MovieChat Forums > Quarantine (2008) Discussion > Why I like Quarantine's ending more...

Why I like Quarantine's ending more...

posted 13 years ago by cool guy69
10 replies | jump to latest

I just read some very expressive comments in another thread about how taking out all the plot explanations from REC makes Quarantine completely pointless. I disagree. I look at Quarantine as an exercise in terror. It's there to be scary and it succeeded(IMO, anyway). And when it comes to sending terror into your heart, less is more.

I havent seen REC yet, but I'm not here to debate and compare the strengths and weaknesses of all aspects of the two films. Having read of the ending in REC and the explanations of the plot in the end, I'll chime in on that. When I was watching Quarantine and it got to the ending, I was completely scared s***less. I had no idea what that apartment was all about, the tape recorder playing was creppy as *beep*, that kid in the attic made me shriek, then that skinny mo-fo came out rustling in the kitchen and I was thinking "WTF!?!?!?" in petrified terror. Before I, or the characters for that matter, could make ANY sense of it, they get killed and the movie is over.

Information is comforting. Lack of information is scary. Watching the first Halloween pretending Laurie Strode DOESN'T end up being Michael Myers sister makes it better(that whole thing was something they made up when they were doing the sequel). Friday the 13th is really creepy until Betsy Palmer shows up and explains away that she's doing this because her son drowned and blames the counselors. The scenes in Alien on the "space jockey" ship is un-nerving because we don't know anything about whatever race ran that ship or why they have all these eggs in the ship or why their ship is now on this planet. These movie aren't for telling a story with everything spelled out, it's to send shivers down your spine.

This is all just the way I see it. Not trying to say anyone is wrong about the way they think, just saying that Quarantine does have a point in my prespective.

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[–] avia2 13 years ago

Totally agree with you that less is more, as you explain with the other films.

However, in this particular film, you miss the purpose of the skinny person at the end. He/she obviously has an importance, as we have never seen them before.

If we hadn't been given any information, we would probably assume that the skinny person was just another diseased inhabitant. But REC's explanations are very subtle. We just have clearer face photos of the possessed girl, but still not enough to ruin the tension.

[–] cool guy69 13 years ago

I saw REC shortly after I originally posted this topic, and still stand by my thoughts. I don't find REC's explanations subtle at all, with the female lead reading all the stuff out loud, it felt like she was talking straight to the audience. Yes, the skinny guy in Quarantine's ending obviously had something to do with what's going on, but it's scarrier when we aren't told in what way or have anything explained. All of this is just IMHO, anyways.

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[–] avia2 13 years ago

Ah, I forgot about the Spanish Angela reading out aloud. But Quarantine's skinny guy is no less mysterious, as we all know it's got something to do with rabies.

[–] cool guy69 13 years ago

Yeah, I suppose the woman is REC is still as mysterious as the skinny guy in Quarantine dispite the explanations in REC. I respect REC A LOT for being the original, but overall as films, I think Quarantine has a marginal edge over REC. It made improvements and came off better, IMHO.

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[–] ongbakfan-914-120298 12 years ago

I just like the ending of Quarantine than REC because REC's ending where Angela is pulled into the darkness, didn't seem TOO scary. It was chilling but not scary. But in Quarantine, where Angela is on the ground and being pulled away, it was rushed and quick. Perfect timing.

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 12 years ago

^^Agreed, even though I LOVED both!

"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna `*beep*` wit' me!" Hudson in Aliens.

[–] Damon312 12 years ago

Both are great scare films IMO and I enjoyed both endings. To me, there was something about the ending of Quarantine and nothing but the soundsmof helicopters and police sirens blaring in the background. It just left me feeling like wow, they all paid with their lives, and you just say to yourself, what a *beep* up situation to walk into.

[–] marcus_stokes2000 12 years ago

Rushed? She just stands there for a while, waiting to be dragged down!! At least spanish Angela hears a child's laugh while crawling and realistically stopped in fear. American Angela was waiting for her effing cue.

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[–] dynawide 10 years ago

I agree with you. It wasn't that mysterious really imo. There are a *beep* of clues in the apartment/lab that tell us all we need to know.
Before the last seen i thought the vet was behind it all. I enjoyed the movie.

[–] kcmet79 9 years ago

The 6.0 rating for Quarantine is ridiculous IMO, though opinions are just that--and the rating can be dragged further down (or up) by trolls.

I saw Quarantine in theatres and it is in the top 10-15 scariest movies I've ever seen in my life. I watched the ending of REC on youtube and it is just as unnerving (maybe moreso in some ways) than that of Quarantine. But to dismiss Quarantine as just a boring knock-off... eh, I dunno. I understand when people have a deep love for an original movie; I feel the same way about Let the Right One In. But I rated its remake Let Me In poorly because I thought the two leads weren't as effective... the score not nearly as wonderful... and the plot of the original was perfect as-is without any of the unnecessary changes.

On the flip side, I rated The Ring higher than Ringu because I found it far scarier and more well-written--having not dissolved into a detective story as did Ringu. Granted, I saw The Ring before Ringu, which totally took the surprise factor out of the "TV-related" ending (heck, the ending of The Ring doesn't really scare me anymore at all, but in the theatre in Oct 2002, myself my ex and 200 other people were shrieking and drawing back in their seats like they were about to simultaneously chew off their fingers and violently shyt themselves). Point being, IMO it's all about the film for me, and who did it best... not who "did it first." That's not to say I don't respect others' opinions including those that feel ownership of or allegiance to originals... and I likewise am as tired of useless remakes like Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Friday the 13th, etc. as I am of all the (primarily hip-hop and R&B artists) who've been sampling older music (e.g. 1970s-1990s pop hooks) on which to base their entire song around and thus capitalize with their otherwise lame music ("by so and so featuring so and so"; zzzzzzz....)