Wednesday, January 07, 2009

[REC] - high concept Spanish horror

[REC] is a high concept horror flick by Spanish directors, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. A reality TV presenter and her cameraman follow a fire crew to an apartment block late at night. Turns out the inhabitant of the attic is a demoniacally possessed, contagious near-zombie who has infected the building. The police cordon of the building and the inhabitants and camera crew are left to figure out what's going on. The story and action are deftly handled and the movie benefits from being filmed on location. But the concept of live action footage seems a bit old hat in the wake of CLOVERFIELD. Moreover, I think it's a bit weak to introduce such a juicy idea as possession and not follow through.

[REC] played Venice 2007 and was re;eased in Spain in 2007. It was released in Italy, Russia, Portugal, Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands, Finland, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Japan, Greece, South Korea, Poland, Hong Kong, Mexico, Argentina, Singapore, Brazil and Turkey in 2008. It has been remade into the US film QUARANTINE and is available on DVD. [REC] 2 is due to be released later this year.

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