QUARANTINE 2: TERMINAL DVD review

Picking up nowhere near where the previous film left off, this zombie virus sequel is out now on DVD. Check out the trailer and my review, next...

When a passenger on board a domestic flight gets infected with an unknown virus, the rest of the passengers are forced to take refuge at an abandoned airport terminal. As the virus starts to spread among the group they are locked in by the authorities, so it’s up to a plucky air stewardess (who else?) to keep the matter under control and the remaining survivors safe.


As we all know, coughs and sneezes spread diseases, which is unfortunate for the passengers of Flight 318 as there’s all sorts of wheezing and spluttering going on. Sadly, zombies on a plane isn’t quite as good an idea as it first sounds, what with the enclosed setting and lack of room, n’all. The film quickly ditches that setting for an abandoned airport terminal which, although it might sound like a confined area, is just too large an expanse to offer the same sense of claustrophobia or dread the apartment building set precursor did. Once the scene is set and all the characters are introduced, the zombies come thick and fast, in that they are both thick (stupid) and fast (sprinting zombies again).

Largely unrelated to 2009’s Quarantine or the original Spanish language REC franchise from which it spawned, instead of replicating the original film’s found footage formula (something that REC 2 did successfully), perhaps this DTV sequel should be commended for trying a new approach. Then again, maybe not, as it appears the approach was watching 2004’s Dawn of The Dead remake and lifting as much storyline as they could from that instead.

Maybe it’s a bit redundant to chastise a low budget horror for stealing liberally from a film that was a remake anyway, but where that film chose to use its established ideas and create a new, vibrant edition that many consider the equal to its forebearer, here we have a film that’s merely a cheap knock-off of a number of different films. Honestly, if the only purpose of these DTV sequels is to make a quick buck with no artistic merit, then really, what’s the point? I’ll even stand up for 2009’s Quarantine to a degree. Yes, it may be an almost shot for shot remake of the Spanish language original, and of course audiences shouldn’t be so afraid of watching a film with subtitles, but at least it got the beats right and still worked as an effective horror. An outing like this will only detract from what the originals, and to a lesser extent what the remake, achieved.

It’s all just a bit too stupid. When cabin fever sets in one character injects himself in the eye with an inexplicably large needle, for no real reason at all. Barring the use of a pair of night vision goggles, there’s nothing approaching the level of invention the original film had. The zombies are as grimy as they are speedy, but as an avid fan of the zombie genre, it’s a shame to see them running out of steam this way. Zombies are people too, they deserve better.


As a slightly trashy B-Movie horror Quarantine 2: Terminal delivers one or two mediocre jumps, but this never threatens to be as startlingly scary as the first film.

Verdict

Special Features: Nothing except for audio options, subtitles and scene selection. What were you expecting, a lengthy behind the scenes documentary?