This is the best Fraudulent Sequel I've ever seen. Legitimate sequels are where you either continue the story of the first film or take the characters from that movie and put them in a new adventure. Then there are Fraudulent Sequels like Quarantine 2: Terminal. This is one of the most common varieties where they take the same plot as the original, plug in new characters and sometimes a new location and simply remake the first film. As you might have guessed from that description, these kind of derivative flicks are almost exclusively direct-to-video and they usually stink. It's a formula for a base cash grab from anyone who liked, or merely heard about, the original motion picture.
Given its essentially deceitful status, Quarantine 2: Terminal is shockingly good. It's not as smart or as scary or as well made as Quarantine and it was clearly produced on a much smaller budget. Quarantine was an excellent horror film, however, and you can fall a lot short of it and still be a fun ride. That's what happened here. Writer/director John G. Pogue was handed the assignment of mimicking a great movie and not only did a fine job, he brings enough imagination to the chore to make this thing enjoyable in its own right. Pogue's outstanding effort here and has made me interested in seeing other work from him.
Set at the same time as Quarantine, this movie follows a planeful of people as they go through almost the exact same situation. They're trapped in an enclosed space with a super-virus that turns human beings into slavering beasts and the government is determined to sacrifice them in order to contain the outbreak. Instead of being stuck inside an apartment building, these poor souls are first in a passenger jet and then in the locked down terminal, trying to figure out what's happening and make it out alive. The only real difference is that this movie dispenses with the real video convention of Quarantine, which was supposed to be the footage shot by a TV news team that wound up trapped in the claustrophobic terror. Quarantine 2 is shot like a normal film, though it's imitating the style of hand-held video. But don't worry, the camera remains steady enough that motion sickness won't be a problem for any viewer.
The characters here are pretty much the definition of disposable and generic but the cast effectively portrays them and Pogue intelligently puts them through their predictable paces. He also enlivens the déjà vu by adding in some clever little wrinkles, like turning the start of the film into a guessing game as to where the virus is going to come from and taking advantage of his set to put together a chase scene that's damn near as exciting as anything from the first movie. And while Quarantine 2 as a whole isn't nearly as visually inventive as its progenitor, Pogue uses some POV thermal imaging at the end to fine effect. He doesn't do a wonderful job of bringing to life the doomsday cult that's only referenced in Quarantine, but he still comes up with a better bad guy that you normally get in a Fraudulent Sequel.
Let me be clear. If you've seen Quarantine, or its Spanish-language predecessor Rec, you don't need to watch this movie. If you haven't seen either of them, you should watch both instead of this movie. If for some reason you can't watch either of them, Quarantine 2 is an entertaining substitute. If all Fraudulent Sequels were this much fun, I'd stop calling them fraudulent.
Given its essentially deceitful status, Quarantine 2: Terminal is shockingly good. It's not as smart or as scary or as well made as Quarantine and it was clearly produced on a much smaller budget. Quarantine was an excellent horror film, however, and you can fall a lot short of it and still be a fun ride. That's what happened here. Writer/director John G. Pogue was handed the assignment of mimicking a great movie and not only did a fine job, he brings enough imagination to the chore to make this thing enjoyable in its own right. Pogue's outstanding effort here and has made me interested in seeing other work from him.
Set at the same time as Quarantine, this movie follows a planeful of people as they go through almost the exact same situation. They're trapped in an enclosed space with a super-virus that turns human beings into slavering beasts and the government is determined to sacrifice them in order to contain the outbreak. Instead of being stuck inside an apartment building, these poor souls are first in a passenger jet and then in the locked down terminal, trying to figure out what's happening and make it out alive. The only real difference is that this movie dispenses with the real video convention of Quarantine, which was supposed to be the footage shot by a TV news team that wound up trapped in the claustrophobic terror. Quarantine 2 is shot like a normal film, though it's imitating the style of hand-held video. But don't worry, the camera remains steady enough that motion sickness won't be a problem for any viewer.
The characters here are pretty much the definition of disposable and generic but the cast effectively portrays them and Pogue intelligently puts them through their predictable paces. He also enlivens the déjà vu by adding in some clever little wrinkles, like turning the start of the film into a guessing game as to where the virus is going to come from and taking advantage of his set to put together a chase scene that's damn near as exciting as anything from the first movie. And while Quarantine 2 as a whole isn't nearly as visually inventive as its progenitor, Pogue uses some POV thermal imaging at the end to fine effect. He doesn't do a wonderful job of bringing to life the doomsday cult that's only referenced in Quarantine, but he still comes up with a better bad guy that you normally get in a Fraudulent Sequel.
Let me be clear. If you've seen Quarantine, or its Spanish-language predecessor Rec, you don't need to watch this movie. If you haven't seen either of them, you should watch both instead of this movie. If for some reason you can't watch either of them, Quarantine 2 is an entertaining substitute. If all Fraudulent Sequels were this much fun, I'd stop calling them fraudulent.