Review of [REC] (2007) by Pump T — 22 Apr 2012

I wish I had not seen Quarantine before I saw [REC]. Quarantine was a remake of [REC], a foreign film, that, like most American remakes of foreign films, was nowhere as good as its inspiration. The problem is that since Quarantine was a remake, it stole a lot of its scenes from [REC] and it took a lot of the surprise and fascination out of me when I saw [REC] for the first time. [REC], however, was able to identify itself and become one of the best horror films of the last decade.

[REC], which is short for record, starts off at night in a fire station where a news reporter, Ángela Vidal and her cameraman, Pablo, are filming for a TV show. They want to capture the life of firemen at night. After interviewing and hanging out with the firemen, the alarm rings and they take off to a hotel where a report came in from an old lady saying she is stuck in her apartment. Upon arriving at the scene, with police already there too, things go to hell real fast when the old lady goes on a frenzy and bites one of the policemen. Soon after, the hotel is put under quarantine, with no one allowed in or out. The authorities outside do not reveal anything that is going on until later. Ángela and Pablo continue to film and the night becomes the last and most horrifying nights of their lives.

The film is shot entirely through a hand-held camera type of view with the audience never seeing Pablo at all, except his legs when he puts down the camera in some scenes. Using this filming style, the two directors, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, are able to turn a slightly scary movie into a terrifying night of survival and suspense.

What makes [REC] so scary is its completely believable atmosphere and its feelings of hopelessness that continues to increase until the very last shot. Its ending, especially, is one of the most intense moments in horror cinema and has been of the best-looking and horrifying creature designs ever. Another things that makes [REC] so great is the fact that the protagonists of the movie are not as stupid as most horror films have their protagonists, except for Ángela at the end, who would not freaking shut the hell up.

If I had never seen Quarantine, [REC] would have been a much scarier and more surprising movie experience for me. Nonetheless, [REC] ups the ante in horror and suspense compared to most horror films out there. As a bonus, it also packs one hell of an ending.