User Score
5.8 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 89 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 89
  2. Negative: 28 out of 89

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  1. Sep 30, 2011
    4
    They might as well change the title "Quarantine" into "[REC] 2.5".
  2. AaronK.
    Oct 13, 2008
    8
    Scary movie not the greatest movie but good enough to go with your friends and leave satisfied and freaked.
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  3. LorenaDeLaRosa
    Mar 9, 2009
    10
    Fantastic, this kind of movie always makes you wonder, and think. . ., this could be happening alredy. Can you imagine, a loony making powerful virus, and everybody knows that these loonys exists, and they are working at this moment in this poisons . . . well, thats it, and the main caracter, she was wonderful, bye.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. ChadD
    Oct 12, 2008
    9
    Scary....Scary....Scary I was yelling and shaking the whole movie. I cant even put into words how scary it is....Worth Every Penny! Best Movie I have ever watched.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. Michael
    Feb 20, 2009
    8
    This movie was very effective. It definitely scared me. Jennifer Carpenter was 20 times the actress than the horrible Heather Donahue (who single-handed nearly destroyed Blair Witch Project for me---plus her bad acting makes the character even more annoying). Also, unlike Blair Witch and Cloverfield (both of which border on gimmicky due to not giving us a reason why the characters are keeping the camera rolling), the script does contain character motivation for the filming that occurred. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. JohnnyM.
    Oct 10, 2008
    2
    This movie was good, but not for the reason I went there. I went there to get scared, what I got was a hilarious comedy. The audience was literally ROARING with laughter and applauding at parts that were supposed to be scary. Also, crappy advertising, they gave away the ending of "no survivors" and showed the last scene of the entire movie all the in the trailer! We knew exactly how it would end, so much for suspense. If you're in the mood to watch a really bad horror movie for the laughs, go, my stomach was hurting I was laughing so hard, and we all had a great time. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. KelseyP
    Oct 12, 2008
    0
    I was going to give the Movie a 1 however the creators of the movie must of given out free homes to the people that freely handed the movie a 10 and I feel I have to balance the score so that no one will wander into this horrible movie unsuspectingly. Given that the movie had a pretty good idea for a plot the rest went to s***. I would like to say I saw the whole movie and that I could give you a full review of every scene but I spent nearly 20 minutes of the tragedy puking out the contents of my stomach. The "cloverfeild/blairwitch" camera work took my equilibrium on a hell of a rollercoaster and by the end of the movie my anger and rage at wasting money on such a movie was quelled by the need to overmedicate and sleep the rest of the day away. I wish that critics would stop praising this use of camera. It's terrible and looks as if pulled off by a highschool filming club. If I wanted to spend my day throwing up I'd eat gresy foods and ride spinning rides at the carnival. At least carnies are scarrier than this movie. I was proud of the movie for letting us know what was happening and where the disease came from (screw you Cloverfield) however I was urked by the character portrayal of the firemen and the cops. An average citizen may not know it but officers in a unit aren't just going to cut off all communications to the rest of the guys in the building. It's absurd that they would try to run a CDC operation without some sort of open communications with the officers in the building! There are so many other things wrong with this movie but my head and stomach STILL hurts from the awful camera shaking. All in all just save your gas money and don't go see it. It seriously isn't worth your time. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. VaL.
    Oct 13, 2008
    2
    Most annoying lead actress EVER !
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. MattT.
    Oct 13, 2008
    10
    one of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time.... I'm sure this movie will get bashed a lot but don't listen to those film buff nerds, this movie was awesome... very very scary.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. DemiM.
    Oct 17, 2008
    7
    I gave it an 7 because the special effects were good but I didn't like the actors. Although it did scare me, it was very scary.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  11. JacobS.
    Oct 6, 2008
    10
    Freakin' amazing!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  12. jea
    Oct 9, 2008
    10
    The plot is really good, I saw the original spanish version of this movie.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  13. CJ
    Apr 20, 2009
    9
    Watched this on my own and in the dark and enjoyed it immensely. Jennifer Carpenter's acting was some of the best I've ever seen. This movie plays on atmosphere and tension, the way a good horror movie should. If you're into the boring, teen slasher-style films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or "torture porn" masquerading as horror like Hostel, then this film is probably not geared towards your interests. If you're a fan of classic paranoia horror like the The Thing, you'll enjoy this as much as I did. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  14. ChadS.
    Oct 11, 2008
    6
    Inscribed onto the black asphalt in elongated white lettering, all in caps, is the traffic safety term "XING", a warning served to motorists about an upcoming crosswalk; "XING", as in crossing, pedestrians are crossing. The fire truck whooshes over the marking, over the "XING", en route to an apartment complex where the 911 call was dispatched to a brigade of firemen, who were in the midst of being profiled by a flirtatious news reporter named Angela Vidal. For sure, she's no Christine Amanpour, this one. Even as a cub reporter specializing in special interest stories, the journalist need not remit herself from performing her duty with some semblance of professionalism. At one point, she asks, "Do firefighters still slide down poles?" It's no wonder that the men don't take her position as a media type seriously, and worse yet, neither does she. When Angela overhears a candid remark on a fireman's mic about the plans he has for her, she seems more flattered than offended. At ground zero, at the scene of the quarantine, however, Angela gets her big break, a chance to prove her mettle as a hard-hitting reporter who can exhibit grace under pressure during a crisis. Alas, she's no Kimberly Wells(Jane Fonda) either, the special interest reporter in James Bridges' "The China Syndrome", whose story on energy production in nuclear power plants turns into an investigative report on public safety. At the outset, Angela talks a big game, instructing her cameraman to "film it all", but the pandemonium is too much for her. Angela is speechless, when it matters the most, whereas Kimberly delivered, and in doing so, "The China Syndrome" made its case for female journalists like Amanpour, and others just like her. (Wait! She has no peer.) "Quarantine" is indeed, an update of "The China Syndrome". The allusion to the 1979 thriller is made when that firetruck traverses over the "XING". "Xing" is a Chinese girl's name, meaning "apricot". Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  15. meghanv
    Oct 11, 2008
    10
    Loved it. Maybe one of the scariest movies I've ever seen.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  16. FrankM.
    Oct 11, 2008
    1
    Occasional "shocking" images that roused my attention kept this film from receiving a '0'. The acting was mediocre; and the performance by the female lead was horrendous. Her performance was so absurd as to be unbelievable; she was an annoying distraction. The film itself consists of a movie crew running through a haunted house. Ugh. Do not see this film.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  17. DanyH.
    Oct 11, 2008
    4
    Scared me at very few certain points, but the overall characters and decisions made by ALL was truly just bad film making. No explanations, no good ideas from anyone, just bad choices all over the place. They could have gone somewhere good with this one, but they still blew it. Next time, don't put the final scene of the movie in the trailer.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  18. DardoS
    Oct 11, 2008
    3
    There is a HUUUUUUGE problem with this movie. Actually, the problem is not the movie. The problem is that "Quarantine" is a REMAKE. It is not an update of who-knows-what-film and definitely the only thing in common with The Blair Witch Project is the camera in hand thing. This is a REMAKE!, and as usually happens, it's crap. It's years light from the original one, the Spanish REC. If you want a comparison, this is Hollowood screwing it up again, like they did with Vanila Sky. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  19. MicahD.
    Oct 11, 2008
    8
    Good enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. Acting was mediocre. The filming got tiresome very quickly with every shot being very tight and closeup and enough blur to make you wonder if you took your glasses off.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  20. MattI.
    Oct 12, 2008
    9
    So for those who want a real review read this. I have been through horror films for about 30years now, I've seen almost all you name it from the remakes to the classics to the just plain awful! Quarantine ranks up there with the horror remakes done right! Most on the people on here are most likely reviewing this movie based off trailers. If you actually saw this it was a quite shocking and suspenseful piece of cinema. It was definitely a horror gem compared to most of the awfully predictable and gore-fest garbage now a days. The acting was about average, Jennifer Carpenter gave a pretty convincing performance going through all the normal reactions that a normal human would be going through if they were in her situation. The point of view style of the camera was really well done, it wasn't overdone but it definitely was the selling point of the movie. The scares were truly genuine, not cheap scares and really made you jump or let out a scream here and there. Overall if you want a thrill ride that will put you on edge of your seat and in the end leaving nail marks in your armrest, then Quarantine is for you. Horror films like this don't come very often so go out and see it you won't be disappointed. Quarantine is the effective chiller that is enough to send you home with fear! Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  21. DaveP.
    Oct 13, 2008
    7
    All in all, not a bad movie. It's an action movie, and it never really goes beyond that. But it makes up for what it lacks in story and characters by doing what it does very well. The action is thrilling, and it never seems forced or uninteresting. It won't win awards, but that doesn't mean it's not entertaining.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  22. CesarM.
    Oct 13, 2008
    8
    Pretty creepy stuff. I don't usually get scared with horror movies. This movie is a nice alternative to all that torture horror that's out right now.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  23. MichelleW.
    Oct 19, 2008
    4
    I saw the movie expecting a great horror film, but it was very much like 28 days later with extremely bad camera work, I got sick watching it, and it made me so mad because the camera was waving around and you couldn't make anything important out, then when she found the room with all the weird info and newspapers in it, it just skimmed over, but I never understood cause I COULDN9;T see it clearly for the damn camera work..It also made me mad at the end you kinda remeber the set up her on the floor from the trailor, so you know what is about to happen, in my opinion, it had no ending whatsoever! everyone dies, if everyone dies, atleast show the aftermath or what the gov says or something! it just ends..it had a good foundation but didnt take it anywhere. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  24. TommyBoy
    Oct 23, 2008
    6
    Dizzy watching another "Blair Witch" hand held camera. However, much better the the fore mentioned. As of 10/23 movie has taken in $25 million...was made for $12 million (where the money went is a mystery) so it's on it's way for a net profit. No name stars so the "payroll" was small. Still...$12 million to make this..???? Another movie with a "sudden" ending leaving everyone pis...d off. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  25. JoseB.
    Oct 25, 2008
    0
    Horrile i saw it bootleg but still good enough too tell this is the worst movie ever better off watching beverly hills chihuahua.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  26. AndrewR.
    Oct 26, 2008
    10
    This movie has been the best Zombie-based movie I have ever watched. Why? Simple, it includes so many psychological implications that when the zombies finally appear you are already too sucked into the movie that you can feel the frustration and fear the characters are feeling.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  27. TonyS.
    Oct 26, 2008
    7
    Overall much better than expected, I dug it plenty. If your a fan of the Blair Witch mock-umentary style stuff you will too.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  28. KeeganqB
    Jan 28, 2009
    0
    I am really glad I didn't watch this in theaters... Seriously though if you watch the trailers you practically watched the entire movie in under a minute the rest is just filled in with screaming. I think it's pretty pathetic when the last 30 second of the movie are actually in the trailer. I really hope who ever came up with the ending gets hit by a bus, twice.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  29. mattb
    Feb 15, 2009
    9
    If you watch this alone, at midnight, with the lights off and a surround-sound headset with the sound cranked way up, I guarantee you will enjoy this. It had some cheap scares, but it also had a nice high-tension atmosphere. Much better than your run-of-the-mill horror movie.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  30. EggsleyBagelface
    Feb 20, 2009
    3
    It wasn't a very good movie. Freaky, but not scary. I didn't like the camera shots, and everything was very predictable. Jennifer Carpenter was great, I just loved how she behaved when they had to put night-vision on. The disease was unexplained, other that it was a jacked-up sort of super-Rabies. It allowed for a little five-year-old girl to take down a full grown man. No reasoning as to how. All-in-all, sucko movie. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  31. RyanS
    Mar 13, 2009
    5
    Another Blair Witch clone. Has a few creepy moments. A slightly different take on zombies.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  32. DeceticonPom
    Mar 31, 2009
    0
    So bad, I plugged in my headphones and watched episodes of Arrested Development on my iPhone in the cinema whilst my partner carried on watching...before declaring "I wish you'd had a second headphone jack!"
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  33. JoeS
    Apr 25, 2009
    5
    A disappointment. It was definitely a much better movie than Blair Witch but not nearly as good as Cloverfield, Quarantine felt like a cross between a SciFi original and someone's crappy video of their walk through a Halloween Haunted House. I was hoping for something that felt a little more... realistic. The characters behaved in very unnatural ways at times in some attempt to generate scares that only managed to take me "out of the moment." If you wanna see a mockumentary, watch Cloverfield instead. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  34. [Anonymous]
    Apr 25, 2009
    3
    these characters never shut up. there is constant banter and bickering. there is a shaky camera (yes, i get the "style" and "reason") and towards the end the light constantly flickers on and off, in which it took some aspirin to cure my aching head. without the foaming of the mouth and slower infection time these are DANNY BOYLE zombies. what a rip off. if you gotta see zombies, see 28 days later. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  35. RobertH.
    Oct 11, 2008
    3
    WOW I cannot explain how disappointed I was with this movie. It's a combination of Diary Of The Dead And 28 Days Later. The plot... im sorry.. there wasn't one... as well as no explanation from beginning to end. Infection started where? How? Cult? They wouldn't use that? Number 2 they wouldn't be able to engineer that in an apartment building or be able to test it. WHERE DOES IT END? This movie was so fake and the script was horrible I don't even know where to start with how many things made no sense with this movie. Its so predictable. I loved the acting thats the only reason this gets a 3 at all. They did very well with the acting and the directing of the movie but the plot was written by the 5 year old girl that was infected in the movie...... I guess its what u expect from a movie that was written by Mexicans please stick to mowing my lawn, I'm so pissed at this movie right now. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  36. RobertH.
    Oct 11, 2008
    2
    WOW I cannot explain how disappointed I was with this movie. It's a combination of Diary Of The Dead And 28 Days Later. The plot... im sorry.. there wasn't one... as well as no explanation from beginning to end. Infection started where? How? Cult? They wouldn't use that? Number 2 they wouldn't be able to engineer that in an apartment building or be able to test it. WHERE DOES IT END? This movie was so fake and the script was horrible I don't even know where to start with how many things made no sense with this movie. Its so predictable. I loved the acting thats the only reason this gets a 3 at all. They did very well with the acting and the directing of the movie but the plot was written by the 5 year old girl that was infected in the movie...... I guess its what u expect from a movie that was written by Mexicans please stick to mowing my lawn, I'm so pissed at this movie right now. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  37. DodiT.
    Oct 12, 2008
    1
    The entire theatre was LAUGHING during the parts that were supposed to be scary. The Plot line was typical and easy to get ahead of.. They were just trying to get out a movie fast without thought or reason.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  38. RS.
    Oct 13, 2008
    1
    The only reason i give this a 1 is because the scene where the cameraman beat one of the zombies, er rabies victims, to death with the camera was hilarious. Other than that, skip this, the female reporter wasn't too bad till near the end where I guess the director told her to "drop the credible but scared reporter doing her job, and do nothing but stagger around in abject terror at every sound" Really really bad, and yeah they basically killed everyone off so who is playing the camera tape is really unclear. At least in Cloverfield we are told it was recovered by the Government. Considering that in this movie everyone dies, who played the tape we are watching? Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  39. NickH.
    Oct 15, 2008
    10
    That was one of the scariest movies I have ever seen, I love horror films and this is up at the top of the list. The way the movie is flimed makes it seem like your in the movie.. Great movie to see.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  40. JuniorC.
    Oct 18, 2008
    0
    This movie was bad i thought from the commericals that it was good but when i went to go see it and there was no end, like what happened to the building and did she die? The tv reporter in the whole movie she moaned and screamed because there was no light.Funniest part was when the camera man beat the zombie with the camera!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  41. BrendaS.
    Oct 18, 2008
    0
    Lamest movie of all motha' fuckin' time!!!!!!!!!!!!!! worst movie ive ever seen in my life. it was freakin' retarded! DONT SPEND UR MONEY ON THIS LAME MOVIE! was not scary at all. was funny only because it was that retarded. totally ruined my excitment for this movie.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  42. JoshuaD.
    Oct 26, 2008
    1
    REC. Thats all I have to say. If you didn't like the ending well the Original VASTLY superior Spanish version won't be of any help. The movie was waaaay too bright to be scary. All I have to say is that the original is much much better, and had a reporter who wasn't as annoying as the one in Quarantine.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  43. Feb 26, 2011
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Compared to the Blair Witch Project, this movie was pretty cool. It was really well shot and the special effects were well done as well. The only problem is of course the camera; it just shakes and falls too much, which I guess makes it realistic, but it also makes the viewer angry after a while. The story wasn't the most original but it worked quite well for the setting. The characters were believable enough, which made the movie better in many ways. Also, theres actually suspense unlike the Blair Witch Project and I'm sorry to say Cloverfield. The ending was pretty decent , but could have been so much better than the main character getting dragged away. Expand
  44. Oct 24, 2010
    8
    Nothing beats a bit of bludgeoning with a camera; this is a good film, very jumpy, and with a surprisingly and satisfyingly unique ending. I am a huge fan of Found Footage films, and I have to say that this is one of the best on the list so far. It can get very scary in parts, and very jumpy too. However, in the more tense parts of the film, it becomes harder to follow because of the camera-all-over-the-place-ness. Otherwise, great film, worth a watch, but only slightly falls short of Blair With and Paranormal Activity. 8/10. Why? This is a well made film, the storyline is correct and realistic, and gives a nice punch of horror to boot. Expand
  45. Nov 14, 2011
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Bottom Line: So-so remake of a great foreign film. Actually, it’s like a copy. An American remake of the 2007 Spanish cult-horror film [REC], this film isn’t much new. Especially if you are a horror fan. QUARANTINE takes the “found footage” sub-genre (the informal name used to describe movies filmed without professional equipment and camerawork in order to make the horror seem more realistic, such as in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT), and it grotesque-ifies it, leaving little fluid to the imagination of the viewer. It’s like if in the last scene of the first PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, Katie had shouted, “Micah! Get the camera! Bring it down! Zoom in! Let them all see the demon bloody me up!”, rather than making it eerier by just leaving it off-camera. In my opinion, showing the blood and all totally destroys the “found footage” sub-genre. Why? It’s now been officially established that the two main points for the sub-genre are two a) enhance the realism, and b) imply 90% of all the stuff that isn’t left to imagine in SAW. Think of it: SAW isn’t a scary movie. It aims to gross out, not to frighten. But the goal of this film clearly was to frighten, and only fulfilling one of the two points of “found footage”, keeps at least ten-thousand more people from staying awake a whole night. This wasn’t a bad film; it just had so much potential to be ridiculously disturbing. Expand

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Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 14
  2. Negative: 1 out of 14
  1. Oh, "Blair Witch," what hath thou wrought? It has taken less than a decade, but the concept of horror films filmed documentary-style has officially become a tiresome cliche.
  2. Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    50
    A modestly inventive, sporadically exciting thriller that nonetheless proves too faithful to its central conceit for its own good.
  3. Reviewed by: Clark Collis
    83
    Quarantine director John Erick Dowdle and co-writing brother Drew wisely stick close to the told-from-the-cameraman's point-of-view template of the terrific original, though they add a few fine flourishes.