A very entertaining Spanish found footage horror full with action, chaos, panic, gore and blood, graphic violence and jump scares with an atmosphere of terror. 

• Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
• Gore factor: ★★★★☆
• Zombie factor: ★★★★★
• Original factor: ★★★★★
• How shaky is the camera? It’s not bad. 

Rec is a Spanish found footage horror that was ahead of its time. It was one of the first found footage horrors that paved the way for the now so popular sub-genre. It is one of my favorite genres. In contrast to Paranormal Activity released in the same year, this one is full of action. It stars Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terrazza, Jorge-Yamam Serrano. Directed by Pablo Plaza, Jaume Belagueró. Written by Paco Plaza, Jaume Belagueró, Luiso Berdejo. 

Duration: 1h 18m

If you want more found footage horror films, you can Read my Found Footage Horror List.

Plot

Angela Vidal is a reporter for the tv show “While You’re Asleep”. Together with her cameraman Pablo she is making an item about the fire department. She can come along with two firemen Manu and Alex. She is shown around the building and does some interviews. Of course she hopes the sirens will go off and they can join the firemen on a real trip to where the action is. 

When the alarm does go off, she is hurried into the truck after a report of a person trapped inside an apartment. When they arrive the police is already there and most residents of the building are in the hall. They are waiting for the firemen to open the door. 

Inside they find a bloodied elderly woman who is screaming and suddenly attacks one of the police officers. She bites half his face off and gets shot. They hurry the shocked policeman downstairs, where people are starting to panic. When they want to rush him outside the door is shut and soon the whole building is sealed in. They have to stay inside and wait for the CDC to examine them and the situation. When they are quarantined more people seem to be infected and that night the situation spirals out of control fast. 

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Short Review

After the big hit of The Blair Witch Project (1999), 8 years later the new sub-genre began to grow. In 2007 Oren Peli launched Paranormal Activity (2007), a found footage inside a house, build on atmosphere of anticipation and suspense only, just like The Blair Witch Project. The same year George A. Romero made a found footage about a zombie outbreak, in which several film student have to survive in Diary of the Dead (2007). And in Spain Paco Plaza made this action packed zombie horror full of gore and scares and a fun occult twist at the end. 

While the film, when watched now might not be very original, it certainly was when it came out. The genre of found footage has evolved and grown so much in two decades, with a variety of topics, genres and styles. But this one did it without any other examples. 

The film starts slow with Angela leading us around the fire department and she looks a bit bored. She wants action, but instead gets firemen eating dinner, sleeping and a quiet building. They play some basketball and we get to see all kinds of footage that normally won’t be used in the tv show. But now it serves as a good build up for what’s to come.

When the alarm goes off, Angela is excited but when they actually get there, she immediately finds herself in chaos and panic. Pablo has to film everything, ordered by Angela who’s hungry for a story. The camera however is always on but at a safe distance from the action, creating a realistic view of the situation. The police and firemen always go first and when there’s a panic flight out of the apartment, Pablo has to back up quickly, giving the film the feel of the gravity of the situation. 

That vibe is consistent throughout the whole film. Close to the action, sometimes hidden and spying, but always at a distance so we get a full view, often obscured and chaotic which makes the atmosphere of panic and terror palpable. 

The infected woman is bloodied and aggressive, and her biting the police officer is very close to the camera. The sounds are loud, the noises disturbing, the blood and gore are very up close which creates a shock effect. There are also some great jump scares, out of nowhere can come a big fright or shock, which makes the film unpredictable. When more and more people get infected the more chaos breaks out and the scarier it gets with no place to go.

I really cried out when Alex came down suddenly and I found the infected little girl very disturbing. Throughout the whole film there were scenes that actually scared me in a fun way and I found it a very entertaining watch. 

It stays long unclear what exactly is going on and why they are in quarantine, which adds to the feeling of desperation and claustrophobia. Once the doctor comes in with his hazmat suit, things are more explained, but it isn’t the whole explanation. Only when Angela and Pablo are forced to flee upstairs to the penthouse, where nobody lives and was sealed off, they finally find out what really is going on and what causes the infection. 

The final scenes turn this zombie horror into an occult horror. It’s an original idea to create zombies not by chemical cause but by demonic possession. It’s also the moment where the night vision is used to create an even more scary atmosphere of claustrophobia and dread. 

Rec is a very entertaining film that was one of the found footage films that set the tone for future found footage films to come. The sub genre had a great start with gore, jump scares, a creepy atmosphere, chaos and panic that this film has to offer.