Friday 2 October 2009

Horror Tip: [REC]


Name: [REC]
Type: Movie
Link(Movie details): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038988/
This is a spanish little gem in the "first person documentary horror" genre, same as the first Blair Witch movie (which I have not seen by the way). While pretty famous in Spain, I'm not sure how known it is worldwide, I think you will at least know the american remake "Quarantine". I like the original better, just my opinion.

The movie is shot from the point of view of a cameraman in a fictional TV show called "Mientras usted duerme" (While you sleep), as he films reporter Ángela Vidal during a usual Barcelona Fire Dept. work night, until there's a seemingly rutinary emergency call from an old apartment block. I don't want to give away anything further than this, so if you want to know more on the plot, you are adviced to watch the movie instead of checking the internet for details :).

The actors do a nice job, the set is claustrophobic enough, it actually gets to build up quite an atmosphere, and apart from some a bit lamish moments, the movie delivers in my opinion. Directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza also have some more interesting work, which I might advice sometime in the future.

Now that the sequel is about to hit the spanish streets (well, like in some hours actually :P), I recommend you watch this one, and if you already did, just feel free to discuss, but be careful with spoiling stuff.


6 comments:

  1. Watch the remake and be amazed at how they f--ked it up. [REC] is better in every way and is one of the best horror films of the last few years. Did you realize that from the part they leave the firestation in the firetrucks to the part where one of the firemen fall down the stairs was one continous shot lasting about 20 minutes? It's an amazing movie.

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  2. I really like this one. It builds up a genuine horror feeling instead of relying on a series of cheap scares - just like it should be.

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  3. I have not seen this one, nor the American remake. Looks like this is going on my netflix...

    Also, not to drag this off-topic, but I did find an adventure game called "Lost in the Nightmare" made by some Turkish guy. The gameplay is kind of boring, and the english translation is iffy, but the plot and atmosphere was absolutely amazing. I strongly recommend trying it out.

    http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=642

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  4. Balaguero is one of the best modern horror makers, I think. His "Darkness" is already a genre classic like, maybe, Nicolas Roeg's "Don't look now" or even "Rosemary's baby". And "Rec" is the real "fresh look", first time I watched it, I was very impressed by how such seemingly ordinary story can be shown in a completely new way. Romero's first breakthrough must have had similar effect, though, he had one serious advantage: it was 68.

    P.S. Unfortunately, I watched Quarantine...

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  5. @Paul: hehe, never noticed that... Will have to watch again :)
    @Dylan: the link shown on that page is dead, I had to google a bit to find the game, will check it.
    @Silkworm: if you haven't seen "Para entrar a vivir"(english name "To let") yet, you should. That one will be a future horror tip for sure :)

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