Rec (film)

REC
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Jaume Balagueró Paco Plaza
Written by	Jaume Balagueró
Produced by	Julio Fernández
Starring	Manuela Velasco Javier Botet Manuel Bronchud Martha Carbonell Claudia Font Vicente Gil
Cinematography	Pablo Rosso
Edited by	David Gallart
Distributed by	Filmax
Release dates	Spain: 23 November 2007 Italy: 29 February 2008 United Kingdom: 11 April 2008 Poland: 14 August 2008
Running time	75 min.
Country	Spain
Language	Spanish

REC is a 2007 horror film co-directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The film was released in Catalonia in November 2007. Balaguero and Plaza previously co-directed the 2002 documentary OT, The Movie. REC was filmed using shaky camerawork. The film name is derived from the blinking text showing that a camera is recording.

The film's UK release began with limited screenings on 8 April 2008 in London, then going nationwide on 11 April 2008.

Plot

REC revolves around a television reporter, Ángela Vidal, and her cameraman, Pablo, who cover the night shift in one of Barcelona's local fire stations for the fictional documentary television series While You Sleep. The firehouse receives a call from an apartment building about a woman who is trapped. Angela and Pablo are accompanied by one of the firemen, Manu. When they arrive, the police break down the door, with Ángela and Pablo recording their actions. The woman becomes extraordinarily aggressive and bites one of the policemen. Meanwhile, the terrified residents gather in the entrance hall, and look on as the police and military seal off the building. The firefighter who remained at the old lady's apartment is bitten and tossed down the stairs. The camera crew, the remaining cop and the second firefighter go up again and are attacked by the old lady again. The cop apparently kills the old lady with three shots, which is confirmed by Ángela who asks Pablo to rewind and replay that part of the tape. The camera crew remain trapped inside the building with the residents, and continue recording in spite of police pressure. Ángela interviews a little girl named Jennifer who lives with her parents and dog in the building. Jennifer is ill with what her mother claims is tonsilitis. 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 in the back area of the apartment. Pablo records through a window into the room as the two injured cops come to and begin attacking the trio in there. Two escape, while the owner of the complex is locked inside by the inspector. The health inspector explains that the time the disease takes to cause sickness depends on blood type. Suddenly, the owner becomes infected and begins to tear down the door as the other two infected break free, and the group run back to the main section of the apartment, where they close the shutter to prevent the infected from breaching. The health inspector reveal 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. Angela realizes that the dog belongs to Jennifer, the little girl, and that means that she is probably infected. Jennifer then suddenly attacks her mother, biting her in the face, before charging upstairs. The group handcuffs her to the stair railings for when she turns. The inspector tells the distraught residents that this unknown but virulent disease is infecting people, causing them to turn into bloodthirsty savages.

Pablo, Manu, and a policeman head upstairs to find the infected Jennifer. They find her in the old woman's apartment, where she suddenly attacks and bites the policeman, and the policeman holds her back while Pablo and Manu flee. The old lady attacks them, and Manu kills her for good with his sledgehammer. They head back downstairs, only to find the residents are all charging upstairs in a panic, and discover the infected are pulling up the shutter, which they manage to close again. They attempt to free Jennifer's mother, still handcuffed to the railings, but the policeman that was killed by Jennifer had them. The infected begin to pull up the shutter again, but the group is unable to pull it back down, and are forced to flee, as the infected break out and maul Jennifer's mother, still handcuffed to the railing. The remaining group hides in a resident's apartment on the second floor as the infected take over the complex.

The group realizes that they will die unless they escape on their own. The Health Inspector reveals that he became infected while trying to close the shutter, and locks himself in a nearby room. They learn from the resident 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 a resident's apartment. Just as the resident is finished revealing this information, the infected health inspector breaks down the door and bites the resident, and the group flees the apartment. The group heads to the lobby to find out what apartments have the keys by checking the mailboxes, and must deal with several infected attacks while heading to the apartment, as well as the power being cut. While Manu stays behind to deal with infected; when he comes back up, he appears to have some blood on his mouth. Manu breaks down the door and Angela and Pablo search the apartment and find the keys.

After finding the keys, they discover Manu is gone. Loud roaring is heard, and Pablo films down the stairwell to see all of the infected residents, policeman, and firefighters staring back up at them, with Manu in their ranks. They rush upstairs to the penthouse while all of the infected give chase, and manage to close the door before the infected reach it. 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 supposedly possessed. The agent kidnapped and brought the girl to the penthouse to conduct his research and to possibly cure her; unfortunately, during the work the virus managed to mutate and become contagious. A door to the attic opens, and Pablo uses his camera to look inside. Something jumps at the camera and breaks its light. Pablo turns on the night vision to see in the dark and discovers the sealed door referenced 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, making Pablo 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 and Ángela is dragged into the darkness, screaming.

The film "Quarantine" is based on "REC", and was released in the U.S. in 2008.

Reception

The film was very positively received by critics. As of October 13, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 94% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 16 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.

It also received a number of awards:

• Fantastic'Arts‎ festival of Gérardmer 2008: Jury Prize, Prize of the young Public, Prize of the Public
• Festival de Cine de Sitges 2007 : Prize of the Public, Critics Prize, Best Director Award, Best Actress Award for Manuela Velasco.

Sequel

A sequel to REC entitled REC 2 has been announced in Spain. The announcement was made through a teaser poster.

Remakes

A remake of the film has been made in the USA called Quarantine (2008) with a nearly identical storyline and characters

External links

• Official site
• REC at IMDb
• REC at AllMovie
• REC at Rotten Tomatoes
• Movie review on Orange Film