[REC] (2007)

Studio: Contender Entertainment Group

UK DVD Release Date: August 11, 2008

Directed By: Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza

Cast: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge Serrano, Pablo Rosso

Brutal As Hell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Review By: Benjamin Bussey

Local TV anchor Angela (Velasco) and her cameraman Pablo (Rosso apparently, though his face is never shown) aren’t anticipating anything too noteworthy when they spend a night in an inner city fire station for their local interest news slot. But just when things seem to be at their sleepiest, a call comes out for help at a local apartment building. All they think they’re going to be doing is helping someone they assume is trapped in their apartment – but soon enough they find themselves detained inside that very building along with its panicked inhabitants, on orders of government officials. No one knows what is going on, and the authorities aren’t talking, but it doesn’t take a doctorate in medicine to ascertain that it’s something to do with the rabid old woman who violently attacks and bites whoever gets too close to her. Angela and Pablo decide it is their duty to capture the whole thing on tape – and it may well prove to be a story to die for. Nyahahaha…

So, ladies – it’s got firemen. And gentlemen – it’s got a svelte young Spanish woman in a skinny fit vest. And zombies. Now, does this sound like a perfect date movie or what?

 If any of this sounds at all familiar, it’s because it’s the exact the same premise as the recent US horror Quarantine – a direct remake made less than a year after the original. I haven’t seen the remake and don’t intend to, and though there is an overwhelming temptation to turn this review into a rant about this whole remake culture that has choked US horror in the past decade, I will resist. It just makes me sad that a great many people won’t bother to see [REC] now, and even those that do are likely to judge it against the remake, rather than letting it stand on its own merits. And [REC] is a movie that does stand up pretty well on its own. I know nothing of the filmmakers or any of the cast, but their efforts combined have crafted a very nice piece of work.

As I commented before in my review of the vastly inferior Zombie Diaries, there has of course been a deluge of first person perspective camcorder horror films this last year or two, the other most notable subgenre entries being Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead. In part, [REC] and also Cloverfield succeed where the two Diary movies failed so miserably thanks to sticking to a real-time format and making only minimal use of (noticeable) editing, and keeping the running time low. Not only does it make sense from an audience-comfort perspective for a handheld DV movie to clock in at less than seventy five minutes – there’s only so much motion-sickness most of us can take, after all – but also it provides a refreshingly lean viewing experience, at a time when every other blockbuster seems to be stretched out to two hours or more. This is not to say there’s no flab on the movie at all; there are plenty of protracted dialogue scenes that do drag a bit, but ultimately these serve to further the verisimilitude. And once we reach the last half hour, kiss such quibbles goodbye as the action hurtles headfirst into haunted house territory. The onslaught of big scares is relentless, and while the tactics employed may be a tad hammy, they’re damn good fun, just as a haunted house is meant to be.

Some may bemoan the lack of any definitive explanation of what’s actually going on in the building, but such concerns are ultimately irrelevant; the focus, as it should be, is on the protagonists and the fight for survival. Yet more may bemoan having to read subtitles, at which point I have to remind myself of my earlier promise not to lapse into self-righteous ranting… but I must say I find it hard not to get incensed by such flagrant anti-intellectualism. For crying out loud, we all know how to read. It is not difficult to follow onscreen action and read a few words at the bottom of the screen at the same time. On top of which, as [REC] demonstrates, just because a film is subtitled does not automatically mean it is art house. While certainly not a stupid movie, [REC] is by no means a cerebral experience. It’s a thrill-ride, whose aim is to get your jarred nerves jerking you out of your seat. And it does that job pretty damn well. What horror fan could ask for anything more?

Unless you’re one of those ignoramuses who refuses to read subtitles, in which case you can go rent Quarantine and eat your own arse… grumble grumble rant rant slobber…