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Today's review is of the Spanish horror flick [REC] I hope you all like it, and if you have any recommendations or anything like that, please let me know!
The found footage sub-genre is now, arguably, one of the most common forms that contemporary horror films manifest themselves in, for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, it is a very cost effective way of producing a film that can still generate a massive amount of revenue (as evidenced by The Blair Witch Project (1999) the forefather of the sub-genre that produced millions despite being shot on a tiny budget). Also, it’s an efficient way of shooting scenes, due to the mobility of the equipment required, meaning filming can be a very brief process in such films. However, despite being extremely popular amongst film makers, a very small proportion of such films are able to emulate terror in a way reminiscent of perhaps more “traditional” horror films. However, [REC] is most definitely not one of these films, and is amongst the greatest films that the sub-genre has produced.
The plot follows a TV presenter named Angela (played by Manuela Velasco) and her camera man, Pablo (portrayed by Pablo Rosso) who the audience shares a perspective with for the vast majority of the film. They have been instructed to follow a fire department in order to get a true perspective on their occupation and what they actually do. When the firemen receive a call informing them about an agitated old woman in her apartment, they rush to the scene, with the journalists accompanying them. Upon arriving at the scene, the woman attacks a police man and kills a fireman. In quick succession, the building is quarantined and the inhabitants of the building are told that they are not permitted to leave, and extreme measures will be taken if they attempt to escape. The victims of the old woman begin to re-animate and attack the survivors, causing panic and mayhem, and when health inspectors enter the building, they are swiftly killed off too. Eventually, we are left with Angela and Pablo, who escape into the penthouse, where it is revealed that the entire incident has been caused by religious motivations. Inside the penthouse, however, are a couple of infected, who kill Pablo, and, in the final scene, drag a distressed Angela away from the camera, into the darkness.
Despite the lengthy summary, the film clocks in at just over 70 minutes, which has mixed results. However:
Positives
The final 20 minutes are absolutely superb. It is extremely successful in causing fear and panic, and successfully manages to accurately portray the levels of panic and utter dread that the characters must be experiencing. Due the amount of people, and the little amount of room available, a sense of claustrophobia and entrapment is established and maintained from the start, but it is massively enhanced here, and knowing that there is a vicious killing machine just metres away from the camera and characters is petrifying, and creates a sense of hopelessness for the characters, that makes us pity them and sympathise with them hugely. In other words, the ending is hugely impacting, and you won’t be forgetting it in a hurry!
The main character, Angela, is so refreshing as well. She isn’t dumb, she doesn’t make silly mistakes, she’s very perceptive and influential and in terms of her personality, she’s quite abrasive and far from perfect. She is original, unlike so so many female protagonists of recent times in horror films. And although you probably would not wish to encounter her in real life, her refusal to be submissive to her fate and the secrecy of her peers is admirable. Furthermore, she doesn’t need to prove her power via physical confrontations, for example, when she instructs Pablo to keep recording so that everyone can see how the government is treating them, he silently obeys, despite numerous objections from several parties. All in all, she’s a unique creation, and there isn’t (in my opinion) a female heroine out there who is quite like her.
Her actress, Manuela Velasco, is extremely good in conveying all of these qualities, which isn’t an easy task at all, considering she had to improvise in certain scenes (i.e. the fireman falling scene). She received an array of acting accolades for this role, and she thoroughly earned each and every one of them, for her performance was by far the best one that this film showed to us. Nevertheless, the supporting cast are good too, but there’s not a lot of distinction between them, they did what they had to do, and they all did it to a high standard. The acting in this film really was commendable. However:
Negatives
The supporting characters do not have that much depth to them at all, they are each given a sentence or so as a back story (doctor, immigrant, grieving mother, casual racists, a bit senile etc.) but they’re not very interesting, and as such, you don’t really feel anything when they are eventually killed. A part of me thinks that maybe the film should have spent more time developing these characters, but another part of me thinks that this would have removed the authenticity of the film, because everything was happening at such a quick rate that it’s hard to comprehend what is occurring at times and spending an extra 20 minutes developing these characters who have had a negative impact on the fluidity and pacing of the film and would have made the characters reactions less believable. So although it’s a bit of a bummer, it’s only a slight inconvenience.
However, despite having such a short running time, the first 50 minutes or so are extremely slow, and with an exception of a couple of minutes here and there, not a great deal happens at all, I was checking my clock after a while because it was hard to maintain interest. However, the final 20 minutes will reward you for the wait, and more than make up for that inconvenience.
Conclusion
Overall, I found this film to just about live up to its reputation. The good performances, effective choice of using “found footage” and the unforgettable ending make this film great. There are slight annoyances as mentioned previously, yet they are massively outweighed by the positives. So therefore, I’ll give this film:
The found footage sub-genre is now, arguably, one of the most common forms that contemporary horror films manifest themselves in, for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, it is a very cost effective way of producing a film that can still generate a massive amount of revenue (as evidenced by The Blair Witch Project (1999) the forefather of the sub-genre that produced millions despite being shot on a tiny budget). Also, it’s an efficient way of shooting scenes, due to the mobility of the equipment required, meaning filming can be a very brief process in such films. However, despite being extremely popular amongst film makers, a very small proportion of such films are able to emulate terror in a way reminiscent of perhaps more “traditional” horror films. However, [REC] is most definitely not one of these films, and is amongst the greatest films that the sub-genre has produced.
The plot follows a TV presenter named Angela (played by Manuela Velasco) and her camera man, Pablo (portrayed by Pablo Rosso) who the audience shares a perspective with for the vast majority of the film. They have been instructed to follow a fire department in order to get a true perspective on their occupation and what they actually do. When the firemen receive a call informing them about an agitated old woman in her apartment, they rush to the scene, with the journalists accompanying them. Upon arriving at the scene, the woman attacks a police man and kills a fireman. In quick succession, the building is quarantined and the inhabitants of the building are told that they are not permitted to leave, and extreme measures will be taken if they attempt to escape. The victims of the old woman begin to re-animate and attack the survivors, causing panic and mayhem, and when health inspectors enter the building, they are swiftly killed off too. Eventually, we are left with Angela and Pablo, who escape into the penthouse, where it is revealed that the entire incident has been caused by religious motivations. Inside the penthouse, however, are a couple of infected, who kill Pablo, and, in the final scene, drag a distressed Angela away from the camera, into the darkness.
Despite the lengthy summary, the film clocks in at just over 70 minutes, which has mixed results. However:
Positives
The final 20 minutes are absolutely superb. It is extremely successful in causing fear and panic, and successfully manages to accurately portray the levels of panic and utter dread that the characters must be experiencing. Due the amount of people, and the little amount of room available, a sense of claustrophobia and entrapment is established and maintained from the start, but it is massively enhanced here, and knowing that there is a vicious killing machine just metres away from the camera and characters is petrifying, and creates a sense of hopelessness for the characters, that makes us pity them and sympathise with them hugely. In other words, the ending is hugely impacting, and you won’t be forgetting it in a hurry!
The main character, Angela, is so refreshing as well. She isn’t dumb, she doesn’t make silly mistakes, she’s very perceptive and influential and in terms of her personality, she’s quite abrasive and far from perfect. She is original, unlike so so many female protagonists of recent times in horror films. And although you probably would not wish to encounter her in real life, her refusal to be submissive to her fate and the secrecy of her peers is admirable. Furthermore, she doesn’t need to prove her power via physical confrontations, for example, when she instructs Pablo to keep recording so that everyone can see how the government is treating them, he silently obeys, despite numerous objections from several parties. All in all, she’s a unique creation, and there isn’t (in my opinion) a female heroine out there who is quite like her.
Her actress, Manuela Velasco, is extremely good in conveying all of these qualities, which isn’t an easy task at all, considering she had to improvise in certain scenes (i.e. the fireman falling scene). She received an array of acting accolades for this role, and she thoroughly earned each and every one of them, for her performance was by far the best one that this film showed to us. Nevertheless, the supporting cast are good too, but there’s not a lot of distinction between them, they did what they had to do, and they all did it to a high standard. The acting in this film really was commendable. However:
Negatives
The supporting characters do not have that much depth to them at all, they are each given a sentence or so as a back story (doctor, immigrant, grieving mother, casual racists, a bit senile etc.) but they’re not very interesting, and as such, you don’t really feel anything when they are eventually killed. A part of me thinks that maybe the film should have spent more time developing these characters, but another part of me thinks that this would have removed the authenticity of the film, because everything was happening at such a quick rate that it’s hard to comprehend what is occurring at times and spending an extra 20 minutes developing these characters who have had a negative impact on the fluidity and pacing of the film and would have made the characters reactions less believable. So although it’s a bit of a bummer, it’s only a slight inconvenience.
However, despite having such a short running time, the first 50 minutes or so are extremely slow, and with an exception of a couple of minutes here and there, not a great deal happens at all, I was checking my clock after a while because it was hard to maintain interest. However, the final 20 minutes will reward you for the wait, and more than make up for that inconvenience.
Conclusion
Overall, I found this film to just about live up to its reputation. The good performances, effective choice of using “found footage” and the unforgettable ending make this film great. There are slight annoyances as mentioned previously, yet they are massively outweighed by the positives. So therefore, I’ll give this film: