[REC]

Filmed in Barcelona in 2006, REC is a low-budget found-footage shocker that spawned a successful 4-film franchise as well as an inevitable American remake (Quarantine). Directed by Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza (V/H/S Halloween), REC--short for record--finds a reality-news show reporter and her cameraman assigned to document the overnight activities of an emergency response team at a local fire station. The squad is accommodating enough although the fire chief warns the pair that it's likely to be a quiet night. "We spend more time rescuing pets than fighting fires," he says.  Sure enough, Angela and Pablo--the field crew of While You're Sleeping--settle into a routine, with the guys exercising and playing basketball as they wait for the call that will send them sliding down the firehouse pole and directly into the path of danger. Angela assures the men that she'll personally be relieved if no emergencies pop up, but she's a reporter, so of course she wants some excitement. Otherwise, Pablo is just wasting the batteries in his camcorder. When that call--a non-fire emergency--comes in, EMTs Manu and Alex jump into action, allowing Angela and Pablo to hop aboard the engine as long as they stay out of the way. Which, of course, they don't. 

Arriving at a sparsely populated apartment building, the response team (and their tagalongs) are briefed on the situation by two cops, young(ish) Sergio and his older partner. The problem: an elderly woman is screaming behind her locked door and neighbors fear she's having a major medical crisis. With almost everyone in the building huddled together on the ground floor, the first responders--with Angela and Pablo in tow--bust into the woman's apartment and discover a raging, bloody madwoman who proceeds--with amazing strength--to attack her would-be rescuers. 

From here on out, things go downhill fast. With one man badly bitten and the other hurled from an upper landing, Sergio manages to subdue the woman with 3 well-placed bullets. After the injured man is taken down to the lobby, the small gathering of residents, EMTs and news crew try to exit the building only to find themselves quarantined inside by military and health officials. The immediate arrival of authorities on the scene suggests that something serious is afoot. What the fuck is going on?, they shout. What? indeed. There's a bit of a tipoff when one of the tenants, Mari, insists that her young daughter must have medication for her "tonsillitis". Unfortunately, Mari's husband, having taken the family's ailing dog to the vet, has the meds and he's not permitted to enter the building. 

While Mari rants, resident intern Guillem tends to the injured men who are, miraculously, still breathing. Angela and Sergio take turns yelling at one other, as the others--an elderly couple, an Asian family and aging, gay Cesar insist on returning to their apartments. Soon the shouts of anger turn to screams of fear as the bite of one infects another, and everyone loses their shit. There's nary a cool head amongst the bunch (except for--maybe--Pablo, the cameraman we never see). 

Is this an aggressive mutation of a known virus? A biological experiment gone wrong? Or is there something more exotic going on? These are the questions the "prisoners" demand answered by authorities who have no intention of letting them out. So, while all hell breaks loose, Pablo keeps on filming, even though a hysterical Angela has given up all pretense of narrating this bloody business. She's in get-me-the-fuck-out-of-here mode just like everyone else, even those tasked with maintaining order. 

With the final survivors still standing, Cesar remembers that there's a way for them to sneak out of the building without being seen. Of course, the key is on a ring in the manager's apartment on an upper floor--where the bloodthirsty beasts have congregated--and the exit is in the basement. Without spoiling more of the plot let's just say that their plan turns out not to be foolproof and, with all other avenues cut off, there's a mad dash for the penthouse--where a terrifying truth awaits them. 

At a brisk 78 minutes, there's not a wasted moment in the movie. It plays out in real time (more or less) and gets the job done without ever delving into needless exposition. We may never really get to know the characters--they're bystanders and participants caught up in a "live" news broadcast, after all--but the immediacy of their reactions and instant unraveling serve as uncomfortable reminders of our own human frailties. Blinded by their own hubris, the macho, chest-beating alpha males are, unsurprisingly, the first to go down. There is no cavalry coming to save the day: they're already here, in fact, just on the other side of the door, and their directives are clear: this is a containment situation, not a rescue mission. 

With [REC] there's a very clear thread linking it to Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later (1999) and The Blair Witch Project (2002) as well as TV verite' programs such as COPS and The First 48. It's chaotic, fast-paced and consistently in the moment. The performers won't be familiar to most American audiences but they believably inhabit characters who are incapable of keeping it together when faced with something beyond their comprehension. Manuela Velasco is perfectly cast as perkily attractive reporter Angela, whose chipper on-camera personality quickly dissolves into foul-mouthed bravado, and, finally, hysteria when she recognizes that the unrelenting savagery consuming her fellow captives may be the downfall of them all. 

[REC] is a terrifying thriller that is gory, grotesque and deeply disturbing. With all that's going on in the world--the development of AI and looming threat of biological warfare, the instability of our military and government institutions, and our sense of reality being purposely subverted--the film works on more than a superficial level. Like any good horror movie, it scares the bejesus out of us, but it also forces us to think about the implications of martial law and the destructive power of our leaders' "best intentions". 

If you're allergic to subtitles (an affliction I'll never understand but whatever) and shaky, found-footage camera work you already know whether or not this is the movie for you, but just know, if you're a horror fan and decide to skip it, you'll be missing out on one of the better genre films of the early aughts.