REC (film)
Encyclopedia
REC is a 2007 Spanish horror film
co-written and co-directed by Jaume Balagueró
and Paco Plaza
.
The film was released in Spain in November 2007. Balaguero and Plaza previously directed the 2002 documentary OT, The Movie. REC was filmed using shaky camera
work. The film was remade, practically shot-for-shot
, in the United States as the 2008 film Quarantine. A sequel, titled REC 2
was released in 2009, and two more films in the franchise are planned.
's local fire stations for the fictional documentary television series While You're Asleep. The firehouse receives a call about an old woman who is trapped in her apartment. When they arrive, Ángela and Pablo film the police breaking down the door. The woman becomes extraordinarily aggressive and bites a policeman. Meanwhile, the terrified residents gather in the entrance hall and look on as the firefighters and military seal off the building. A firefighter who remained in the old woman's apartment is bitten and plummets through the stairwell to the lobby floor. The camera crew, remaining police officer and the second firefighter go up again and are attacked. The officer shoots the old woman. The camera crew remains trapped inside the building with the residents and continue recording in spite of firefighters pressure. Ángela interviews a little girl named Jennifer who lives in the building, along with the other residents of the building. Jennifer is ill with what her mother claims is tonsillitis
. She says her dog, Max, is at the veterinarian because he appeared to be sick as well.
A health inspector wearing a hazmat suit
arrives and attempts to treat the injured, who become suddenly and fiercely violent despite their critical injuries. The health inspector explains that the time frame in which the disease takes effect varies by blood type. The health inspector also reveals that sometime during the previous day, a dog with the illness was taken to the veterinarian; the dog became violent and attacked and killed other pets at the clinic. The dog was euthanized
, and was traced back to the apartment building. Jennifer, the girl who owned the dog, then suddenly vomits blood on her mother and runs upstairs, screaming. Officer cuffs the mother on the stairs and runs back to the old woman's apartment along with the firefighter with a injection that inspector gave him. Pablo goes with them and takes the camera. They search the rooms and they find Jennifer there. The officer bends on his knees next to Jennifer, trying to inject the vial, but suddenly she attacks him and bites him in the neck. Pablo and the firefighter run to the exit and the old lady shows up again, screaming. Firefighter hits her twice with a hammer, causing her to pass out. They hear a officer screaming and they run downstairs where they encounter Angela trying to close the door to the shop because infected are trying to get in the hallway. Pablo and the firefighter try to free Jennifer's mother, but they can't and they leave her, running upstairs to the apartment. The inspector tells the distraught residents that this unknown but virulent disease is infecting people, causing them to turn into bloodthirsty savages. More and more people in the building become infected, and Ángela and Pablo are forced to fight them off. Eventually they learn that there is a key to a door in the apartment building workshop, which leads to an exit via the sewer system. However, the key is located on the third floor in the manager's apartment.
After finding the key, Ángela and Pablo appear to be the only human survivors, everyone else being dead or infected. Rather than making their way to the workshop, they are forced upstairs to the penthouse by the remaining infected. They then search the penthouse and discover that its former owner was an agent of the Vatican
who was charged with researching and isolating a suspected virus believed to be the biological cause of demonic possession
, which was later confirmed to exist in a young girl who was possessed. The agent kidnapped and brought the girl to the penthouse to conduct his research and to possibly cure her; during this time the virus managed to mutate and become contagious. The agent decided to seal her off, presumably to let her die of starvation and dehydration. A door to the attic opens and Pablo uses his camera to look inside. An infected jumps at the camera and breaks its light. Pablo turns on the night vision to see in the dark and discovers the sealed door referred to earlier by the agent on an audio tape. The agent abandoned his efforts to cure the girl after failing to engineer a vaccine and sealed her in the room before leaving the city. The girl, now a ghoulishly emaciated figure, begins searching the kitchen area, unaware of Ángela and Pablo's presence. Pablo tries to escape, but trips and is viciously attacked by the girl, causing Pablo to drop the camera. Ángela picks it up and runs, only to trip and drop the camera as well. She searches for it but is unable to find it. The camera continues to record as the screams of the infected girl are heard on the tape recorder and Ángela is dragged into the darkness, screaming. In the film's final seconds, an audio clip from earlier in the film is repeated in which Ángela forcefully instructs Pablo to film so as to record all the evidence.
, out of competition. It was also shown in October at the Sitges Film Festival and at the Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema in November, before going on general release in Spain later that month. It was also shown in February 2008 at the Glasgow Film Festival
and had a UK release in April.
It was released on DVD in North America in 2009.
reported that 96% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 20 reviews. Reviewing the film for the BBC
, Jamie Russell called it "A runaway rollercoaster of a fright flick", praising the "faux-docu handheld style", and the sense of claustrophobia and confusion, claiming "[Rec] will definitely jangle the nerves", while criticising the lack of substance and "one-dimensional" supporting cast.
Bloody Disgusting
gave the film four and a half stars out of five, with the reviewer saying, "[REC] has it all and is probably one of the best Spanish horror films in recent memory." Bloody Disgusting later ranked the film eleventh in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "Out of all the “shaky-cam” films... this one is arguably the best."
It also received a number of awards:
, premiered in September 2009, at the Venice Film Festival
, and was commercially released in Spain in October. The sequel deals with the events immediately following the end of the first film.
Two more movies have been announced, [REC]3 Génesis
and [REC]4 Apocalipsis, set to be released in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
, an American remake
of the Spanish film, was produced, practically shot-for-shot
, and released in the United States in October 2008.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
co-written and co-directed by Jaume Balagueró
Jaume Balagueró
Jaume Balagueró i Bernat , is a Spanish film director widely known for his horror films.- Life :Jaume Balagueró was born in Lleida, and grew up in Barcelona. He studied communications and photography at the University of Barcelona, graduating in 1991 with a degree in Communication Sciences...
and Paco Plaza
Paco Plaza
Paco Plaza is a Spanish film director best known for writing and directing REC and REC 2 with Jaume Balagueró. He then went on to direct the REC series prequel REC:Genesis by himself while Jaume Balagueró directed the sequel REC Apocalypse....
.
The film was released in Spain in November 2007. Balaguero and Plaza previously directed the 2002 documentary OT, The Movie. REC was filmed using shaky camera
Shaky camera
Shaky camera, shaky cam, hand-held camera or free camera is a cinematographic technique where stable-image techniques are purposely dispensed with. The camera is held in the hand, or given the appearance of being hand-held, and in many cases shots are limited to what one photographer could have...
work. The film was remade, practically shot-for-shot
Shot-for-shot
Shot-for-shot is a term used to describe a visual work that is transferred almost completely identical from the original work without much interpretation....
, in the United States as the 2008 film Quarantine. A sequel, titled REC 2
REC 2
REC 2 or [●REC]² is the 2009 Spanish horror film sequel to 2007's REC. Written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, both of whom returned from the previous film, the story takes place immediately after the events of the first film, with producing company Filmax International describing...
was released in 2009, and two more films in the franchise are planned.
Plot
REC follows a television reporter, Ángela Vidal, and her cameraman, Pablo, who are covering the night shift in one of BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
's local fire stations for the fictional documentary television series While You're Asleep. The firehouse receives a call about an old woman who is trapped in her apartment. When they arrive, Ángela and Pablo film the police breaking down the door. The woman becomes extraordinarily aggressive and bites a policeman. Meanwhile, the terrified residents gather in the entrance hall and look on as the firefighters and military seal off the building. A firefighter who remained in the old woman's apartment is bitten and plummets through the stairwell to the lobby floor. The camera crew, remaining police officer and the second firefighter go up again and are attacked. The officer shoots the old woman. The camera crew remains trapped inside the building with the residents and continue recording in spite of firefighters pressure. Ángela interviews a little girl named Jennifer who lives in the building, along with the other residents of the building. Jennifer is ill with what her mother claims is tonsillitis
Tonsillitis
Tonsillitis is an inflammation of the tonsils most commonly caused by viral or bacterial infection. Symptoms of tonsillitis include sore throat and fever. While no treatment has been found to shorten the duration of viral tonsillitis, bacterial causes are treatable with antibiotics...
. She says her dog, Max, is at the veterinarian because he appeared to be sick as well.
A health inspector wearing a hazmat suit
Hazmat suit
A hazmat suit is a garment worn as protection from hazardous materials or substances. A hazmat suit is generally combined with breathing apparatus for protection and may be used by firefighters, emergency personnel responding to toxic spills, researchers, specialists cleaning up contaminated...
arrives and attempts to treat the injured, who become suddenly and fiercely violent despite their critical injuries. The health inspector explains that the time frame in which the disease takes effect varies by blood type. The health inspector also reveals that sometime during the previous day, a dog with the illness was taken to the veterinarian; the dog became violent and attacked and killed other pets at the clinic. The dog was euthanized
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
, and was traced back to the apartment building. Jennifer, the girl who owned the dog, then suddenly vomits blood on her mother and runs upstairs, screaming. Officer cuffs the mother on the stairs and runs back to the old woman's apartment along with the firefighter with a injection that inspector gave him. Pablo goes with them and takes the camera. They search the rooms and they find Jennifer there. The officer bends on his knees next to Jennifer, trying to inject the vial, but suddenly she attacks him and bites him in the neck. Pablo and the firefighter run to the exit and the old lady shows up again, screaming. Firefighter hits her twice with a hammer, causing her to pass out. They hear a officer screaming and they run downstairs where they encounter Angela trying to close the door to the shop because infected are trying to get in the hallway. Pablo and the firefighter try to free Jennifer's mother, but they can't and they leave her, running upstairs to the apartment. The inspector tells the distraught residents that this unknown but virulent disease is infecting people, causing them to turn into bloodthirsty savages. More and more people in the building become infected, and Ángela and Pablo are forced to fight them off. Eventually they learn that there is a key to a door in the apartment building workshop, which leads to an exit via the sewer system. However, the key is located on the third floor in the manager's apartment.
After finding the key, Ángela and Pablo appear to be the only human survivors, everyone else being dead or infected. Rather than making their way to the workshop, they are forced upstairs to the penthouse by the remaining infected. They then search the penthouse and discover that its former owner was an agent of the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
who was charged with researching and isolating a suspected virus believed to be the biological cause of demonic possession
Demonic possession
Demonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
, which was later confirmed to exist in a young girl who was possessed. The agent kidnapped and brought the girl to the penthouse to conduct his research and to possibly cure her; during this time the virus managed to mutate and become contagious. The agent decided to seal her off, presumably to let her die of starvation and dehydration. A door to the attic opens and Pablo uses his camera to look inside. An infected jumps at the camera and breaks its light. Pablo turns on the night vision to see in the dark and discovers the sealed door referred to earlier by the agent on an audio tape. The agent abandoned his efforts to cure the girl after failing to engineer a vaccine and sealed her in the room before leaving the city. The girl, now a ghoulishly emaciated figure, begins searching the kitchen area, unaware of Ángela and Pablo's presence. Pablo tries to escape, but trips and is viciously attacked by the girl, causing Pablo to drop the camera. Ángela picks it up and runs, only to trip and drop the camera as well. She searches for it but is unable to find it. The camera continues to record as the screams of the infected girl are heard on the tape recorder and Ángela is dragged into the darkness, screaming. In the film's final seconds, an audio clip from earlier in the film is repeated in which Ángela forcefully instructs Pablo to film so as to record all the evidence.
Release
The film premiere was in August 2007 at the 64th Venice International Film Festival64th Venice International Film Festival
The 64th Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, opened on August 29, 2007, with Joe Wright's Atonement and closed September 8, 2007. Host of the event was Italian soubrette Ambra Angiolini. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to American director Tim...
, out of competition. It was also shown in October at the Sitges Film Festival and at the Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema in November, before going on general release in Spain later that month. It was also shown in February 2008 at the Glasgow Film Festival
Glasgow Film Festival
Glasgow Film Festival is an annual film festival based in Glasgow, Scotland, started in 2005.-2010:2010's festival took place between 18-28th February. The opening gala featured Jean-Pierre Jeunet's latest film, Micmacs with the director there to present the film. Other guests included Peter...
and had a UK release in April.
It was released on DVD in North America in 2009.
Cast
- Manuela VelascoManuela VelascoManuela Velasco is a Spanish TV presenter and actress. She was born in 1975 in Madrid, Spain.Velasco was made famous by starring in the lead role of the Spanish horror film REC and its sequel, REC 2.-Selected filmography:...
- Ángela Vidal - Ferrán Terraza - Manu
- Jorge-Yaman Serrano - Young Policeman
- Pablo Rosso - Pablo
- David Vert - Álex
- Vicente Gil - Adult policemen
- Martha Carbonell - Mrs. Izquierdo
- Carlos Vicente - Guillem Marimón
- María Teresa Ortega - Grandmother
- Manuel Bronchud - Grandfather
- Akemi Goto - Japanese woman
- Chen Min Kao - Japanese man
- María Lanau - Mari Carmen, Jennifer's mother
- Claudia Silva - Jennifer
- Carlos Lasarte - César
- Javier Botet - Tristana Medeiros
- Ben Temple - Doctor
- Ana Velasquez - Colombian girl
Reception
REC received acclaim from most critics. As of May 17, 2009, the review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 96% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 20 reviews. Reviewing the film for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, Jamie Russell called it "A runaway rollercoaster of a fright flick", praising the "faux-docu handheld style", and the sense of claustrophobia and confusion, claiming "[Rec] will definitely jangle the nerves", while criticising the lack of substance and "one-dimensional" supporting cast.
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is a website that covers horror movies with reviews, interviews and news. It is currently run by Brad Miska, and Tom Owen. According to one source, the site has 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month. It is widely considered to be the "world's most...
gave the film four and a half stars out of five, with the reviewer saying, "[REC] has it all and is probably one of the best Spanish horror films in recent memory." Bloody Disgusting later ranked the film eleventh in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "Out of all the “shaky-cam” films... this one is arguably the best."
It also received a number of awards:
- Goya AwardsGoya AwardsThe Goya Awards, known in Spanish as los Premios Goya, are Spain's main national film awards, considered by many in Spain, and internationally, to be the Spanish equivalent of the American Academy Awards....
(22nd edition, 2008): Best New Actress (Manuela VelascoManuela VelascoManuela Velasco is a Spanish TV presenter and actress. She was born in 1975 in Madrid, Spain.Velasco was made famous by starring in the lead role of the Spanish horror film REC and its sequel, REC 2.-Selected filmography:...
), Best Editing (David Gallart). Nomination: Best Special Effects (David Ambid, Enric Masip and Álex Villagrasa) - FantasportoFantasportoFantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from...
2008: Best Film Prize - Fantastic'Arts festival of GérardmerGérardmerGérardmer is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.-Culture:The Fantastic'Arts festival of horror and fantastic film has been held in Gérardmer each year since 1994.-External links:...
2008: Jury Prize, Prize of the young Public, Prize of the Public - Festival de Cine de SitgesFestival de Cine de SitgesThe Sitges Film Festival is a Spanish film festival that is one of the most recognizable ones held in Europe, considered the world's foremost international festival specializing in fantasy and horror movies...
2007 : Prize of the Public, Critics Prize, Best Director Award, Best Actress Award for Manuela VelascoManuela VelascoManuela Velasco is a Spanish TV presenter and actress. She was born in 1975 in Madrid, Spain.Velasco was made famous by starring in the lead role of the Spanish horror film REC and its sequel, REC 2.-Selected filmography:...
. - Reaper Award 2009: best Indie/Foreign production
Sequels
The sequel, REC 2REC 2
REC 2 or [●REC]² is the 2009 Spanish horror film sequel to 2007's REC. Written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, both of whom returned from the previous film, the story takes place immediately after the events of the first film, with producing company Filmax International describing...
, premiered in September 2009, at the Venice Film Festival
66th Venice International Film Festival
The 66th annual Venice Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, was opened on September 2, 2009 by Baarìa - La porta del vento. International competition jury, led by Ang Lee, awarded Leone d'Oro to Lebanon...
, and was commercially released in Spain in October. The sequel deals with the events immediately following the end of the first film.
Two more movies have been announced, [REC]3 Génesis
REC 3
REC 3 or [•REC]3: Génesis is an upcoming Spanish horror film sequel to 2009's REC 2 and third film of the REC series. It is a prequel to the first film taking place some time before and on unknown territory. According to the AFM, a tenant from the Apartment from the first 2 films will appear...
and [REC]4 Apocalipsis, set to be released in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Remake
QuarantineQuarantine (film)
Quarantine is a 2008 American horror film, directed by John Erick Dowdle and starring Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez, Columbus Short, Steve Harris, Rade Šerbedžija, Greg Germann, Bernard White, and Johnathon Schaech. The film is a remake of the Spanish horror film REC with a few exceptions such...
, an American remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the Spanish film, was produced, practically shot-for-shot
Shot-for-shot
Shot-for-shot is a term used to describe a visual work that is transferred almost completely identical from the original work without much interpretation....
, and released in the United States in October 2008.