How's this? Quickie American remake of a cult fave foreign film that is not only faithful to the original, but ultimately better? I know, how very un-American, or at least, un-Hollywood. OK, plot: reporter follows firefighters on a call to an apartment building where they become trapped when the building gets quarantined. Why? There's a bad case of the cannibal crazies going around. The title of Jaume Balaguerรณ and Paco Plaza's 2007 original, [Rec], comes from the fact that the entire story is told through the eye of a [rec]ording video camera. A bit jarring at times, but nowhere near the cinematic migraine known as Cloverfield, and used effectively as a plot device, most notably at the end.
As I said, John Erick Dowdle's 2008 Quarantine is nearly shot-for-shot loyal, which was the way to go because he already had the fool-proof people-trapped premise in play. (And he'll see our apartment building and raise us one elevator--see: next film, Devil.) Now, here's where I callback to the beginning of the paragraph. Nearly loyal.
Before I get to that, a note on the lead casting. Dowdle went with Jennifer Carpenter, best known as Dexter's sister (and his wife in real life...which I suppose is less creepy than if it were the other way around). I know, that's what I thought, too, but she's not annoying here, and truthfully, comes off strong. That said, Manuela Velasco was a revelation to me in the original. Just a captivating screen presence.
SPOILER ALERT. Alerted? Good. Now sit down for this. The American version has a smarter, less over-the-top ending. Their explanation? A new strain of rabies. Plausible, right? The Spanish take: Satanism. Really. The reveal isn't until the end, but it made me roll my eyes right out of the narrative. I don't know, Satan worship feels so 1983.
Worse yet, they actually made a sequel to the original--yes [Rec] 2--that sounds retardado absolutamente. But Manuela's back, so...
Both: PLUS
Both: PLUS
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