Rec (film)

''Rec'' (stylized as '' ��REC'; short for "record") is a 2007 Spanish found footage horror film co-written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The film stars Manuela Velasco as a reporter who, with her cameraman, accompany a group of firefighters on an emergency call to an apartment building to discover an infection spreading inside, with the building being sealed up and all occupants ordered to follow a strict quarantine.

''Rec'' was released on November 23rd, 2007 to critical and commercial success, and is considered one of the best films in both the found footage and horror genres. ''Rec'' placed at number 60 on ''Time Out''s list of the Top 100 Best Horror Films. The film was remade in the United States under the name ''Quarantine'' in 2008.

The film spawned the ''Rec'' film series, which includes three sequels: ''Rec 2'' directed by Balagueró and Plaza in 2009, '' Rec 3: Genesis'' directed by Plaza in 2012, and '' Rec 4: Apocalypse'' directed by Balagueró in 2014 as the final installment in the franchise.

Plot

Reporter Ángela Vidal and her cameraman Pablo are covering the night shift in one of Barcelona's local fire stations for the television series ''While You're Sleeping''. While they are recording, the firehouse receives a call about an old woman, Mrs. Izquierdo, who is trapped in her apartment and screaming. Ángela and Pablo accompany two of the firefighters, Álex and Manu, to the apartment building on Rambla de Catalunya, where two police officers are waiting. As they approach, the old woman becomes aggressive and attacks one of the officers, biting his neck. As they carry the injured officer downstairs, they find the building residents gathered in the lobby. The police and military have sealed off the building and trapped them inside.

As people begin to panic, Álex, who remained upstairs with the old woman, is thrown over the staircase railings and critically injured. Mrs. Izquierdo then kills a girl, and the remaining officer, Sergio, is forced to shoot her. Ángela and Pablo begin interviewing the residents. One of the interviewees is a sick little girl named Jennifer. Her mother Mari Carmen claims she has tonsillitis, and says her dog, Max, is at the vet because he is sick as well. A health inspector in a hazmat suit arrives and attempts to treat the injured until they suddenly become extremely aggressive. After the injured are locked in the building's textile warehouse, the health inspector explains that they are infected with a virus similar to rabies, and that the disease was traced back to a dog in the apartment building, and Ángela realizes it must be Max. When the residents confront Mari Carmen, Jennifer turns, bites her mother's face and flees upstairs. Sergio handcuffs Mari Carmen to the stairs and proceeds upstairs with Manu and Pablo. They find Jennifer but she bites Sergio, who tells the others to leave him. Manu and Pablo find the remaining residents running upstairs as the infected in the warehouse have broken down the door. Gradually, the rest of the apartment's residents are bitten and infected.

Ángela, Pablo, and Manu, the three survivors, set out to find a key that will allow them to escape from the building via a large drain in the basement that is connected to the sewers. The apartment's infected residents start rushing them and Manu is bitten outside the apartment with the key, forcing Ángela and Pablo to take refuge in the penthouse. They discover a tape recorder which explains that the penthouse owner, an agent of the Vatican, was charged with the task of isolating an enzyme carried by a young Portuguese girl named Tristana Medeiros, whose symptoms suggest a demonic possession. As the agent attempted to treat Medeiros, the enzyme mutated and became contagious. The agent then sealed Tristana in the house to die of starvation. An infected boy within the attic damages the light on Pablo's camera, requiring Pablo to activate the camera's night vision. A now-ghoulish Tristana emerges and searches the penthouse for food. Ángela and Pablo try to escape, but Pablo is killed by Tristana and drops the camera. Ángela then picks it up and looks through the screen. Seeing Tristana eating Pablo, she panics, trips, and drops the camera. The camera continues to record as Ángela is dragged into the darkness screaming.

Cast

*Manuela Velasco as Ángela Vidal: a reporter for ''While You're Sleeping''
*Pablo Rosso as Pablo: Angela's cameraman, who records the events in the apartment
*Ferrán Terraza as Manu: A firefighter dispatcher
*David Vert as Álex: A firefighter dispatcher
*Jorge-Yaman Serrano as Sergio: A young cop and the Older Policeman's partner
*Vicente Gil as Older Policemen: A senior cop and Sergio's partner
*Carlos Vicente as Guillem Marimón: A doctor who resides in the building
*Carlos Lasarte as César: A tenant in the building
*María Lanau as Mari Carmen: Jennifer's mother and Max's owner
*Claudia Silva as Jennifer: Mari's daughter and Max's owner
*Martha Carbonell as Mrs. Izquierdo: The first infected tenant in the building
*Akemi Goto as Japanese Woman: A Japanese immigrant who is married to the Chinese Man
*Chen Min Kao as Chinese Man: A Chinese immigrant who is married to the Japanese Woman
*María Teresa Ortega as Grandmother: An Elderly resident in the apartment, and the Grandfather's wife
*Manuel Bronchud as Grandfather: An Elderly resident in the apartment, and the Grandmother's husband
*Javier Botet as Tristana Medeiros: A young woman who becomes Patient Zero for the virus. Due to the virus' effects, she has now transformed into a immensely tall creature
*Ben Temple as Doctor: The CDC doctor who is assigned to quarantine the building
*Ana Velasquez as Colombian Girl: A young tenant in the building.
*Daniel Trinh as Chinese Child: The Chinese Man and Japanese Woman's young son
*Marita Borrego as Firestation Dispatcher #1
*Jana Prats as Firestation Dispatcher #2 (credited as Ana Prats)
*Víctor Massagué as Child in Attic
*Javier Coromina as Voice of Pablo

Production

Principal photography took place in late 2006 in Barcelona, Spain

Balagueró and Plaza had previously directed the 2002 documentary ''OT: la película''.

Release

The film premiered in August 2007 at the 64th Venice International Film Festival, out of competition, in the opening and closing films sessions. It was also shown in October 2007 at the Sitges Film Festival and the Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema in November 2007, before going on general release in Spain later that month.

The film was also shown in February 2008 at the Glasgow Film Festival and the co-directors participated in a corresponding interview in which they revealed their influences during the creation of the cinema work: "Our main reference was TV; was not other films, or a tradition of previous features. I think the main influence for us was TV. What we wanted was to build a classic horror story, but, ahh, telling it in the way of a TV show." ''REC'' was then released in the United Kingdom in April 2008 and a North American DVD release occurred in 2009.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 90% approval rating based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's consensus states: "Plunging viewers into the nightmarish hellscape of an apartment complex under siege, '' ec' proves that found footage can still be used as an effective delivery mechanism for sparse, economic horror."

Reviewing the film for the BBC
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