pHo
Oct 2001
pjeer?
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My review of the original if anyone cares..
quote:
There's a good chance that if you're situated in the USA or Canada, that you've not heard of [*REC] before. A low budget Spanish horror film, simplistically dubbed 'The Spanish Blair Witch' because of it's first perspective camera view but primarily due to lazy journalists who like to sum things up in a single sentence.
Rec, because it's shorter to type that way, is a simple escape movie: protagonist gets caught up in a situation they have little to no interest in being a part of, does their best to get the hell out of it. Simple plot, small cast, lots of scares. And that's where Rec shines, it manages to nail the feel of a realistic documentary styled narrative without trying to drive home any sense of characters or plot, which is where most films fail. Cloverfield, because it's the most recent in the short attention spanned publics eye so a natural comparative, worked to a degree with it's expensive effects, large cityscapes and huge amount of extras but couldn't quite pull it off as the characters weren't up to scratch for the story they wished to tell. By the end of the film when everyone's dead and half buried, you don't simply care an awful lot when the camera tape flickers onto a previous recording of the ex-lovers, which if handled properly could've been a great way to end the film.
But this isn't about the shortcomings of yet another Hollywood blockbuster that failed to meet the criteria it had in it's sights, so forget about the last half a paragraph. Especially if you haven't already seen Cloverfield. Rec gets around the problem of building up likable characters in a realistically shot environment by simply not building them up in any real sense. There's lots of dialog but most of it is reactionary, and if you watched the film without the English subtitles you'd probably not lose out an awful lot. There's next to no character building and zero backstory.. it's plain and simple build ups and shit ups.
Of course Rec falls into a lot of the same trappings as many other horror films, especially ones with the forced perspective. Undoubtedly you'll be asking yourself a lot of questions, many of which are probably related to plot-holes, whilst you naturally ask yourself how someone could possibly keep filming in such nightmarish conditions. It's a simple answer: if they didn't, the movie would suck. Given the choice between hectic camera work as you see every pants wetting moment or to half the camera turned off at every encounter, I know what I'd rather watch. Rec only has two intentions, the first to convince you what you're seeing is real, and then to terrify you whilst doing it.. and it pretty much succeeds on both counts. There's plenty of scares about, and whilst gore isn't the primary factor it's certainly featured when needed. The last 10 minutes of the film will please anyone who's a fan of 'jump' based horror tactics and there is a real sense of fear from the actors. Lack of knowing the faces will always help in these situations, and the foreign language element again adds to the unfamiliarity. The very ending itself isn't perfect and I wish they'd experimented with that a little more, but it serves as an eventuality and I'm not going to complain too much about it.
Now, the reason you probably haven't heard of this film bar any internet message boards and foreign cinema aficionados, is as usual the studios have decided rather than importing and distributing a film that has won many fans worldwide, that doing what appears to be a shot for shot remake is the way forward. Do yourselves a favour, ignore 'Quarantine' when it comes out in several months time, and pick up Rec on Blu-Ray or DVD from Europe when it's released next month. Be pleased that you are now a learned individual, and mock your idiot friends when the cash-in hits the big screen.
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07-17-2008 04:51 PM
