Review of [REC]² (2009) by Serge L — 25 Apr 2015

The Rec franchise has always held a soft spot in my heart, I remember watching the trailer in the cinema prior to some ungodly film that I have now completely forgotten about, what stuck with me however was the trailer.

Months later I stumbled across the DVD in a store for barely anything at all and thus began my total fan boy love and admiration for the series. Although when approached a lot of the time, the found footage genre can be uninspiring, yawn inducing and down right lazy, films like The Blair Witch and Rec got the formula right.

Both films used lesser known actors, both never gave you a pristine image of what was going on and most importantly both injected a sense of fear and urgency into the building blocks of every aspect. Rec follows a duo of local television makers, who are making a project on the lives of the fire fighters and what a typical night may entail.

What comes across as mundane and typical soon becomes every film makers dream, when the firefighters are called out to investigate a bizarre situation involving an old woman in a block of flats. What seems like a bout of hysteria soon turns into full blown carnage as the entire block of flats it locked down by authorities and our film crew and tenants find themselves sharing a presence with an unwanted disease.

In a nutshell its Blair With with zombies but dont let that discourage you as this is one hell of a thrill ride. the film makers do a great job of making you feel like your in the shoes of Pablo, the cameraman.

He rarely speaks and even when he does, you find yourself relating to exactly what he is saying, for example during a situation where he is trying to be coy about filming a scenario the authorities dont want to be seen, he tells his co star to continually shut up, which at that point we as audience members can completely relate to, especially as her character, by that point, has became a megalomaniac and thinks shes on to the story of the century.

The ensemble cast all work well together and we do get a good chunk of time with them, they are all characters, not mundane or throw away fodder, relationships are frayed, tension between neighbours is present and even the strongest of the group begin to crumble under the pressures of the ever mounting catastrophy at hand.

The first half is extremely slow burning, but by the 45 minute mark, after a good chunk of exposition the film just turns into a cluster fuck of scares, chills and desperation. Infected fly into our faces, scream uncontrollably and are downright terrifying.

Add to the fact that our lead character Angela is played brilliantly with an completely believable story arc, you can help but be suckered in. Another reason this film does so well within its confines is its reasoning for constantly filming.

In most of this genres films you find yourself saying "put the camera down", however here, the camera starts of as a form of creating something the public need to see, to becoming a survival tool.

It doesnt do anything extremely new or mind bending with this, but I applaud the film makers to take some time to really try and make it as believable as possible. And it is, believable, so much so, that by the finale and reveal you are given a further jolt of unease.

Its not perfect, it hasnt aged as well as one could have hoped for and after you have watched it a plethora of times the frights become less intense. Also the shaky camera at points, although completely justifiable, become distracting.

The film also really takes quite some time kicking into gear, I understand the need for this, but there are a few moments in here that could have easily been chopped for a tighter package. Considering the film barely knocks in at an hour and twenty, it can also be forgiven.

It is not the best horror ever made and it certainly is not the scariest, but its attention to detail, location and really strong characters held toe to toe with some brilliant practical effects work, deliver a jolting, thrilling and heart pounding experience that many films barely even manage these days.