Rec (2007) Movie Review, Trailer and Poster

Spain 2007
Director: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
Cast: Manuela Velasco, Manuel Bronchud, Javier Botet, Claudia Font, Vicente Gil
Rating: R
Release Date: April 11th 2008
Running Time: 1 hour 16 minutes

The Movie Review

Shaky Camerawork... A'ight who doesn't like an invention? Most people do like it. And I do appreciate the inventive style of shooting film by using handy cam. Ever since the era of those viciously sick cannibal movies in the 70s, there aren't many movies that could successfully gain advantage from the "shaky" technique.

Early this year, Cloverfield struck the audience with its great visual effects of its monster but in the same time hit the audience's head with a big hammer of ultimate dizziness named "Shaky Cam". And I dislike being dizzy in watching a movie. So when another movie with the same technique came


[•REC]
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
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along, why should I bother, right? But I bothered, and gladly I wasn't wrong. [•Rec] is different, and it's a good one. Nope...Make that A Totally Awesome one!

The storyline of Rec unfolds so naturally and normally that I almost didn't feel like watching a movie. Headlined by a talented Spanish actress named Manuela Valesco who roles as Ángela Vidal, Rec tells every account through Ángela's report. Ángela, who is a television reporter, and her cameraman Pablo are working for a show called "While You're Sleeping". She is currently on an assignment to cover the real story of Firemen. The sympathetic and energetic Ángela and Pablo are welcomed warmly in the Firefighters headquarter, they even allowed to follow and record the firefighters doing their job, which answering a call from an apartment downtown.

Arriving on the designated apartment, Ángela, Pablo and the rest of firefighters see several tenants in panic for hearing awfully weird noises from room 1A where an old lady lives. Alas, it's not a normal case for that old lady is infected with a bizarre strain of rabies. Things get chaotic and hysterical when Ángela, Pablo, the firefighters, policemen and the rest of the tenants are locked inside by the government and are forbidden to seek help outside.

Perfect! From the very first second (not minute), Rec had already captured my attention and immediately deliver emotional involvement to the audience. I even shy to say that I really got carried away. The performance, the script, the shaking, ahh...everything is simply perfect!

This is a movie that knows how to use Shaky Technique well. Manuela acts normally as the reporter and give us, as "While You're Sleeping" audiences, the view of how normal things such as the firefighters having their dinner, the chatty conversation develops into a terrifying situation where no one doesn't have any clue for what's really happening. Again, Kudos for the entire leading and supporting characters who act normally just like people in the real world do. And kudos also for not shaking the camera too violently so that we moviegoers could actually enjoy the movie without feeling dizzy but in the same time developing emotional involvement just like seeing one of those Real Accident Movies scattered over the internet.

Hands down, one the best horror movies in 2008. In fact, The 5 Stars I give to this film feels like an understatement, since Rec also makes other 5-star films in 2007 less of a value. If all movies in the future starting to become like Rec, then I'm forced to make the 6th star.

© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com

[•REC]