#VincenteGil

[adamwatchesmovies]

REC (2007)

Now that I have seen both REC and Quarantine I'll still stand by my rating of the remake but if you can only see one, make it the original. The differences are small but REC has that little extra something that nudges it over the top.

Ángela Vidal  (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso) are interviewing local firefighters as they respond to an emergency call inside an apartment building. They discover the old woman they've been sent to help has been infected by a strange disease and before they know it, the building is sealed off from the rest of the world. No one in, or out.

REC takes enough time to set up the characters before things go crazy for us to like them. Even once the horror reveals itself, you don’t blame Ángela and Pablo for keeping their camera on. They're reporters. It's a big story. The world needs to know. Commenting on the situation and seeing it through a lens also allows them to remain distant from the horror. Despite this, you feel like you’re right there in the middle of it. The first-person point of view allows you to see and feel the disorientation, the shock of seeing these unexplainable actions unfold suddenly, and everything spirals out of control.

The setup is robust. Everyone's holed up in an unfamiliar building, the number of survivors dwindles but there’s always hope. Maybe our heroes can figure out a way to escape. Alternatively, there is a limited number of people who can become infected and turn into threats. If the living can get organized they might hold out long enough for someone to come to their rescue.

REC isn't as slick as its American counterpart, which makes it seem more realistic. The actors and actresses are not as movie star attractive and the camera often turns away from the gore (which makes sense considering someone is "filming" the attacks). The way it’s shot and set up, it just looks more like an actual found-footage incident. You'll miss the scene where the cameraman uses his camera to bash in an infected person’s face, but it’s nothing critical. It certainly doesn't outweigh this film's superior conclusion, which is well balanced between creepily vague and detailed enough for you to understand the gravity of this virus.

Having essentially watched this story twice within a week, it wasn’t as surprising or as scary as it could have been. I look forward to seeing REC again, years down the line when I’ve forgotten some of the finer details so it can properly scare my socks. even with most of it "spoiled", I still experienced that feeling I both look forward to, and dread, that moment when I realize how frightened I am and "regret" sitting dow with the movie. Imagine the terror you'd feel when what's coming next is completely unknown. Between Quarantine and REC, the film which inspired it, go for the original. It's a clever and chilling found-footage horror film that shows there is plenty to be done with the “gimmick”. (On Blu-ray, November 15, 2015)