[REC]

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“A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.”

NOTE: This movie is in Spanish.

Settling back into the found footage genre, we come across a Spanish created gem of [REC]. It pulls us back out of the small household hand camcorders and brings us in a different element of reality by using a news crew filing a segment for their channel. This afforded us a bit more cinematic-wise because they would be able to use an actual cameraman – and have a valid reason for doing so in the movie.

Yes, this is a zombie film. But it provides the unique experience of discovering things as the protagonist does. I love movies that do this because it helps to draw you in and sympathize with the characters.

It also pulls into question what we can really believe from media outlets. As events unfold, the characters are quarantined in the building but the local news outlets are reporting that they all have been evacuated.

SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT

In most movies, the first two acts describe the problem and the third deals with the resolution. [REC] decided that wasn’t going to be the case.

Only when we have lost everyone but the reporter and her cameraman do we find out what may truly be happening. In the attic area of the building, they find both religious and scientific items revealing that they may actually be dealing with some for of demonic activity.

And this is where the final and true scares come. We see what the original source is through the camera’s night vision and it only adds to the horror.

I’m never working for a news crew.