Review of [REC] (2007) by John M — 12 Mar 2018

As immersive as horror gets. So this is about a two person production crew of Ángela and Pablo (Manuela Velasco, Pablo Rosso). They make a show called While You're Asleep, and for this episode, they are shadowing a pair of firefighters (Ferrán Terraza, David Vert) on an overnight shift.

When they respond to an emergency call, the building is sealed off right after they enter, and it becomes quickly evident that there is something bigger going on here. Now as you may have been able to ascertain by this subject title, this is singularly my favorite horror film, and not of the year, not of the decade, of all time.

There is a lot to love about [Rec], and every single time I give this a spin, I am enthralled from start to finish. I was long overdue for a viewing, because I don't have a review for this on my blog that has functional since 2014.

Much like Cloverfield, this is found footage at its absolute finest. You can call it a gimmick if you must, and sometimes it is to be sure, but it really does force the story to be right in your face, and it does keep you in the moment in a day and age where attention spans tend to run on the short side.

They even give good reasons why they keep running the camera amidst all the chaos, which is typically the biggest folly to this sub-genre. Even at the beginning of this, you do get to know the main girl Ángela.

She is charismatic, gorgeous and good at her job, and it really ends up being her movie to sell as she is more or less the avatar for the audience for this insane night. You only get a brief introduction, as the runtime to this is a very abbreviated 78 minutes long, but it is effective.

You get thrust into this situation very quickly, and because of it, you don't get a ton of answers to your questions. It makes it way more mysterious and frightening that you just have to roll with the craziness, and there are constant moments of true terror that I love about this.

For example, there is one instance where one group of people are running down the staircase to get away from a horror only to run past another group running up the same stairs to get away from their own monsters.

It's a very small moment, but it perfectly captures what this is all about. If this is your first time watching this, I truly envy you because all of the surprises are going to be 100% fresh for you.

They made a shot-for-shot American remake in 2008 (Quarantine), and while I personally like the extra scenes that they add, I do highly recommend you avoid it at all costs until you've seen [Rec].

This is one of the most claustrophobic movies I have ever seen, and it is my definition of spine-chilling. It is in Spanish, but please don't take a little bit of reading as a deterrent. I cannot recommend this movie enough.