Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011)

(On Cable TV, March 2012) There are a few remarkable things about this low-budget, low-profile horror sequel, and the least important one is how, even if it’s a sequel to a remake (Quarantine) of an Spanish horror film (Rec), it doesn’t have any similarity to the direct sequel of the Spanish original (Rec 2).  Rather than go back to the apartment building of the first film, this sequel goes to lock itself up somewhere else; first in an airplane, then in an airport terminal.  Heck, it doesn’t even keep the subjective-camera motif of the first film.  Fortunately, Quarantine 2 holds up pretty well to casual viewing: The sense of claustrophobia is acute in the plane-bound first act, and if the film loses a bit of steam once back on the ground, it keeps a good focus on the scares and the forward narrative rhythm.  The small cast of characters is efficiently introduced and just as effectively eliminated.  The back-story explanation reaching to the first film doesn’t feel completely idiotic, and the film does take advantage of its environment in order to heighten the suspense.  Quarantine 2 ends up being a perfectly acceptable genre picture, successful in part because it doesn’t have any illusions about what it tries to be, and deliver to the audience.  The gradual distancing away from its Spanish origins also works well –although you shouldn’t let this influence you away from watching Rec 2, which is good in entirely different ways.