2007
Directed By Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza
Starring Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza and Jorge-Yamam Serrano
Angela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) is a young eager reporter assigned to spend a night following a group of emergency workers with her camera crew. The night starts out light hearted and jovial but the mood quickly changes when they get called to an apartment building to assistant with an elderly woman trapped in her home.
This is an effective found footage horror film that is strengthened by believable performances and gruesome makeup. This is virus/zombie story in the school of 28 Days Later and Night of The Living Dead. If those two films seem to be in opposition to one another, its true but this film takes the infection approach to the zombie story but instead of making it a pandemic it limits our story to a confined space.
The first few minutes of the film feels somewhat amateurish and I'm fairly certain this is by design. It meanders through the first couple scenes without any real sense of urgency. The film smartly lowers your expectations right out of the gate and quickly builds upon itself. By the time the call comes in to assist the elderly woman the audience is left wanting something to happen. We don't want this to be the Boyhood of horror films and when this film does kick into gear and find its rhythm we are left stunned for the next hour.
Watching this film is a visceral experience. You are in no way left questioning the world you live in but you will be glad you live in a world where this film exists. Sure like most zombie/infection films it touches on Big Brother and how the real monster is us thing but that's not what this film is about. This is not a film with an agenda. Strike that last remark, this is a film with an agenda its just that it only wants to scare you it doesn't have any deeper or ulterior motives.
There are two other films in the REC series and an American remake with its own sequel but this is far and away the best of the bunch. The American remake is fine, but it doesn't really add anything new to the film. Much like the American version of Let the Right One In, its in no way a bad movie I just happen to prefer the one I saw first.