Unsurprisingly, Quarantine 2: Terminal is a sequel to Quarantine, which itself was a remake of the Spanish horror film [REC]. There had been complaints at the time that the American remake was pointless as it didn't try and deviate from the original, though that can't be said as much of the sequel. With [REC] 2 the film took place in the same quarantined apartment block but set itself apart with a genre shift into demonic possession territory. With Quarantine 2: Terminal (directed by John Pogue - Deep Blue Sea 3)you have a completely original story, though despite a change in location this will feel very familiar, and dare I say it, pointless.
This takes place on the same night as the events of the original film. A small plane has taken off from Los Angeles airport for a night flight across America. One of the passengers, Henry (Josh Cooke - Dexter TV series) has brought on board some hamsters in a cage, and it is while another passenger is trying to help him put the cage in the holdall that the fun begins. The passenger ends up getting bit by one of the rodents, a bad thing as it turns out they were infected with the same virus that caused the inhabitants of an apartment block to turn into violent monsters. Due to the unfolding chaos on the plane, an emergency landing is made, the cabin crew and passengers find they are unable to exit into the terminal, instead, with the help of a baggage handler they make it into the industrial baggage area. With the whole area placed under quarantine by the trigger happy authorities, the surviving passengers and crew must try and find an escape route, while at the same time fighting off the increasing numbers of infected amongst them.
Terminal felt a little bit pointless in that despite a change of location nothing new really happens. This felt like a rehash with characters slowly working out how the infection spreads, with no real new story beats added. With a new setting there isn't much to tie the two films stories together, though with this making its own path the virus remains the result of a Doomsday cult's experiments, with no evidence of demonic possession. There are a few references to the first film, with one character in particular having a direct link. The characters have wafer thin personalities to them that made it hard to care much about their fates. Prime protagonist is Jenny (Mercedes Mason - Fear the Walking Dead), a character defined by her inability to cope under pressure, with her arc seeing her getting on top of her anxiety. There is the teenage boy, George (Mattie Liptak - Maggie) who spends the film flip-flopping between being genuinely useful (uncovering the origins of this outbreak) and being an annoying kid (crying and getting in the way). Other key characters include Henry, medic Shilah (Noree Victoria - Teen Wolf TV series) and the baggage handler Ed (Ignacio Serricchio - Witches of East End TV series). Despite being called 'Terminal' nearly the entire film takes place in the industrial baggage area, though I can see why that word was used due to its duel meaning.
The film is rated fifteen, so there isn't too much extreme violence. You do get to see a whole bunch of infected, who look diseased, dripping both saliva and blood out their mouths at every opportunity. There are some fun sequences involving these creatures. That was about it for the film though, the story is even less important than the first film, and I had a good feeling throughout how this was going to end. There is a twist involving one character's real intentions but that was painfully obvious from the start. By the third act events have somewhat quietened down, with lots of scenes utilising night vision goggles, again in a rehash of a similar concept from the first film. I had in my head that Quarantine was a found footage horror, though can see no reference to that being so in my review. I figured all the shaky hand cam footage here was an ode to the found footage genre, this is filmed traditionally for the most part, the chase sequences becoming a bit dizzying to the shaky camera movements.
Quarantine 2: Terminal failed to build on the successes of the first, instead it just aped the story beats, with barely any new ideas added. I appreciate this deviated from the path of the Spanish sequels, but it never managed to create its own identity, instead just an imitation.
SCORE:
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