Did anyone like Quarantine better than REC?

I think you misunderstood the ending of [REC], it's actually the opposite of what you are saying. For a moment let me parallel this with exorcisms. Throughout the centuries the church had been preforming exorcisms on the mentally ill and schizophrenic because they didn't know any better. Now that science has caught up, exorcisms are a thing of the past (for the most part) because we have realized that all of these outbursts and illusions of possession are explained with science and can be cured with medicine. The cause of the rage in [REC] was a virus, just like it was in Quarantine, except that in [REC] the man who brought the virus to the apartment building worked for the Vatican and the infected girl was put into his possession because they thought she was a demon (or possessed by one). The man discovered that it was just a virus, just like in recent times we have discovered the possessed are just chemically imbalanced, so he was working on a vaccine but the virus mutated and became contagious. Essentially, both [REC] and Quarantine are about a virus, but the unseen character who brings the virus to the apartment building does it for two very different reasons and comes from two very different backgrounds.

As for being better in every aspect, are you kidding me? Sure, Quarantine tightened up the death-by-health inspector (not that the one in [REC] was that bad, considering the health inspector was his normal self a second before he turned), and they included that part about needing the camera light (big deal), so I'll give you those.... but they do not make up for the bad acting, for the firemen to be replaced with pretty boys, for the movie being sloppy in other aspects.

It's not quick, slick and visually stunning like you say. Quarantine probably had twice the budget yet manages to look twice as cheep. Some of the best parts of [REC] were the scenes focusing on the mystery of what was happening outside, yet that stuff was for the most part glossed over in Quarantine. Character interactions and reactions were just cut, except for the addition of showing the camera man fondling girl's hair and ear (I guess American audiences can't connect with a character if they don't know what he looks like). The infected in [REC] were done much better than those in Quarantine, especially the old lady. When we first got a glimpse of her in Quarantine I actually said "That's it? Are you kidding me?". The scene where the reporter demands to see the tape in Quarantine was pathetic and cringe-worthy.

Most importantly, [REC] looks like a real event, while Quarantine just looks like a movie, and that speaks volumes.

SPOILERS

I saw Quarantine before Rec, then rented Rec after reading this board.

Ways I found Rec better than Quaratine:

The possession angle. In Quarantine when an infected went down dead, it was done. Toast. In Rec, the originally infected woman reincarnates literally, after she's been repeatedly shot, and "dead." Unstoppable, supernatural infecteds are way creepier (in my opinion).

(Mentioned already, but) the final scene Medeiros girl monster.. very creepy - its movements, very realistic. I'm still sleeping with the lights on, and my Zombie-deterrant dog closeby. Quarantine's final monster looked like an eldery man.. and therefore, rather than possibly being a kidnapped child, instead it was possibly the one (researcher/biologist/bioterrorist) responsible for the virus/infection.

The ending. I've seen previews for the sequel to Rec, and it's apparent that Angela survives. This seems less likely, somehow, in Quarantine and I don't know why. As a matter of fact, people have argued in these boards that you have to be an idiot to think she could have survived..

Watching the DVD extras for Rec, I was impressed to learn that they shot it day-by-day for the characters. In other words, the actors did not know what would be shot the following day until they arrived, or what would happen next.

"It felt like a low budget student film shot with carelessness.

Q on the other hand was quick, slick and downright visually stunning"


You just perfectly explained why REC was the far better film. REC had a much more authentic realistic feel, while Quarantine just looked like a typical slick hollywood production which was everything it shouldnt have been. This type of movie is supposed to look cheap.

The acting in REC was also much more natural and realistic. Quarantine was typical crappy hollywood contrived acting.

Even though "Quarantine" was nearly a shot-for-shot remake, I found "[REC]" to be much more terrifying. I also liked Manuela Velasco much better in the lead role than Jennifer Carpenter. But the real sequence that stands head and shoulders above the remake is the finale in the attic/penthouse. The skeletal, hammer-wielding possessed girl in "[REC]" was 10 times more hideous and terrifying than in the remake.

All in all, "Quarantine" was decent, but "[REC]" surpassed it in every way.