Directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza
75 minutes
Floor 3 Pink Zone 791.4372 REC
Language: Spanish (English subtitles)
[•REC] follows television host Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) and cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso), filming a documentary on the night time shifts of firefighters. The lack of drama leaves Ángela down-beat as she hopes for an emergency – she soon regrets this wish. The firefighters respond to a report of trapped elderly women in a local apartment building; they arrive to find panicked residents, police, and strange screaming sounds.
The residents describe the elderly women as unusual, which is evidenced when the firefighters break into her apartment – something is deeply wrong, but what? The cleverness of the film is in its suspense, initially it is unclear if the problems faced by the women are natural or supernatural. Such questions continue throughout the film that explores tropes of the found-footage genre, survival horror, and the outbreak/zombie film. There is also a clever use of religious iconography that adds an extra level of mystery. Moments in the film truly shock and surprise, only on a few occasions do frightening moments result from ‘jump-scares’, which adds to the tension of the film.
The found-footage editing style sees the whole film presented through the lens of Pablo’s camera. This is not an uncommon filming style, particularly since The Blair Witch Project (1999), but [•REC] adds its own twists to the style. The camera is used as a tool in the film; footage being rewound is an interesting touch as it adds the question as to whether we are watching the footage live or after-the-fact. Equally, as characters and their microphones are knocked the viewers are plunged into silence in a clever manipulation of the format. Yet, non-diegetic sounds (music and effects) are occasionally used to highlight danger or mystery – particularly, as a medic (Ben Temple), enters the building. This breaks from the realism of the filming style but is subtlety done.
The film was released just before Cloverfield (2008) and there are some noticeable similarities between the two films. In both narratives familiar environments and protagonists’ homes are turned from sanctuaries into places of danger and fear. These films show characters surrounded by destruction and evil; the imagery in Cloverfield clearly links such themes to the events of 9/11. It may be reaching to link [•REC] to the attacks, but there is a clear connection to Cloverfield in their depiction of destruction and helplessness, all framed through the reality of the shaky-cam. On a less potent point, I will note that [•REC] has a significant advantage over Cloverfield in that the camera work did not make me feel motion sick!
[•REC] is not a perfect film. Parts of the film become repetitive and the introduction is quite lengthy, though this partly helps to build the atmosphere for the initial attack of horror. I noticed that I felt more and more tense as the film went on, ultimately a success for a found-footage film. It received an American remake in Quarantine (2008) one year later, with a budget several times as much (though this did little to help the box office taking). I feel remaking [•REC] misses the point somewhat, the low budget nature of the film adds to its charm as does, for me, the Spanish dialect. And as the film shows you, there is much more to be scared of than reading subtitles.
Why It’s significant?
[•REC] is a very well-reviewed horror film with an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it is a good example of the found-footage genre and spawned a small franchise as well as an American re-make.
If You Like This, You May Also Like From The Library:
The Blair Witch Project, dir. by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez (Artisan Entertainment, 1999) – The picture that spawned a fascination with the found-footage film. In my opinion it’s not the greatest horror film but worth a watch for its place in film history. (791.4372 BLA)
Or if you would like learn more about the Spanish Horror Film, you could read Antonio Lazaro-Reboll’s Spanish Horror Film (2012). University of Leicester Students and Staff can read it online here.
Written by Phil Wintle
