Jaden Jordan
- Aug 14, 2019
- 3 min read

[REC] (2007)

Updated: Aug 3, 2021

The Breakdown: While filming a segment on firefighters for her late night TV show, a reporter and her crew end up inside a quarantine when a strange virus breaks up.

Watch If: You want a creative take on a zombie film.

Not If: You only watch the American versions of films. (If that's the case, get off my website.)

SECONDARY FACTS

Overall Rating: 4.0

Length: 1:18

Country: Spain

Language: Spanish

Scare Factor: 3/5

Gore Factor: 3/5 (Medical and Gore)

REVIEW

THE QUICK AND DIRTY

[REC] is an interesting and creative take on a zombie outbreak film. It's definitely worth the watch.

PREMISE: 4

This certainly isn't the only zombie found footage film out there, but I feel like they don't surface very often, which really is a shame. If any two sub-genres deserve each other, it's found footage and zombies. (Check out FoundFootageCritic's list of them here.)

Having a good reason for the characters to be in the location in the first place is such an important part of a film, even more so in a found footage film. It's easy to half-ass the setup, and when it comes to films that are based around the believable nature of the recording, it can ruin the entire narrative.

In contrast, a believable and engaging reason for the setup offers found footage films a unique perspective and a sense of credence that permits the viewer to ignore other practicalities and really bite into the story unraveling before them. [REC] manages to deliver with an interesting and believable premise, and continues to introduce a flurry of imaginative ideas to propel the story in exciting ways. Originality is hard to come by, especially when dealing with zombies or found footage, so to find it here was an incredible delight.

ACTING: 4

You never really know how good an actor is until they have to play someone who's definitely panicking but is trying really hard not to let anyone know they're panicking. The ability to convey layers of emotion and depth of character is, in my mind, the real purpose of acting: to show people those complex, intertwined emotional explosions. And the actors in this film manage to maintain the individuality inside the cookie-cutter frames they've been assigned is something brilliant.

AUDIO AND VISUALS: 3

This film taught me that, if anyone tells you that, yes, the camera is off, it most certainly is not off. Filming under this pretense offers a great excuse for the film to utilize some interesting camera angles. The effects makeup is also well done, and the use of night vision (come on, what found footage film doesn't use it?) offers some fairly iconic imagery, but all in all, the film doesn't shine because of its audio/visual presentation.

ATMOSPHERE: 4

[REC] is an excellent example of a film whose tension bounces off of the pure panic of the situation itself, and yes, at certain points the tension borders on stress, which takes a mastery in and of itself, even more so to approach stressful tensions without becoming frustrating. But the sheer lack of control that the characters have is enough to keep the audience enthralled.

I realize that a lack of control is not an abstract idea when it comes to horror, but [REC] manages to grasp and hold onto that lack of control in a way that doesn't give the viewer the time to process it, but still manages to project it.

DELIVERY: 5

[REC] is an excellent, original horror film, that demonstrates an understanding of many different concepts of film creation that are often overlooked or ignored in found footage. The result is a refreshing horror movie that offers valuable input into both zombie and found footage films.