[Rec] - "Scariest film I've ever seen... seriously."

[REC] (2007)

Directors
Jaume Balagueró
Paco Plaza

Writers
Jaume Balagueró
Luis Berdejo

Cast
Manuela Velasco, Javier Botet, Ferran Terraza and Pep Sais


I had this little Spanish horror indy film sitting on my computer for a few months now. There has been a lot of buzz surrounding it especially among the movie buff internet community. A movie so great that it's American remake, Quarantine, will be released only a year after the original making it possibly the fastest turn-around of any remake. This movie is simply called [REC].

It may seem like we're becoming bombarded with the POV-type films nowadays with Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead and now [REC]/Quarantine being released within one year but that's movie business. In no way should someone shun a certain type of film just for it's style because you never know if you'll miss out on greatness. That's why I'm glad I saw Cloverfield and why I'm really glad I saw [REC].

[REC] starts out like any segment on a news station. A woman, Angela, is doing a story about firefighters that work the night shift. She's chatting with all of the employees and everything's fine. There has been a report of a elderly woman acting aggressive and she rides along with them. Once they arrive, they find out the old woman likes the taste of firefighters and is really pissed off. Before they can escape the government seals and quarantines the building leaving the residents the fend for themselves.

Here is the trailer:





Now I've seen many, many movies. I've seen many horror films dating back to when I was a child. Never have I had a single film experience frighten me since the Tales from the Darkside episode of Inside the Closet when I was a little tyke.

There are many things that will seem cliche, especially if you're a zombie movie veteran, but you'll be so tense it won't even matter. The intensity level only escalates to the finale credits leaving it's viewer in unrelenting terror. Keep in mind that watched this on my little LCD monitor and two tiny speakers on my computer and it still almost made me disperse liquid in my pants.

Wow...

...that ending...

Without spoiling a whole lot someone must have found Goddess Bunny the Tap Dancer as down-right-fucking-creepy as I did. The entire ending is the exact spike of visceral, sheeringly disturbing horror that the film needed to lead up to. I'm not exaggerating one bit that this is the single most terrifying film I've EVER seen.

This film was just now released on DVD and Blu-ray in Spain. Unfortunately, they are different region codes from most DVD and Blu-ray players in the United States. This film is available on most torrent sites, but I can see this being on our video rental and store shelves around October in which the remake, Quarantine, will be released in theaters which is an instant buy for me.

Watch this film if you love to be terrified or think you've seen everything. Forget about the remake and watch the original beforehand.

9.0/10