Angela Vidal (Manuela Valasco), a local journalist, starts her night in a humdrum fire station in Barcelona; interviewing awkward firemen, and capturing the banal aspects of their night. Roll on their first call; a set of apartments, cops are already there, the neighbours have heard a scream from an elderly recluse's apartment, and they need door broken down. They bash down the door and she is looming there, covered in blood, they try to comfort and she jumps on top of them, biting one of their throat's out. Chaos descends, Angela insists that she must continued getting everything on camera, and the emergency services try to get the residence out of the apartments alive.
REC is another found footage film from the ever swelling pile of cheaply produced horror films, however, this one is done right. Firstly, all characters interact physically with the camera, meaning that the camera is pushed down by people who don't want to be filmed, it breaks at times, and often the sound becomes muffled or broken. Also since this camera is constantly in the live sequence of events, the action doesn't always happen centre screen, and sometimes an event can be shown by the reaction of the actors, or a description by the actors, which adds an authentic element to the found footage.
Next, the script gives the characters proper motivation to keep on holding on to the camera. I have found myself in previous films of this genre screaming at the screen; "Just drop the camera and run!" In REC they need it for the light or the night vision or just to keep their job. Another clever aspect to the film is that the characters act clumsily around the camera, the interviews of the residents of the apartment where they forget the camera is there or they don't know that the camera is shooting was a nice touch.
But the pitfalls of this film are typical of a horror film; wooden acting and an open-ended conclusion to allow for possible sequels. Valasco was the only competent performance, and even at that it was the typical downtrodden, but ambitious journalist role. The supporting cast was just underwhelming with B-movie reactions to perilous situations; for example one of the cast got part of her face bitten and she reacted initially but after acted like nothing happened. Also when the characters became zombies their direction seemed confused; some would act lively and erratic and others would be stiff and single minded. After this the conclusion felt hollow; a supernatural element was introduced with about 10 minutes left and it all seemed geared towards making further films.
Despite a handful of let downs, this film genuinely frightened me nearly throughout. Also the film was possibly aware of some it limitations and managed to keep the action condensed; edited down to 75 minutes, the fast pace means anything that broke me from the reality of the film could be quickly glossed over by my mind.
REC is another found footage film from the ever swelling pile of cheaply produced horror films, however, this one is done right. Firstly, all characters interact physically with the camera, meaning that the camera is pushed down by people who don't want to be filmed, it breaks at times, and often the sound becomes muffled or broken. Also since this camera is constantly in the live sequence of events, the action doesn't always happen centre screen, and sometimes an event can be shown by the reaction of the actors, or a description by the actors, which adds an authentic element to the found footage.
Next, the script gives the characters proper motivation to keep on holding on to the camera. I have found myself in previous films of this genre screaming at the screen; "Just drop the camera and run!" In REC they need it for the light or the night vision or just to keep their job. Another clever aspect to the film is that the characters act clumsily around the camera, the interviews of the residents of the apartment where they forget the camera is there or they don't know that the camera is shooting was a nice touch.
But the pitfalls of this film are typical of a horror film; wooden acting and an open-ended conclusion to allow for possible sequels. Valasco was the only competent performance, and even at that it was the typical downtrodden, but ambitious journalist role. The supporting cast was just underwhelming with B-movie reactions to perilous situations; for example one of the cast got part of her face bitten and she reacted initially but after acted like nothing happened. Also when the characters became zombies their direction seemed confused; some would act lively and erratic and others would be stiff and single minded. After this the conclusion felt hollow; a supernatural element was introduced with about 10 minutes left and it all seemed geared towards making further films.
Despite a handful of let downs, this film genuinely frightened me nearly throughout. Also the film was possibly aware of some it limitations and managed to keep the action condensed; edited down to 75 minutes, the fast pace means anything that broke me from the reality of the film could be quickly glossed over by my mind.