Quarantine 2: Terminal

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Quarantine 2:  Terminal – 1 out of 5

It’s October and October means horror movies on the old blog.  Usually, I pick out a franchise to watch (or re-watch) and then pick out some rando scary flicks along the way but this month it’s going to be nothing but a bunch of odds and ends—some new, some older, some sequels without the originals and some originals alongside their sequels.  I’m starting out this adventure with a sequel to a remake that I really did not enjoy but loved the series that it was spawned from.  Quarantine was a terribly predictable and generic zombie-esque film that was the American remake of the insanely better film [Rec].  After watching the remake, I ignored the sequel that was made but, for some reason, decided that I should check it out.  It’s about as good as the first film…which isn’t saying much.

"In case of emergency, undo your safety belt and kiss your ass goodbye."

As the events of the first film are taking place at the ill-fated apartment building, a flight prepares to leave for Nashville from the airport.  A man becomes violently ill after he is bitten by a lab rat brought on the plane by a man named Henry (Josh Cooke) and ends up himself biting the flight attendant Paula (Bre Blair) on the face.  The plane, despite being ordered to not land, makes an emergency landing and is informed by a baggage handler that the hold airport is on lockdown.  As fellow crewmembers and passengers start to disappear one-by-one to this mysterious illness, flight attendant Jenny (Mercedes Mason) takes it upon herself to lead the group and save them but after the CDC arrives to quarantine the area, she is left in a locked building with no way out and nothing but rapid monsters within.

"This is, uh, your captain, uh, speaking.  Uh, if you, uh, look behind you,
uh, death is, uh, coming."

Quarantine 2:  Terminal has all the problems of a low-budget sequel and they all hold the film back.  The story is pretty weak and by-the-numbers, the characters are generic and impossible to truly get invested in, the scares are predictable, and the overall technical make-up of it, especially the chaotic editing and obnoxious audio production, feels very amateurish and is often quick to rob the film of any potential atmosphere and chills.  Honestly, there’s not much about this movie that makes it memorable, entertaining or even remotely scary or creepy.

He killed the infected Flanders.  And, no, he didn't know he was infected.

The performances are decent and I really enjoyed Mercedes Mason as the lead.  Granted there are some performances that are pretty cheesy and lifeless and stick with the theme of how most low-budget horror films go but, unlike a lot of weak scary features, the acting in this one isn’t terrible—except when the actors have to act like monsters.  It was hard not to laugh at them flop around.  They were not terrifying and the obnoxious sound design of the infected monsters wasn’t doing them any favors.  Animal noises were used but they didn’t sound natural coming out of the characters.  Their artificial flavor only made an already unintimidating potential threat even less menacing.

When Preston Lacy from Jackass goes rapid!

One element that I will give the film credit for is the fact that it decided to take itself in a different direction than the original franchise this film was spawned from.  Now, the first film is a remake that changed some of the mythology that the original had.  This sequel continues that mythology and places it in a new location that is in no way similar to the second film in the original franchise.  I can respect that this film decided to branch off.  I don’t necessarily think it translated into something intriguing and scary but I like that it tried its own thing.

He looks pretty damn at peace for having an infected lab rat currently biting him
on the old noggin.

Quarantine 2: Terminal isn’t really doing anything new or exciting in the infected humans/zombie-adjacent genre.  It’s hampered by its low budget and lack of atmosphere and, unfortunately, isn’t bad enough where it can at least be an amusing watch.  The performances are decent for the most part and I like that it wasn’t beholden to mirror the sequel to the original franchise but there is not enough to save a feature that is inescapably boring.