[REC]

[REC] is hands down the most disturbing horror movie I’ve ever seen. Combining a realistic, ‘Blair Witch’-style basis with a distinctly fantastical idea, the film never lets up, and come the end (less than ninety minutes), you’d be well-placed to not be quivering in your chair.

Angela (Velasco) and Pablo (Rosso) are a documentary film-crew filming in a Madrid fire-department at night, and despite their initial boredom, they eventually go out on a call, to an apartment block where an old woman has become distressed in her flat. What starts out as a routine call soon descends into a situation that no-one could have expected, and the documentary filming soon becomes witness to events that lay bare a horrific truth that spells horror and death for everyone inside.
Being as the film requires such a realistic basis, the characters themselves are that much more easy to relate to – and their behaviour seems indicative of anyone’s in such a situation as they find themselves in.

I suppose that it can be said that Pablo Rosso, as the cameraman Pablo, is one male star – we never see his face, but he is filming all the time, and documenting the unbelievable goings-on in the apartment block, and for an actor to balance the both is impressive considering the circumstances. Ferran Terraza, as the fireman Manu, presents the male action hero that pops up so often in horror films, but as you follow him from normality into chaos, it’s evident that he behaves as would any of us in such a situation – he’s frightened, he’s angry, but most of all he does what he can to survive. Manuela Velasco holds the film – she is the main focus for the most part, and it’s remarkable that the actress manages to hold on to her character throughout the events of the movie. As the journalist Angela Vidal, she is at turns detestable, flirtatious and (latterly) a damsel in distress, and pretty adequate at portraying each.

The women of the apartment block provide a somewhat different view – mothers and old women who are trying to protect those closest to them, but also the most bigoted and outspoken present. The other fireman, and the men of the apartments, are able support – particularly as many of them are playing some stereotypes of Spanish society. The ones that stand out are Jorge Serrano as the policeman who struggles to deal with what he encounters, and the aftermath, and Carlos Lasarte as the effeminate old man of the block – he seems to take the goings-on with a sense of disgust, and provides some much needed release with his stylings on Pablo.

The film’s production and presentation are the larger part of its success – the method with which the directors present it was still fairly unique, and is far more effective a method of creating horror than previously thought. The two directors, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, demonstrate here just how effective the Spanish horror movie scene has become, and the increased prowess of Spanish language directors globally. They take the Blair Witch model (before Cloverfield) and ramp it up somewhat – and their ideas and presentation of a zombie film with handhelds even led the original zombie filmmaker, George Romero, to make his own handy-cam version with Diary of the Dead. Presenting the horror movie cliches through a video camera as opposed to a film camera breathe new life into the scares, and present a movie that is far more effectively directed than you may think – it’s such a shame that the film’s been remade in the US under the name Quarantine – if you haven’t seen it, then watch this first.

There are some clunking lines of dialogue here, but the chills that follow the dialogue between the police outside the block and the individuals inside remind the viewer of the realistic bent the film has taken. Angela’s journalistic motivations are comical to hear, as are the ridiculous accusations of the tenants towards each other. The racism and prejudice on display are interesting in the context, and Pablo and Angela’s interviews with the tenants present individual microcosms of Spanish life and its foibles. There’s no score – what with the film being presented as a documentary style film – there’s no score to real life, so why should there be here! With silence, and the sounds of what the people are trapped inside the block with, there’s no need for a score – in fact, the absence of it only increases the total horror of the movie.

The visual scares are what gives the film its strength, and they really, really disturb. From the first incident, and the aftermath of the visit to that apartment, the film starts to present every shadow, every open door as a threat, and with the camcorder, the movement of Pablo to get away from what chases him only adds to the horror. The ‘individuals’ that provide the horror are your archetypal zombie style assailants, but their swift movements and screams of guttural, animal origin are truly disturbing to see and hear. Every jump and scare comes as more of a shock – there are no special effects that require computers here, and the tangible nature of what’s seen – particularly with the HORRIFIC last fifteen minutes – is what gives the film its power.

All I can say is that it should be seen – if you don’t like horror, then fine. But if you’re willing to see a truly insane movie with thrills, blood and lots of death, then see this.

10/10