finally seen it..and i loved it..but i am going to be honest..i did not like it as much as quarantine.Quarantine added much more to the story and extra gore.Now as far as endings i thought REC'S was scarier. and the lead chick was hotter in REC.Overall both are phenomenal.
Finally got around to seeing this last night on DVD, not cinema and all I can say is Wow what a film. Short,intense and made me jump not once,not twice but three times. Love how urgent and fast paced this film is with just the right amount of running time to keep things tense. The whole point of what is going on and why is deftly wrapped up in a few short scenes, add some great blood and gore effects and characters that are likeable and you have yourself a nasty bile spitting zombie movie. Blair Witch meets 28 Days Later but scarier than both put together .Highly recommended.
Posted By: riotsquid1408 at 2:23am, November 12, 2008
"If it's American, it's bad. If it's foreign, it's good." You've heard it all your life, especially with the Asian horror craze a few years ago, then now with the recent French horror craze. And, sorry to be honest, I've seen every foreign "masterpiece", and not one of them has ever given that argument a backbone. REC. is no different. At best, it's well-done, but sadly typical. At worst, it's unoriginal and just like everything else you've seen a thousand times.
It always amuses me when I hear critics say things like, "Oh, just another Saw sequel, nothing I haven't seen before . . ." but then jump on the mindless bandwagon for movies like REC., which are just carbon copies of every other lame movie ever made. If you've seen any other handheld camera movie, you've seen REC. If you've seen any other virus-turns-people-into-zombies movie, you've seen REC. The only thing that even hints at different is the confinement, and that is simply it. There is zero originality, and nothing that doesn't fit into the trite, safe, cliché horror box. REC. plays it safe. It brings back the stuff that made your great uncle shiver, and that is the single reason it's getting good reviews. It's safe. It's a proven formula, critically acclaimed in the past, viewer loved, and REC. doesn't take a single risk at trying to be different.
I've grown up on video games like Resident Evil and played recent games like Condemned and BioShock, and it seems now Hollywood (and foreign filmmakers, as well) is trying to copy them. I have nothing against that—Resident Evil and BioShock put 95% of horror movies to thumb-sucking shame, and if filmmakers want to put that on screen, I'm all for it. But with REC., they totally miss what makes those games so scary and engaging: originality. Bringing people to places they've never seen before, then trying to get them to explode in their pants. REC. does the exact opposite: it takes you to the familiar, then tries to scare you with the familiar. REC. is a giant cliché, and it looks like I'm the only one alive who realizes this. It uses scares you've seen in 1950's horror movies, let alone seen in the standard slasher remake. It rehashes horror grounds that you've tread on hundreds, if not thousands of times, then expects you to take it as if its oh-so-original and shocking. Sorry, kids who aren't even old enough to legally see this movie without a parent, and sorry old people who are so stuck in the cheesy horror past (with giant flesh-eating flies), anyone with a brain can say this is the most unoriginal movie to be this acclaimed in years.
Despite the raving reviews that call this "intense", the vast majority of the runtime is nothing but people running (pun unintended). Run, scream, OH-SCARY-LITTLE-GIRL!, run, scream, run, run, scream. That's it. When I wasn't laughing at the absolute cheesiness of some of the scares, I was bored out of my mind! If they were to take out the amount of repeated scenes, the movie would be 15 minutes long. And those 15 minutes are almost entirely the slow, boring opening.
With that said, there were some genuinely intense—if not clichéd—moments in the end, and I wish a lot of other movies would have that. However, it's just style and no substance. I can care less what happens at that point in the movie because everything before it has been just boring and predictable.
I'm not going to withhold the information that I viewed the remake, Quarantine, before I watched REC., and that may be why my opinion is so negative. I hated Quarantine for the same reasons I disliked REC., and though REC. is by far superior, Quarantine was much more intense and well-done. A lot of the scenes in REC. just looked sloppy compared to the scenes in Quarantine, and nowhere near as effective. But none of that really matters because both movies were pathetic—one was just a little better done (Quarantine), and one was a little more realistic and overall better (REC.).
Overall, REC. isn't quite a waste of time, but it isn't a necessary watch, either. Don't go out of your way to view it, because if yourself up, you'll realize, "Wait . . . this is exactly like every other standard horror movie! I feel cheated!" like I did.
I can guarantee in two days from now I'll forget I even watched this movie. More than anything, I just wish a movie could be memorable again, no matter what country made it.
Posted By: draculaghost at 8:01pm, November 7, 2008
Posted By: horrorfan1988 at 1:00pm, November 3, 2008
Scariest movie I've ever seen. I had the awesome experience of seeing it on the big screen and I believe that's they way it's meant to be seen. So freaking scary. Best foreign horror film in years.
Posted By: thedescent08 at 10:28pm, October 29, 2008
Fantastic movie! A must-see!!!!
Posted By: tcmassacre at 10:16pm, October 29, 2008
I want to put this right out in the open to begin with.
I'm not what you can call an usual movie fan. My favorite movies tend to be rather specific, genre wise (unless it really translates itself in an absolute masterpiece), mainly because there simply are a couple of genres that I can "feel" and relate to more than the rest of them. Some of the aspects I mention in my reviews as being simply brilliant are usually minor ones to the rest of the reviewers around here. I rarely enjoy blockbusters, Hollywood cliches, remakes, recent movies, movies with Ben Affleck or one of the others 325632,3 actors exactly like him, and so on.
This is simply for you to know that I'm more than aware of the fact that probably none of you who will end up reading this will be willing to give [REC] the same amount of consideration I did.
This is not a movie to "get". So if you go see it for your fair amount of twists and turns (although it does have a few surprises, specially towards the end), then you're likely to be disappointed.
This is, quite simply, a movie to feel.
And either you will or you won't, and that's what will make you like it or not.
[REC] is easily one of the very best movies I've seen in the past few years.
Probably one of its greatest features is that it's purposedly minimalistic, and yet it's also a masterpiece that will make you shiver (but truly shiver), and want to think and talk about it long after it's over.
If you're one of the lucky ones, that is.
This movie (surely THE best Spanish one I've seen to date) is probably one of the most realistically haunting experiences you'll find in a screen up until this moment. Everything in it, from the most insignificant, ordinary thing, to the truly surreal and hard to believe ones, is presented in the most perfect possible way and in all its aspects: acting, pace, action - reaction moments, emotions... you name it, and I'll add it here for you. It's simply that good.
Now, the filming.
If I had to depend on previous movies to explain what kind of movie is [REC], I'd say it's a clear refinement of a mixture between The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield (by the way, if you feel like talking about ripping off issues, do yourself a favor, and do your homework properly before bringing that up). Better than either one of them. Better than the two combined.
And that's actually saying much, as I really liked both.
Another brilliant highlight of this movie. It's as intense as they come, it's all going up until the end, it has a very short length (nowadays, less than an hour is either insane or brilliant. In this case, it's both.), and yet not even once you see them rushing things.
And then there's the ending.
Exactly how it should be.
I wouldn't change a thing, and that's something you very rarely see me saying, specially about an ending.
And children.
Long review.
Longer than it should.
Bottom line: if you know me, and somehow understand why I rated this movie as I did, and if you feel that you somehow relate yourselves with it...
Then don't waste anymore time, and go watch it.
Maybe, in the end, you'll be as lucky as I was.
Muy bien España!
La mejor película de horror de los últimos años!
Let me start by saying this is a much better film than "Quarantine." I say that having seen this film first, so that may taint my opinion of it, but the scares in [REC] were genuine, as opposed to replication. I normally require dubs over subtitles for foreign films, but I was so engrossed in this one that I managed to keep up, and for me, that's saying something.
I do feel, however, that this format is growing tired. Within the past year or so, I've seen "Cloverfield", "Diary of the Dead", "Zombie Diaries", "REC", and "Quarantine. It's becoming a little ridiculous. Let's try to remember that feeling of utter disappoinment we all had after walking out of "Blair Witch Project." Let's just hope the [REC] sequel isn't as bad as "Blair Witch 2."
Let me start of by saying that it is 6:14 in the morning on New Years Day of 2008 and I am (obviously) sitting at my computer, thinking about the film I just finished watching. Yes, this is in fact my 2 cents on a film. A horror film, no less. You see what I did there? With the title? Clever, I know. Anywho, for those of you who aren't interested in horror movies or just don't care what I have to say, go ahead and skip class this morning. No offense taken. For everyone else...
Alright, the topic of discussion is the Spanish horror film [REC]. I came across this film on upcominghorrormovies.com and was immediately interested. So, I did a bit MORE research, tapping my favorite resource, IMDb.com. My interest grew. I had to see it. Sadly, foreign films are hard to come by, especially if they've only just been released in their country of origin. But, after much searching and dedication, I found it. The rub? It was in Spanish with nary a subtitle in sight. What did this mean for me? Duh, it meant I was going to be watching a film without understanding a word of what was being said. Yes, I did watch this foreign film with out a translation. No, I have no real idea what all was said. Interestingly enough, this had no negative impact on the viewing.
[REC], as I said, is a horror film from Spain, that can be best described as a cross between the Blair Witch Project and Danny Boyle's excellent film 28 Days Later... In other words: first person camera perspective + "zombies" = joygasm! This is about a TV reporter who, with the help of her cameraman (us), is covering the night shift at the fire department. In the middle of the night the men get a call and soon enough we are on our way to an apartment building to offer assistance and film the events that transpire. Once there, we see that something is amiss. It appears an old lady upstairs is off her rocker. Let me rephrase: she's fuckin' psycho! Covered in blood and, for all intents and purposes, rabid, she attacks. Things get... a bit hectic, the movie slows back down, then things get good. I have to say, watching this film at 4 in the morning in a dark house was great. Honestly, the last 15 minutes of this movie had me riveted. I finally know what "edge of your seat" means. Blinking is not an option here, people.
Because this is shot in the same style as the Blair Witch, there is a lot of shaking. There is a lot of blurriness. There is a LOT of chaos. While some will probably find it annoying, it adds so much to the tension. This isn't a film set with directors and steady-cams and make-up artists. This movie is on the move, the camera is in a man's hands, running up and down stairs, wrestling with the infected, fighting for survival. You feel as if you are actually there, holding the camera, and that makes everything that much more visceral.
I can't say it enough: I absolutely loved this flick. Sadly, it's over much too soon with a little over a 70 minute run time. On the plus side, those 70 minutes are very well spent. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in (if you're a horror buff like me), I'm sad to say you're most likely going to have to wait a couple of months for a DVD release here in the States (with subtitles though!). I, myself, am working on getting some subs and I'm sure once I do the film will be that much better. Again, a must-see for horror movie fanatics.
Angela is a television reporter and the host of a segment called "When You're Asleep." Angela and her camera man, Pablo, film people and things active in the city while most of the inhabitants are sleeping. On this particular night, Angela and Pablo will be filming a group of firefighters at their station and on any calls they may have to go on. After a fireman's typical night of waiting and participating in boring activities such as eating, sleeping and a game of basketball, the station finally gets a call from a nearby apartment building, much to Angela's relief. Residents have reported that an elderly shut-in is locked in her apartment and is screaming like a banshee. When the firemen get to the location, with Angela and Pablo in tow, they find that the police are also there and the apartment buildings residents are all huddled on the ground floor foyer.
With Angela reporting on the events as they transpire, and Pablo continually filming, the situation turns from from mundane to hellish in the blink of an eye. It gets even worse when everyone in the building, including the police and firemen who initially answered the call, are all quarantined inside the building. Any attempt to escape would offer certain death from the military who are now outside guarding the building, and staying inside could mean an even worse fate. Angela, Pablo, the other residents of the apartment building must try and survive and ultimately find a way out. And so begins [REC]. A roller coaster ride of a movie, if the roller coaster consisted only of a slow, 30 minute roller coaster ride up a hill and then proceeded into a 40 minute, break-neck free fall.
Directed by Jaume Balageuro and Paco PlazaIn, [REC] is a white-knuckler filmed in the same voyeuristic style as films such as Blair Witch Project. It is of the "found footage" variety that some of you love and some of you loathe. Luckily, after a few terrible BWP copycats (The St. Francisville Experiment, anyone?), the "found footage" genre has seen some decent films of late such as Romero's Diary of the Dead and even some recent entries like The PoughKeepsie Tapes and the upcoming Cloverfield. Does [REC] bring anything worthwhile to the table? Absolutely. [REC] delivers the goods and is easily one of the better horror films to use the cinéma-vérité technique to date. With outstanding performances by the cast and the lack of a soundtrack, the entire film achieves it's goal of making the viewing experience personal and putting you there with these people and their plight. Whether the camera is shaky, out of focus, or on the floor, the style and atmosphere created make everything seem very realistic and necessary. It also helps that unlike other films that attempt this free style type of filming, [REC] never feels too much like any of the scenes were staged or scripted, avoiding one of the major pitfalls associated with this type of film. There is blood in the film, but it is not a splatter-fest. The film is more effective portraying the escalating terror instead of trying to use any elaborate gore effects to achieve it's goal.
What helps sell the film, and it's Descent-like death spiral, is how Pablo handles the camera. In the beginning, it is deliberate, methodical and familiar with any type of documentary or news report. But the more the film progresses, the more things spiral completely out of control, the camera works echoes it's handler. It is now shaky, frenzied. Later, the camera is used not only to film, but when the lights go off, it is their only source of light. When that fails? Nightvision. It is at this point in the film when viewers will get what they came for if they wanted to be scared in any way. While the film is laden with tension and a few "jump scares" it's the last 5 minutes of the film are spectacularly creepy and unnerving. It is also what helps thrust this already competent horror movie into the top tiers of horror films with an ending that will be hard for viewers to forget.
An American remake is in the works already, picked up by Sony's Screen Gems, who have reportedly hired John and Drew Dowdle, the filmmakers behind the already mentioned The Poughkeepsie Tapes. They will write and direct the film (called Quarantine).
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