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Movie Reviews:

QUARANTINE 2: TERMINAL

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment - 2011

Screenplay & Directed by John G. Pogue

Starring
Mercedes Masöhn
Josh Cooke
Ignacio Serricchio
Bre Blair

I enjoyed this sequel way more than it's European cousin.  First of all, I love how Writer-Director John G. Pogue abandoned the worn-out camcorder/found on footage approach and just went ahead to make a real movie.  I was totally entertained by the switch in location from the apartment building to first an airliner jet and finally the airport terminal.

This movie takes place the same night the strange disease broke out in the run down LA apartment building seen in the first film.  Something escapes that dwelling and gets aboard Flight 318.  Shortly after the jet reaches cruising altitude the virus erupts and passengers are transformed into mouth-foaming, red-eyed savages.

QUARANTINE 2: TERMINAL has some first-class action set-pieces and some impressive gore FX by Robert Hall, which a couple of times made me think of the Special Make-Up FX days of the 80s.  I especially liked how Director Pogue engineered suspense.  He took the classic way of using almost a mathematical approach to getting his cast & camera from tight to tighter to tightest locations, which always works to put the audience on edge.  It's like you feel the walls closing in and there is nowhere to escape.  Pogue also wrote some strong female characters.  It's nice to see women who use their heads to react intelligently in moment of crisis, with courage and yet still remain feminine.

Lead actress Mercedes Masöhn hits an acting home-run  The camera loves Masöhn's beautiful European features, I mean she sparkles on the screen.  But it's her abilities as an actress that impressed me the most.  She always seemed to react naturally with excellent choices throughout.  I admired that she was a strong female character, while still remaining regular woman the whole time.  In other words, she didn't become superwoman and flex the muscles of Linda Hamilton yet was very physical in the role.  This role should act as a beacon signaling out to all the filmmakers she is someone who should be sought out for more work.  She has star quality.

Director of Photography Matthew Irving does a striking job of lighting the movie in every scene choice.  From the natural look inside the airliner to the dank inside the air ducts & tunnels within the terminal.  He exposes the film with style.

I was surprised at how good this movie was because in the first QUARANTINE they basically copied the original.  But this time they took a different approach and came away with a winning combination and a breakout star to boot.

www.SonyPictures.com