Quaratine (2008)

A news team who are spending the night in the fire station go on a call to go to an apartment building where an old lady appears to be injured. As the police and fire fighters try to calm her, she attacks them.

When they try to get the injured cop out of the building, they discover the doors are locked from the outside. Soon their cell phones stop working, the cable goes out, and they are met at every exit by armed military who seal the doors and windows.

As the injured and sick start to exhibit a drooling or frothing at the mouth, a tenant - a vet who is caring for them - is puzzled as they have the symptoms of rabies, but rabies doesn't gestate that quickly.

Everyone is confused as to why they are being detained until the CDC show up in hazmat suits and respirators to take blood samples from the sick. Then the fireman reveals that there is a suspected biological or chemical threat. As the illness spreads and more of those trapped in the building become infected, it gets harder for those not infected to survive.

While the characters start off smart, they seem to lose intelligence as time goes on. You could argue that they are panicked by the turn of events, but some of the things they do are just so stupid. When reporter Angela and cameraman Scott are using the cameras night vision, they reason that if the creature can't see them and can't hear them, then it can't find them. Pretty smart - however immediately after that they decide to try to sneak by it. Seriously? You really think this is a good idea? Won't it hear you? I figured they meant to sit tight until the coast was clear.

Also when the little girl bites her mother and then runs off, the cop who finds her tries to coax her out of the closet by offered his hand and telling her it's okay. Really? Because she just bit her mom in the neck and everyone else who has been sick turned into one of the creatures. No worries, let's just try to be nice to the little kid. That situation turns out about how you'd expect it.

Plus Angela goes from being a strong woman to a total screeching wreck. While it is possible that this could happen due to the circumstances, and you could even argue it's a realistic portrayal of someone who is out of their mind in terror, it is annoying as hell. Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! It was driving me insane. Just because it might be realistic does not mean it's going to be good in the movie.

But my biggest question is why did it take so long to discover whose dog it was? You can't just anonymously drop dogs off at the vet for treatment. Yet they state that they figured out the location of the building from the address on the dog collar. Makes no sense, especially since the family wasn't abandoning the dog, just trying to get it treatment.

The movie is shot with one camera as if from the point of view of the cameraman. They actually manage to do a good job with this. I get motion sick very easily and the hand held camera didn't bother me at all.