As far as Hollywood's reliably tepid horror output is concerned, Quarantine works as every bit the disposable jolt dispenser it's assembled to be. It's got a nifty enough concept in its favor and a mildly recognizable cast that needs not fear any characterization coming between them and certain death by the time the credits roll, and it's hard to believe that there's not at least one sequence in here that might get even the most cynical horror fan's heart rate to rise a beat or two -- and I say this as a documented fan of the (still superior) source material.

Young news reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman (Steve Harris) are covering a Los Angeles fire station during their nightly routines when the two tag along on an emergency call to an apartment building. Not terribly long after their arrival, all hell breaks loose and the building's occupants -- Angela included -- find themselves contained within against their will and left to fend off a dangerous virus that causes the infected to become a rabid zombie variant, one aggressively determined to spread the love around.

Anyone who watches a considerable amount of movies has a tendency to champion the occasional gem, a title bound - nay, fated - to be overlooked by the masses. As you may have noticed, we here at Cinematical are not immune to such behavior.

On other occasions, fans of films that are being remade will find themselves violently, vocally opposed to the idea of a tainted classic or fave, whereas cooler minds step in and point out that their precious original will exist no less in its wake.

With that said, I'm about to spout off on why I think American remake Quarantine is primed to squander the considerable merits of its source material, [REC].

(Now, what nitpicks I have are about to wander off into moderate spoiler territory, which is actually my greater concern. Ergo, any of you planning to catch either film in the near future might be best served by directing their browsers elsewhere, including away from the newly released trailer for Quarantine.)

As for the twelve of you who I know have either managed to see [REC] or who just plain don't care -- come on in, the water's whine...

Whenever Scott and I aren't out fighting crime together, we tend to be chatting each other up about horror films, as he has often either pointed me towards many a overlooked gem or brought to my attention the best titles currently making the festival rounds.

Whether or not Weinberg was the one who got me initially amped up for [REC], I can't accurately recall, but the point is that I can support his many praises over the film, and I think it's safe to say that we're both cautiously optimistic about the forthcoming American remake, Quarantine. It seems that Sony's smarter minds are also prone to cautious optimism, as Shock Till You Drop informs us that the film's release has been bumped up a week, from October 17th to October 10th.

Now, the 10th is a crowded weekend - we also have a crime thriller, a family adventure, and a teen sex romp - but what's important is that not only do none of those films appeal to the same horror-seeking demographic as Quarantine, whereas video game adaptation Max Payne might on the 17th, but the move gives it an extra week to rake it in until Saw V comes around and effectively dominates the market come the 24th.

As for me, I'm still curious about Quarantine director John Erick Dowdle's previous film, the still-unreleased The Poughkeepsie Tapes. Is it some sort of staring contest between them and the equally delayed All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, or what?

You always have to beware of the rabies. It brought down Old Yeller, and it can bring down hot, fresh, Hollywood talent. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Hostel star Jay Hernandez, Dexter's wacky sister Jennifer Carpenter, and Columbus Short (Stomp the Yard), along with Splendor's Johnathon Schaech and Steve Harris (Diary of a Mad Black Woman), will be rabidly Quarantined. The flick is an adaptation of the Spanish horror movie Rec, and the kicker: the flipping original film hasn't even come out yet! That's right -- the English-language version has already been cast and goes into production today, while the original doesn't hit European screens until November 23.

The adaptation was written by director John Erick Dowdle with his brother Drew Dowdle, whose previous collaboration was this year's horror/thriller, The Poughkeepsie Tapes. This version of Quarantined is about an apartment building in downtown Los Angeles "where a deadly strain of rabies breaks out. A reporter and her cameraman are among those trapped inside when the edifice and its residents are quarantined." That's got to suck. However, maybe it's better than being quarantined with some skin-rotting virus or something. At least you have a fighting chance against rabid people. I have a feeling that some of the footage will be from the wobbly, running hand of the cameraman, but we'll have to wait and see, since we can't even watch the original yet.

Is Hollywood speeding up adaptations too much?

After seeing the much talked-about mockumentary The Poughkeepsie Tapes at this year's Tribeca, I had a chance to speak with John Dowdle, the film's director. We did the interview by phone, and I may have also been in the presence of his brother and collaborator Drew Dowdle -- the two are making their bones in the business as 'The Dowdle Brothers' -- but if that's the case, he didn't really make himself known and I don't know that he piped up to answer any of my questions. If he wants to contact me to correct, he can. John and I talked about a number of subjects, including the making of the film, the reception at Tribeca, the current atmosphere for horror films in general, and what's up next for the brothers. If you haven't seen the film yet, the less you know going in the better, so you might want to hold off reading reviews and interviews until afterwards. But otherwise, here's our talk -- enjoy.


Did you guys actually go to Tribeca with the film this year?

JD: Absolutely, absolutely.

I saw it at a public screening on Wednesday night, and the audience seemed to respond to it pretty well.

JD: Yeah, it's gotten a great reaction. We've really had a wonderful time here, with the film. The audiences really seem to connect with it.

I think a lot of the audience, at least at my screening, didn't really catch on that it was a faux documentary until that last scene.

JD: Honestly, we really struggled very hard to make everything as realistic as we possibly could, and obviously as the film goes on. The killer stuff is super realistic, very clean realism. And as it goes, it gets more and more surreal. We figured we would have earned that, later in the film, but we struggled very, very hard to keep everything as absolutely realistic as we could. We've actually had reviewers not realize its fictional until the Q&A.