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Rec Movie Review

Rec is  a 2007 Spanish found-footage horror film directed by Jaume Belaguero and Paco Plaza and starring Manuela Velasco. It’s a surprisingly solid shaky cam flick.

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“We have to tape everything, Pablo.

For fuck’s sake“

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It follows a news reporter and her cameraman covering a firefighter intervention at an apartment building in Barcelona. As the situation escalates, after some of the building’s occupants show animalistic and murderous behavior, the reporter and cameraman find themselves confined inside the perilous building. At first, it seems that these people are infected by some virus, then I thought of zombies, but eventually it became clear that demonic possessions occurred.

That level of uncertainty made the film somehow even more chilling. We unfortunately got very little story here, but those revelatory moments that did explain the phenomena in the film were intriguing, but still too sparse. The movie’s script is fine, but certainly not its biggest asset.

The same should be said for its characters, which to me are the weakest thing about this movie. Yes, Manuela Velasco is quite memorable and strong as Angela Vidal, but everybody else was so mediocre and instantly forgettable. I simply did not care about these people, which made the entire movie colder than necessary.

However, where Rec shines at is in the horror department, especially in the action scenes. The highlight has to be the sequence where the demon attacked them and presumably killed everyone, even the protagonist. That ending was unforgettable and so creepy. It was a terrific climax that lifted the entire movie to greater heights.

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But the first act is just okay as an introduction, and the second act is more along the standard lines of found footage movies where we witness craziness ensue, thus it felt too chaotic and messy. Still, Rec was mostly quite atmospheric. Though obviously very cheap, the emphasis on darker rooms, low lighting and odd angles really elevated the atmosphere from creepy to even disturbing in some scenes. It’s lean and engaging at just seventy minutes, but still more could have been done with this premise. At the end of the day, it’s better than most US films done in this vein.

With Rec, Spain gave us a better found footage movie than most US counterparts. The second act is chaotic, the runtime is too short and more could have admittedly been done with its premise, but the creepy atmosphere is great and the mystery elements are intriguing. The characters are mediocre, but the ending is so exhilarating and perfectly executed that it elevated the entire movie significantly.

My Rating – 3.5

You can get all Rec movies on Amazon for a great price.