer, at least at the start. (David Mumpower/BOP)
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