[REC] (2007)

The only thing I really knew about [REC] was that I didn’t know whether to pronounce it like RECK or Record and that it was “The movie that inspired Quarantine”. I didn’t realize that Quarantine was a straight up remake though. Ivaguely remember watching Quarantine when it came out and not being all that impressed. It seemed like it could be good though, so I was down to give the original a spin.

[REC] was pretty damn cool. It follows a local reporter, Angela (played by Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso) while they spend the night following some fire fighters and document it. They accompany them on a call to an apartment building where an elderly woman is trapped in her home. They end up finding WAY more than they bargained for. Spoiler: She’s all infected and zombied out.

It’s your standard zombie/virus story, but damn does [REC] have some bite to it. Hehe. Like I said, the story is pretty overdone, but what they did with it was where this stands out among it’s peers. The camera work is decent and the acting is relatively decent. I guess none of the actors knew when, how, or if they were going to die, so this helped with the legitimate reactions to the deaths and jump scares. When in doubt of your character’s actual talent just Stanley Kubrick it. The whole thing is extremely tense and claustrophobic after the Madrid equivalent of the CDC show up and quarantine the building. They send in a health inspector who’s all Hazmatted out shortly after shit goes crazy and we get some actual exposition.

[REC] is probably the best use of found footage I’ve ever seen. It’s just extremely well done. I will admit that not being fluent in Spanish and having to read the subtitles did cause a bit of a disconnect at certain spots, but not enough to make it any less enjoyable. So yea, if you have problems with found footage films or having to read subtitles then this probably isn’t the movie for you, but personally I have no complaints. None. Whatsoever. I was truly surprised. I didn’t really expect to like it just based on how mediocre The Exorcism of Debra Morgan was, but this was so much better than Quarantine. In fact it was so enjoyable I fully intend on checking out all 3 of the sequels and I hate sequels.

Just the ending alone deserves a freaking award. That was definitely NOT where I was expecting them to go with this. It was not actually just your standard zombie movie after all. I gladly give this a strong 9 out of 10. Definitely recommend the hell out of this. Go watch it.

See y’all tomorrow and stay spooky.