[REC]

Alternate titles : None.

Tagline : "Experience Fear"

With the horror market dominated primarily by the US and UK film industries, its always refreshing when a good, foreign language film comes along, once in a while.

Set in Barcelona, this 2007 Spanish horror film has a TV crew following the Fire Department around as part of a "fly-on-the-wall" documentary series about the emergency services, when they get a call to help the police and ambulance crews break into the flat of an old lady.

Believing her to be injured and trapped inside, the emergency crews force their way inside, only to find her suffering from some rabies like virus, as she subsequently tries to attack them, taking a huge bite out of one of the police officers in the process.

Having subdued the woman, they attempt to leave, only to find the authorities have sealed off the doors and placed the building under quarantine. With no one allowed to enter or leave, the firemen and police officers stuck inside find themselves fighting a battle for survival with the remaining tenants, as the rabies like virus starts spreading amongst them, turning the infected into blood thirsty killers, whilst the documentary team captures all the shocking scenes on their cameras.

Filmed in Spanish with English sub-titles, the movie is told from a "first person perspective", using footage entirely from the film crews camera, and is probably best described as a cross between "Blair Witch", "Dawn of the Dead" and the TV series "Third Watch".

It's not what you might call an action movie, relying heavily on atmosphere, and the storyline might not be completely original, but it certainly has its moments, featuring bloody shocks and scares aplenty. If you are a fan of zombie films and you have yet to see this, you should most definitely check this one out.

Overall Marks : 7/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Alternate tag lines "Trapped, No Mercy, No Escape, No one Gets out Alive", "Just one witness, a video camera", "Whatever you witness, never stop recording", "Live from Hell".
• There were no sets built for the film, the movie was shot entirely at real locations. The fire station being a genuine fire station and the block of flats being an actual apartment block.
• The films budget was €1,500,000.
• The cameraman, Pablo, was played by the films cinematographer Pablo Rosso.
• The idea for the film apparently came about following a conversation Directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza had about horror films one evening. Whilst they were out drinking they thought it would be interesting to make a film about a reality documentary film crew, stumbling into a zombie outbreak.
• The working title of the film was "Bomberos" (Firemen).
• The film was not released in the US until after the remake "Quarantine" came out.
• The "Medeiros" girl zombie at the end of the film was actually played a male actor, who was heavily made up.
• For the scene where the fireman falls down the stairs, none of the cast were told what was going to happen. The shocked look on their faces was a genuine reaction.
• The cast did not receive full scripts for the film and were only given enough portions to cover each days shooting, as the Director wanted them to improvise as much as possible.

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