(November 17, 2007) I’m not going to hide it… I am in fact jaded. Over the several years that we’ve been keeping you guys informed on all upcoming horror projects, I have been to hundreds of sets and talked with hundreds of stars. Early on I used to get excited for any visit, even for crap like HOUSE OF THE DEAD II – but at some point it became more tedious than fun. The reason I’m telling you this is to really push in the fact that I am genuinely excited for Sony Screen Gems’ QUARANTINE, and was looking forward to visiting this set the day the project was announced. Why? Anyone who has seen the original Filmax movie, [REC], knows that there is something special here. [REC] is such a powerful film that its potency is genre changing; it’s a film that could become the next RING, HOSTEL or 28 DAYS LATER. The problem is that the original film would never get a theatrical release; so remaking it almost seems genuinely in good faith.

Here’s the set up: The original is a voyeur project where a camera crew shoots the film entirely in first person. They are following around a late night host who is doing a story on fireman and what they do while everyone is sleeping. When the firemen get a call, the crew becomes ‘quarantined’ in a building with no explanation. Soon thereafter, a rabies epidemic ensues on the premise causing pandemonium.

Besides having such an amazing plot, and already knowing that the original is scary as all hell, there are a few other factors that added to my excitement leading up to the visit. First is that Roy Lee’s Vertigo (The Ring) is producing the film; then the Dowdle brothers (The Poughkeepsie Tapes) were attached to write and direct the film; Rob Hall’s Almost human FX was onboard to do the special FX work; and lastly, the casting of Jennifer Carpenter (Exorcism of Emily Rose, Dexter) and Jay Hernandez (Hostel). Pretty much every aspect of this film screams “awesome” and I can feel deep in my bones that this is going to be a fantastic film (I hope) -- I’ll be extremely disappointed if this film fails to deliver.

So flash to the day of my visit. I’m so excited I leave uber early and end up sitting at Starbucks for an hour sippin on some coffee. The anticipation was killing me, this visit was that motivation and excitement I had been longing for-for quite sometime now.

The first thing I did when I arrived on location was hit up Robert Hall’s FX trailer. We chatted a bit about the project out of pure fanboy bliss – not work. We had both seen the original and loved it and knew that this was going to be huge. He told me some cool stuff about the development of the FX and the creatures. But what exactly are they? Zombies?

“Technically they are humans with a severe strain of rabies. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t push the medical boundaries of what would be acceptable within these confines.” Hall continues, “We pushed the limits of the symptoms… did you know that even with regular rabies, after confusion stages, animals tend to self mutilate? They also excessively drool, and tear. We had a lot to play with just based on the real symptoms. ”

Hall also explains that there are different levels to the infected.

“There are basically three stages that we adhered to… stage three being the most horrific and furthest along with the symptoms.”

But the real question is, just how bloody is QUARNTINE? Hall explains why this sucker will be R-rated.

"It’s BLOODY! Thank Christ," he jokes, “I for one am tired of safe PG-13 horror and I think most horror fans agree… horror is not supposed to be homogenized or watered down. I'm proud to say our movie doesn’t shy from the red stuff and the Dowdle’s wrote some killer gore gags that aren’t in [REC], but fit in this film perfectly.” Hall had a lot on his plate. “We had plenty to do on this one…”

Once we finished chatting we walked down to the set, which was on studio 23. On the way down we walked right past Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly who were filming a new movie called STEPBROS. It was pretty amazing getting to see him out of character just relaxing a bit and talking to some friends. I wish I could have snapped a photo, but that would have been pretty unprofessional.

Anyways, when we get to set they had just begun filming. The Vertigo trio was all watching the monitors and rehearsals were underway. They were prepping the scene where Jennifer Carpenter’s character first enters the building with the firemen and camera crew.

I chatted with Vertigo Producer Roy Lee a bit, who explains why he chose to remake the Spanish horror film [REC].

“[REC] was by far the most innovative and scary movie I had seen in a long time. It had such a clear concept that I hadn’t seen in a U.S. studio production that I immediately knew that it was a perfect choice for a remake.” Roy also explained why he believes there is nothing wrong with remaking a film. “I think remakes are worthy of being made if you think you can reach an audience that otherwise would never have seen the original movie. The original films will always exist and will probably have a wider audience because of a remake. ”

Being that it’s a remake, Lee explains how he plans on recreating the sheer terror of the original.

“We tried to keep everything we loved about the original and try to make it even better. The Spanish production had budgetary constraints that we did not have and hopefully it will show up on screen. ”

Sony Screen Gems doesn’t have a very good track record when it comes to remakes, what makes this film so special?

Roy Lee tells us that “ this movie will be the scariest movie Screen Gems will have made yet.”

After an hour or so of rehearsals, everyone broke for lunch and I finally had the chance to talk to John and Erik Dowdle, the brothers behind THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES. We quickly crammed down our lunches (mmmm cheesecake) so they could take me on a tour of the set. I swear to you these guys are two of the greatest human beings on the planet - they are so incredibly humble, funny, entertaining, exciting, happy and genuinely excited to be part of this project. These are the type of guys people tend to gravitate to, as they always seem to keep a smile on your face. Enthused as all hell the duo bolted with excitement onto the set where I received a tour of the entire building, which was constructed right there on set. While walking around we had a lot to talk about, such as how effective this remake could be.

“I think realism in a heightened environment like this is so effective” John Dowdle tells us, “To take a zombie-like thing and place it in a completely realistic world, in a world that we know, that we see on YouTube, in that kind of immediate personal world, I think is really attractive.” Drew adds, “There’s nothing supernatural about the story. It’s realistic start to finish.”

The scope in an average zombie film seems to be so large and it gets bigger and bigger all the time, but in QUARANTINE everything is so self-contained that I think it would cause a lot more tension in the film. John agrees.

“Absolutely, absolutely. You know everyone. That’s part of what we want to do. We want to define each one of these characters really specifically so that when each one turns, it’s painful, almost. You’re losing somebody you’ve gotten to know and care about, as opposed to like, there’s never a sweeping “zombies-coming-toward-the-building” moment. It’s always somebody you know, and hopefully know well by the time they turn.”

There was also a little talk about what camera they decided to use to make the film have that “gritty” look to it.

John explains, “We decided to go with a really good HD camera and then degrade it in the correct way, where it looks like video because we’ll sharpen the edges and do some things like that, but it will still have great color space, great blacks and great whites…”

While chatting, the Dowdle brothers walked us through the same entrance that Jennifer Carpenter’s character would enter from in the scene they are shooting after lunch. There were fake police lights flashing all over the green entrance doors, which where enormous. Once inside it looked like I was in a Spanish tiled contemporary apartment complex. The walls were peach, mixed with yellow and brown colors making the atmosphere not only warm, but also a little demented. It looked like it was a new building styled to have a very trendy retro look. Unlike the original, this apartment had an elevator built into it. The far wall had a steel garage door entrance while to the far right was the spiral staircase infamous to the original.

What separated this set visit from others is that usually I am on a set of something I haven’t seen, so most of the experience is speculation. On QUARANTINE it was like walking through the set of the original, which scared the living daylights out of me. Once inside the complex it was as if I had been transported to the real place, where all of the madness had happened – only I had the enthusiastic Dowdle brothers trumping me up the stairs. The spiral staircase led to three different floors all pretty similar, except for the interior of each room. The most exciting room was on the second floor. The residence of Mr.s Espinosa looked exactly like the original only she doesn’t sleep on a mattress in the middle of her vintage apartment. The room is decorated with all sorts of old lady items like stainless steel teapots and fiberglass cat figurines. The room was equipped with breakaway tables, which were arranged for some crazy sequences that are sure to be remembered for a LONG time. Outside one of the windows was an actual roof/balcony with a backdrop reused from SPIDER-MAN 3 (awesome!)

In the film there are actually four levels and an attic, but a little movie magic will add the fourth floor to the film (it’ll actually just be the third reassembled.) After checking out the three floors we headed back down where the fourth floor room was in the midst of being built. It was pretty much a shell with some of the wall painted to look old and rundown. The attic was in place and I got to actually touch the spot where… ok, ok I’m just kidding I wont ruin anything.

Another major sequence takes place on the first floor beyond the steel garage door. Behind the door are two sewing rooms, which become a place of serious bloodshed. The rooms were painted in an old dirty green and were overloaded with sewing machines. The rooms were connected side-by-side because the cameraman at one point sticks his camera through a window up top to spy on a policeman, some other guy and two injured victims.

After my magnificent tour, everyone was outside smoking a cigarette – literally it seemed like EVERYONE smoked. The Dowdle bros. were prepping their next shot and I was chilling by the monitors eating cookies, lots and lots of cookies. The smell of smoke started to fill the set and everyone started to freak out. Someone was walking around telling everyone it was from a drill, but maybe he was saying it was a fire drill? Either way, we were all evacuated -- and then the real fireman came to set. The fire was an omen on my part because it gave me some good time to chat it up with star Jennifer Carpenter, who is such an intriguing person. She’s very nice, open and cracks plenty of jokes. I learned a lot about her and how she prepares for her roles, among other things.

“I over prepared. I’m always early, I’m always over prepared, I’ve done way too much research - and on this, I was freaking out because I didn’t know where to start. Do I watch a ton of MTV and watch people interview other people… to figure out how to do it? The thing is, I could just show up and react. So that’s what I plan on doing; I don’t want to be prepared by knowing what they are going to look like or sound like.”

It’s pretty terrifying that, hypothetically, this story could happen. Carpenter reflects a little on this notion.

“The scary thing about it is that they are locked in this building - normal people like you and me - but their rescue is right outside of a window pane. It is two stories down, and they can’t get out. They’re fighting for their lives, and their salvation is right outside the door.”

Even though Carpenter is building her career around horror films, she doesn’t really have the stomach for them, but she’s still very much a fan.

“It’s interesting because I don’t watch scary films, because I don’t have the stomach for it, but I love them,” she smiles. “I love being in them… I’m loving it.”

After a nice chat with Jennifer we were finally let back in where we discovered that the fire was caused by – you guessed it –a smoker (nice payoff right?!) Inside I waited around a bit in hopes of catching one of the other actors sitting around. I watched them film the sequence that they had been practicing all morning where Jennifer and her crew follow the firemen through the building and up to the second floor. They enter a room by force, a dog bolts by and then the scene is cut. It was a massive sequence that had to be redone a few times.

After they stopped to reset the shot I went to the restroom, where I ran into Jay Hernandez. We chatted a bit on the way back (because talking while you pee is rude) and talked about some of his older projects like HOSTEL. When we got back he gave me a few minutes of his time talked about how he ended up in QUARANTINE.

“The script was passed on to me and my agent, I read it; well, actually, no. I got a copy of the Spanish version, the original, and Clint specifically said ‘watch this before you read it.’ So I followed the instructions, watched it, was terrified, horrified by it, and said you know, this is a completely different format than what we’re used to for horror films. There’s not really going to be a score, there’s these long, drawn-out takes that follow the action sequentially. Whatever is happening, you’re watching it happen. You feel like you’re an active participant in the chaos. That was one of the things that I thought was brilliant, scary and unique about it.”

What’s interesting about QUARANTINE is that many of the takes are extremely long, without any breaks. Hernandez talks about the difficulty in shooting these scenes.

“Well, generally, it’s just a different process. You shoot a film, you’ve got to do the master, establish things, punch in and cover people, pick up things here and there. It’s a long process. But with this, it’s what you think acting is before you know what acting is. Before you understand what coverage is and how cameras work and how film in general works. People might have this image of, “something goes down, you shoot it.” That’s kind of what the layperson’s understanding of it might be. It’s going to be gritty and dirty, and we’re all just going to be in the room, and have to live in that moment and keep it alive. There’s no cutting for close-ups or angles or anything. It’s just sort of freeform. It’s going to happen on the set, on the day. It’s interesting. It’s a different way of shooting; I’ve never experienced anything like it, so it’s pretty exciting.”

Something fun that came up is that Hernandez has the possibility of ending up in two genre-changing films – HOSTEL and QUARANTINE.

“It’s great. HOSTEL got a lot of recognition. Eli did a wonderful job on it, and if I can have the same success with another film, and I think QUARANTINE really has - or whatever the name eventually ends up - I think it has real potential to be a success. It pushes the envelope, but it’s just different. It’s something that the audience hasn’t seen. That’s what you want. You don’t want to walk into a movie and know exactly what’s going to happen, and have that sort of predictability. You want to be shocked and surprised.”

After a brief chat with Jay, it was getting pretty late, so I wrapped up and headed up. There’s nothing better than being invited to join the production of a film when they WANT to show you something. It’s fabulous being able to talk to whomever you need, walk where you need to walk and check out whatever you want. The only downside was I wasn’t allowed to take any photos.

My overall impression of QUARANTINE is that everyone involved is trying to keep it as close to the original as possible. They talked a bit about adding more tension and character development, which in the end could really take it up a notch. So long as they really do retain the element of the original, this one is guaranteed to knock it out of the park.

Check out QUARANTINE in theaters October 10th.