It’s another case of the geek trying to imitate the
popular people in the school and failing miserably.
Heathers 1988
Every
film ever made and every film to be made is eligible for a remake. The remake
is so entrenched in the movie business philosophy that it is a genre unto
itself. This genre encompasses all types of films from romantic comedies (You’ve
Got Mail 1998) to westerns (True
Grit 2010) to horror (Carrie 2013).
The genre also encompasses different types of
remakes. The bona fide remake establishes a respectful distance from the
original to adapt the story for a new generation (The Thing from another World 1951: John Carpenter’s The Thing 1982).
The foreign bona fide reworks the story for an American audience (Seven
Samurai 1954:
The
Magnificent Seven 1960). The
denial protests it is not a remake (Le Samouraï 1967: The Driver 1978). There are the
honest mistakes (Psycho 1998)
and the carpetbaggers (every horror remake since The Ring 2002).
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| consumed by imperialism |
The ‘carpetbaggers’ is what happened when
Generation X1 assumed power. These executives raided the horror films
of their youth (the 70-80s back catalogues). They remade them at will with
scant intention of elevating the storytelling of some pretty ropey pictures (The
Hills Have Eyes 2006 is a notable
exception). The business model was to take a brand name and sell it again but
with downgraded quality (Halloween 2007, Friday
the 13th 2009, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010).
Every year I put on a new label. One year it’s
beer. Then the next year we call it ‘light beer’. And then the next year it’s
‘cold’, ‘filtered’ or ‘dry’. You know what? We can’t make enough of that shit.
The Larry Sanders Show2
The most insidious of the carpetbaggers is
the foreign clone. This is when the Yankee imperialist remakes a (new) foreign
film that hasn’t or has hardly been released in the US. Thus, these movies do
not have a chance to resonate in American culture the way La
Femme Nikita 1990 did (which resulted
in two TV series). They are remade shot for shot with the texture lost in
translation. It is a case of badly dubbed porn.
[●REC] was released in its native Spain in 2007 and premiered in the US on DVD in 2009. When the clone Quarantine 2008 was released in American theatres most patrons didn’t realise it was a remake. It is also a fraud. Quarantine tells the story of [●REC] in American accents but voices alone do not destroy resonance. Quarantine is example of how Americans depict themselves. How accurate that depiction is is for Americans to answer.
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| Jennifer Carpenter in Quarantine |
Quarantine begins
exactly as [●REC] does. There is the
distributor’s card and the film delves straight into narrative. The viewer is
presented with a half-shot of lead character Angela Vidal this time portrayed
by Jennifer Carpenter. The difference between the two films is that in this
version Angela starts off bitching. There are more warning signs: the
cameraman, Scott, walks into shot in the very first scene.
Two things are occurring with this action:
Scott is played by Steve Harris, an African American. With his primping of
Angela’s hair he is immediately positioned in the subservient role. The
original cameraman, Pablo, was always Angela’s equal even when they were
arguing. The other significance is his appearance itself. The American Dream is
self grandeur. This is true of their journalism. It explains the documentarians
who appear onscreen.
As they tape outside the firehouse a fleet of
engines leave with sirens blaring. Angela pogos at the sight of them like a
child who’s been promised a bowl of ice cream. Then she bitches again and pulls
a face like a child who’s finished the bowl but wants more. This is an
illustration of the infantilization of American culture (in association with
its dumbing down). That a grown woman in a professional capacity can behave
like a child in a public place is indicative. Alas this kind of behaviour is commonplace.
The setup of the film involves Angela meeting
the firemen at the firehouse. The interaction consists of Angela bitching, consistently
making lewd comments, the firemen putting each other down and homosexual
taunts. The basketball scene in [●REC] showed
the firemen allowing a girl to play with them; they didn’t foul her and they
let her score a basket. In Quarantine Angela
is the best player on the court. This film is set in America – the land of
racism and the home of political correctness.
The racist iconography continues in the
apartment building. This film is set in Los Angeles scene of the Rodney King
torture3. One of the Quarantine cops
is African American so white girl Angela decides it’s perfectly safe to physically shove
him. To reverse the roles this is what happens when African American women encounter
white male cops.
Casting can make or break a movie. A great
part of the success of [●REC] was Manuela Velasco’s performance
as Angela. Jennifer Carpenter does not induce sympathy here nor did she in The
Exorcism of Emily Rose 2005. While her inclusion
in this film may not be the fault of director John Erick Dowdle her performance
is. To date Dowdle has directed three horror films (The Poughkeepsie Tapes 2007 and
Devil 2010). There
is not a single journalist or blogger who has accused him of being a potential horrormeister.
Quarantine is
what happens when you take a Spanish pearl and turn it into American pigswill.
Dr Blood suggested this review. Meanwhile over at
The Vault he has reviewed every film in this canon. I advise everyone to check
out what he wrote. I enjoyed it.
30%
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Read more Thrill Fiction: A Nightmare on ElmStreet 2: Freddy’s Return
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