(Rec) The Movie Review

Erinlee Hull
11/10/2008
Movie Review

[REC] starts with beautiful reporter Niña Medeiros (Javier Botet) shooting a segment for the late night TV show, While You're Sleeping, at a local fire station. It's a slow night, as Nina attempts to fill her segment with personal interviews and a basketball game. Even when finally a call comes in, it's a low priority call – tenants in a apartment building are complaining about screams coming from one of the apartments. So the police and the fire department are called in, and Niña and her cameraman, Pablo, decide to come along for the ride. When they arrive to the call, the neighbors have all congregated on the main level while the emergency staff – and the television crew – investigate upstairs and find an elderly woman in her apartment in a rabid state. While the situation might have the appearance of minimal concern, unfortunately, everyone in the building is about to come face to face with the most intense fear possible. There's something evil in the building, and there's no way out, except for death.

[REC] succeeds by expertly building tension in a manner that is structured like a slow build, but it explodes at times with several very intense scares. Filmmaker Jaume Balagueró (whose previous works gave no indication of output this good) keeps the script largely improvisational and allows the film to build by utilizing several scenes that keep the pacing varied and almost let the audience pace itself for the wild final act. The hand-held photography also allows a few jump scares that come naturally out of its jerky movements. Ultimately, the film builds up so much momentum that as it moves along, the body count accelerates and each new body just becomes another force that raises the stakes. Sounds like a zombie film? Yeah, we are all SICK of zombie films, but [REC] is something much more and much better. It certainly shares some traits with that genre, and the characters being trapped in one location harkens back to James Russo's and George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, but this film shares more in common with Romero's The Crazies, David Cronenberg's Rabid and Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later than a traditional zombie film, and the film's ending is rather unique and is downright freaky. Best of all, it doesn't really explain everything that's happened in the film, and, it's so scary it will leave you squirming in your seat.

What most movies fail to do is heighten the suspense, action and violence until the very last frame; most drop the ball around the third act – but not [REC]. The infected are extremely creepy as they make really odd noises, scream high pitch squeals and run at their victims faster than any previous zombie-esque film. The way suspense is built is nothing new, but it is exceptionally executed. Because everything is first person we get loads of suspense just from that - we see the cameraman having to walk around handcuffed zombies, there’s a segment where the lights go out and he’s forced to use night vision and when things pop out of the shadows to attack it’s almost as if you’re standing right there. In fact, you never even see the cameraman; it’s almost as if he’s you.
As the film escalates the situation goes from under control to loose cannon to complete chaos, ending in what could be one of the scariest moments ever caught on film. My nails were dug deep into the armrest of the seats and I found myself howling in excitement nearly ever few minutes. [REC] has it all and is probably one of the best Spanish horror films in recent memory. There are buckets of blood used, well-developed characters, a wonderful twist, a good solid story and a finale that will ensure you leave the theater in shock. I cannot stress enough that you should see this in a theater if possible. Either way I give [REC] the past stamp of approval and smile at the fact that something extraordinary has finally come out of Filmax.