Locked in at the theater...

I need to buy a gun, because I may end up locked in a building filled with zombies sooner than I expect. (After all, arming yourself is step one when it comes to zombies, right?)

Anyway, yes, a trip to a gun shop. Fantastic.

But if you have a gun, I wouldn't recommend bringing it to see "Quarantine," because you might end up going on a shooting rampage in fear that those around you are becoming infected with a strange disease and trying to eat you. Sure, it's possible one or two of those around you have diseases, but unless you're at an all you can eat buffet after they run out of food, they probably aren't trying to eat you.

Basically, as far as zombie movies go, "Quarantine" ditches the typical zombie cheese and goes straight for the creep out. There's always something ridiculous around every corner, be it a little girl zombie attacking people or the Centers for Disease Control drilling a hole in the top of somebody's head. And don't forget that nearly the entire thing takes place in one building. If a haunted house were a movie, it would be "Quarantine."

On the technical side, the film goes for the "Blair Witch" style of hand-held camera work, which is actually quite effective; the shaking camera gives the film a raw feel and helps it overcome the inherent cheesiness of the zombie genre. Of course, this is all screwed if you suffer from motion sickness. I'm pretty good at not getting sick at shaky movies, but this one started to push it a little bit. (I sort of felt like I had been hit in the face with a large fish or something of equivalent mass and bluntness.)

Runtime is only 89 minutes, but the relentless intensity makes the film feel more like 120. The non-stop pace gets slightly tiring in the middle, but the film's ultra-creepy finale picks up the pieces well. If you like a good creepy movie and have a strong stomach, "Quarantine" is a fine choice.