[Rec] (2007)

Sex :
Violence :
Director Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza
Writers Jaume Balaguero, Luis Berdejo, Paco Plaza
Starring Manuela Velasco
Genre Zombie
Tagline One Witness. One Camera.
Country
Horror Movie Review - [Rec]

Review

"There are incredible security measures in place. We know nothing. They haven't told us a thing. We saw special forces, health inspectors wearing suits and masks, and it's not very comforting." - Angela.

Angela Vidal and her cameramen Pablo do pieces for a late night television show called "While You're Sleeping", and on this particular after dark assignment are on location at a Barcelona fire station. Got to say there's probably only one reason to watch "While You're Sleeping", and it isn't the content of the stories. Angela runs through the normal interviews, statements on what a typical night at the fire station involves (apparently watching movies, where do I sign up?), and is just hoping that an emergency is phoned in. Now I've told you before, be careful of what you wish for in the horror genre, it just might come true. Just not in the way you envisaged.

The fire station take a call about an old lady trapped in her apartment, and assign a unit to help with the situation. Angela and Pablo naturally tag along to see what might eventuate. When the crew get to the apartment building they find the police are already there and the tenants are for no apparent reason milling around on the ground floor.

Having established which apartment the old lady is trapped in, the firemen, a policeman, and our intrepid reporters head on up the stairs to save the day. What can I say, the old lady is infected with a virus that gives her plenty of bite and before you can say "welcome to Barcelona and have a nice day", a full on zombie outbreak is underway. Making matters worse for Angela and her team, the building has been sealed to contain the virus outbreak, and no one is keeping them in the loop. Can our survivors work out how to get out of the building before they become zombie chow? A mighty fine horror flick ensues.

[Rec] came to our notice via a number of film festivals featuring the Spanish horror movie and a lot of associated buzz being generated from those festivals. Surprisingly across the ditch the Kiwis were already raving about this one months ago, making it all the more excruciating as we waited for the DVD to be released in Australia. Clearly in the wide brown land the average punter is as dumb as a box of hammers, which explains the success of Baza's Australia, and isn't about to get onboard a foreign movie - at least according to the distributors. Hence [Rec] didn't get a cinema release outside the odd fringe festival that no one is remotely interested in. Finally the movie arrived on our shelves, and your rampaging reviewers for the evening scored a copy from the foreign movie section of our local DVD emporium of ultimate blandness. Don't even ask why they didn't have a copy in the horror section or what we were doing in the foreign movie section, that way no lies will be told. The cover of the movie looked pretty impressive and some quote whore no one cares about claimed [Rec] is the most frightening movie ever made. Naturally we grabbed a six pack, some Doritos, slipped the disc in the player, and prepared to be held spell bound. Let's put the movie on the slab and see what an autopsy might uncover.

Directors Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza shot the entire movie via a single hand held, or shoulder held more accurately, camera. Yes, you get the usual shake and roll camera action in places, and our first thought was that there is probably a great deal of money to be made in coming up with a better camera stabiliser. So if you suffer from motion sickness you may want to avoid [Rec] as the Directors aren't letting up with the camera rock and roll. The camera shenanigans (we also get rewinds, reshoots, darkness as the camera is shut off etc), actually do add to the overall effect and realistic nature of the movie. Whereas both The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield slipped out of reality mode, [Rec] sticks with it throughout the entire running time. In effect you can readily believe the Spanish film is "found footage", while the two U.S. movies suffer from post production editing and are way too "clean" to fool you into believing you are not watching a studio movie. Yes I know BWP was an indie production, but come on, how much time was spent in an editing booth getting that exercise in marketing to cinema ready reels?

Balaguero and Plaza take time out of their hectic schedule to introduce our major character and a few minor ones, get the audience used to the at times chaotic filming style, and ensure everything is grounded in the ordinary before letting the z-times roll. I certainly appreciated the effort that went in there as I was well primed for the arrival at the apartment building of the undead. Some viewers, of the post MTV generation, may find [Rec] a tad slow to begin with, however. But what the hell, the film isn't aimed at them anyway so who cares.

Should also mention there are a number of money shots going down, with a view downwards from the top of a stairwell showing numerous zombies staring upwards being the pick of the crop, simply stunning in its simplicity yet overall effect.

Once we have established base camp at the apartment building, the Directors add heat to their pacing and we have things bubbling along nicely. Strangely, Balaguero and Plaza drop the pace back to a slow simmer for the final act and it works as we learn the reason behind the outbreak. Normally I would be throwing rotten tomatoes at a movie that goes slow-fast-slow, but [Rec] needs that pacing to fit in not only the shock factor but the exposition necessary to satisfy those requiring an explanation. Nice touch and yes everything does tie in, there's no loose angles left hanging with a whole bunch of stuff mentioned through the first couple of acts getting revisited and nailed in terms of plot flow. And there I was blaming the Brazilian chick for the outbreak! Everything is concise, there are no wasted ideas, and everything has meaning in terms of the universe our characters find has suddenly frayed slightly at the edges, allowing Romero's dead world to seep in. You will learn the reason for the "quarantine", the origin of the virus, and why things are limited to this single apartment building.

The one slight issue I had with [Rec], and hence why the movie didn't get a perfect score, was a detour taken at one point into a supernatural explanation for the zombie virus. Not entirely sure the writers didn't have thoughts of a voodoo thing happening, and then the editors missed the scene where the scribes headed down to the goat pen so to speak. It certainly crops up, is left tantalisingly hanging, and then the action rackets up and we are swept away from the whole supernatural explanation. Whether or not the explanation will be visited in subsequent sequels remains to be seen.

Surprisingly the one aspect of [Rec] that is getting some negative feedback is the whole tape recorder and subsequent recorded explanation for zombie town. I say surprisingly there as the same amount of spurious criticism is never aimed at movies like Raimi's Evil Dead that also require a taped exposition to move the plot along. If you have ever worked in a research lab you would be well aware of the use of audio equipment to record findings and to keep a diary of progress, and the same notion is in play in [Rec]. Rather than being simply a plot device, the tape recorder would be of more concern if it didn't in fact exist in a certain room!

Gorehounds are going to be sorely disappointed with [Rec]. There's some claret flowing, good use of blood bags and makeup, but the actual attacks are pretty much sanitised rather than being all out Romero/Savini gross outs. One of those movies where viewers are going to believe they see a lot more than they actually do, which in and of itself is some achievement in my book of collected cinema sins.

In terms of shock tactics, Balaguero and Plaza send down a pretty well constructed over. We get the expected jump scenes, things coming at you from the side of camera focus, but the Directors follow Neil Marshall's technique of not offering any audio clues to alert the audience to shock scenes coming up. It's not exactly change of undies time, but Balaguero and Plaza will keep you on your toes through the middle and final section of the movie. Was there a nod at Cameron's Aliens going down at one stage? Added to the bouncers the Directors aim at the audience's head are some longer tension-building shock scenes that are pretty much nailed in terms of effect and intent. Is the little girl suffering from tonsillitis as her mother claims, or is there a more tragic diagnosis? The chick who has just been bitten by a zombie handcuffed to a stair rail while a whole bunch of the undead are breaking through a barrier. The list goes on and on, including the fundamentally chilling final scene that will have the faint hearted screaming for mummy. Balaguero and Plaza use everything in the horror arsenal to unnerve their audience, but pull it up short of the gross-out tactics used by directors like Eli Roth, who have no idea how horror works or any ability to actually scare their audience.

Manuela Velasco (Angela) pretty much has to carry [Rec] as the carnage happens and her support cast is whittled down. Remembering here that we are talking one camera, hence we never actually get to meet Pablo even though the film can be said to be shot from his point of view. Velaso nails it as the professional journalist who wants to record what is happening for a future audience and who wants the camera rolling no matter what is happening. She is also pretty perky and great to look at. Bit of a proviso here, some viewers may find her overly preppy character approach slightly irritating.

In terms of T&A, ladies you get firemen (what more do you want?), and Manuela Velasco charging around in a tight tank top was about all the movie needed.

Not surprisingly, considering we're talking a "found footage" movie, there isn't a soundtrack as such. Sound bites, more sound bites, and the odd sound bite fill in the spaces.

[Rec] came with a huge reputation and glowing reviews putting the flick on a hiding to nothing in terms of scoring with Australian audiences. Thankfully the movie lived up to its reputation and was a breath of fresh air in an increasingly congested zombie sub-genre. Would the collective noun for zombie movies be a "decay"? The movie is stark, brutal in delivery, and kept me entertained from go to whoa with the gradually worsening situation Angela finds herself in. That ending was simply the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae and ranks as one of the best horror conclusions ever committed to film.

Naturally the U.S. studio system couldn't leave a stone unturned and [Rec] has been remade as Quarantine for an English speaking audience. For those interested it's currently in theatres Downunder. No comment on the remake as neither of us have seen it yet. For those who enjoyed Rec, however, the good news is that a sequel is already filming for release sometime in 2009. For sure I will be digging in there when the movie becomes available.

You would be a bit of a mug if you didn't hunt out [Rec] as it's one of the best horror movies of the year. Zombie movie fans are going to be in their element here, and if the undead isn't your thing then this movie might just change your mind. [Rec] will take a big bite out of your imagination and leave you screaming for more.

ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ...

  Best ever zombie found footage flick.