BLU-RAY REVIEW

Quarantine

Featured In Issue 139, March/April 2009

Picture3.5
SoundNR
WSR Score3
Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
(Studio/Distributor):
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
25370LTR
(MPAA Rating):
R
(Rating Reason):
Bloody violent and disturbing content, terror and language
(Retail Price):
$39.95
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
89
(Color Type):
Color
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
A, B & C
(Theatrical Year):
2008
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
02/17/09
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
John Erick Dowdle
(Screenplay/Written By):
(Story):
(Music):
(Director Of Photography):
(Production Designer):
(Visual Effects):
(Costume Designer):
(Editor):
(Supervising Sound Editors):
(Re-Recording Mixers):
(Executive Producers):
(Co-Producers):
(Producers):
(Academy Awards):
(Principal Photography):
(Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
(Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
(Disc Soundtrack):
Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
(Theatrical Sound):
(Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
(DTS Bit Rate):
(Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
(Additional Languages):
(French Language):
(Spanish Language):
(Chinese Language):
(Subtitles):
(Cantonese Language):
(Mandarin Language):
(Japanese Language):
(Italian Language):
(German Language):
(Portuguese Language):

Quarantine is based on the motion picture Rec written by Jaume Balaguero, Luis A. Berdejo, and Paco Plaza. When a news crew decides to trail a brave firefighting team, they never suspect that the first call for help they respond to that night may be their last. Now they're trapped in an apartment complex sealed off by the government. With no way to escape, they find themselves surrounded by frightened residents who are infected with a deadly mutant virus. What happens next is only known because of the footage they left behind. (Gary Reber)

Special features include audio commentary with Writer/Director John Erick Dowdle and Writer/Producer Drew Dowdle; three featurettes: Locked In: Making Of Quarantine (HD 10:05), Dressing The Infected: Robert Hall's Make-up Design (HD 07:29), and Anatomy Of A Stunt (HD 03:23); six previews; and BD-Live interactivity.

The 1.85:1 1080p AVC picture quality is disappointing because from the perspective of the news camera, which the entire film is shot, the image quality appears more standard-definition than high-definition, even though shot digitally at 1080p. As such, the image quality is not resolved particularly well, and the overall character is crushed dynamics. Shot for the most part entirely inside an apartment building with the electricity out, the picture is extremely dark, and shadow delineation is poor. Colors are subdued, with poor fidelity. Fleshtones look plugged up and a bit rough throughout. There are only a few moments, when the camera light is on and there is a closeup, that the picture looks natural. This is not a particularly good looking picture, but then that apparently is the creative intention of the filmmakers, to create a frighteningly raw reality. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby® TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack is superb, but the perspective is supposed to be from the point-of-view of the news camera, which in the opening scenes in the fire station is dead-on monaural, with brief segments that suddenly open up to a multichannel soundfield. Once the fire department begins to respond to the call, the soundfield from there on out opens up to an impressive holosonic® presence, even though the perspective is from a handheld video camera. Amazingly, there are helicopters circling around the soundfield overhead, and the effect is startling. While there is no height signal, the recording effectively positions the helicopter engines directly overhead. This would be a perfect soundtrack for a real height signal, with an overhead loudspeaker directly over the sweet spot to heighten the overhead surround soundfield perspective. The sound effects really make this an exciting soundtrack. The sound design embraces aggressive directionalized surrounds and smooth pans from every direction possible. Phantom imaging along the sidewalls (without the additional side channels in a 7.1-channel mix) is impressive as well. Overall bass response, and in particular the 25 Hz LFE .1 extension, is deep and solid. Dialogue is squarely center-channel focused without support for spatial integration. Intelligibility is often wanting, as the dialogue is, at times, muffled. There is no music score, but the sound effects are constant throughout. Dialogue reproduction is wanting, however, varying in clarity and intelligibility, depending on the action. Still, this is a highly effective and impressive soundtrack that demonstrates that good recordings do impart height information when played back on optimized performance loudspeaker systems. The sound design is excellent and effectively heightens the terrific experience. (Gary Reber)