Rec (film)

Rec (stylized as [•REC]; short for "record") is a 2007 Spanish found footage horror film co-written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The film stars Manuela Velasco as a reporter who, with her cameraman, accompany a group of firefighters on an emergency call to an apartment building to discover an infection spreading inside, with the building being sealed up and all occupants ordered to follow a strict quarantine.

Rec was released on 23 November 2007 to critical and commercial success, and is considered one of the best films in both the found footage genres and the horror genre. Rec placed at number 60 on Time Out's list of the Top 100 Best Horror Films. The film was remade in the United States under the name Quarantine in 2008.

The film spawned the Rec film series, which includes three sequels: Rec 2 directed by Balagueró and Plaza in 2009, Rec 3: Genesis directed by Plaza in 2012, and Rec 4: Apocalypse directed by Balagueró in 2014 as the final installment in the franchise.

Plot
Reporter Ángela Vidal and her cameraman Pablo are covering the night shift in one of Barcelona's local fire stations for the television series While You're Sleeping. The firehouse receives a call about an old woman, Mrs. Izquierdo, who is trapped in her apartment. Ángela and Pablo accompany two of the firefighters, Álex and Manu, to the apartment building on Rambla de Catalunya. The old woman becomes aggressive and attacks one of the police officers, biting his neck. The crew find that the police and military have sealed off the building and trapped them inside.

As the residents begin to panic, Álex, who remained upstairs with the old woman, is thrown over the staircase and critically injured. Mrs. Izquierdo kills a girl, and the remaining officer, Sergio, is forced to shoot her. Ángela and Pablo begin interviewing the residents. One of them is a sick little girl named Jennifer. Her mother Mari Carmen claims she has tonsillitis, and says her dog, Max, is at the vet. A health inspector in a hazmat suit arrives to help but the injured become extremely aggressive. The health inspector explains that they are infected with a virus similar to rabies; the disease was traced back to a dog in the building, and Ángela realizes it must be Max. Jennifer, now infected, bites her mother's face and flees. Sergio handcuffs Mari to the stairs. They find Jennifer but she bites Sergio. The infected break down the warehouse door that they were locked in and more of the residents are bitten and infected.

Ángela, Pablo, and Manu, the remaining three survivors, set out to find a key that will allow them to escape the building via a large drain in the basement. Manu is bitten, forcing Ángela and Pablo to take refuge in the penthouse. They discover a tape recorder that explains that the penthouse owner, an agent of the Vatican, was charged with the task of isolating an enzyme carried by a young Portuguese girl named Tristana Medeiros, whose symptoms suggest a demonic possession. The enzyme mutated and became contagious. The agent sealed Tristana in the house to die.

An infected boy damages Pablo's camera and he activates the night vision. A now-ghoulish Tristana emerges and searches the penthouse for food. Pablo is killed by Tristana. Seeing Tristana eating him, Ángela panics and drops the camera. She is then dragged into the darkness screaming.

Cast

 * Manuela Velasco as Ángela Vidal: a reporter for While You're Sleeping
 * Pablo Rosso as Pablo: Angela's cameraman, who records the events in the apartment
 * Ferrán Terraza as Manu: A firefighter dispatcher
 * David Vert as Álex: A firefighter dispatcher
 * Jorge-Yaman Serrano as Sergio: A young cop and the Older Policeman's partner
 * Vicente Gil as Older Policemen: A senior cop and Sergio's partner
 * Carlos Vicente as Guillem Marimón: A doctor who resides in the building
 * Carlos Lasarte as César: A tenant in the building
 * María Lanau as Mari Carmen: Jennifer's mother and Max's owner
 * Claudia Silva as Jennifer: Mari's daughter and Max's owner
 * Martha Carbonell as Mrs. Izquierdo: The first infected tenant in the building
 * Akemi Goto as Japanese Woman: A Japanese immigrant who is married to the Chinese Man
 * Chen Min Kao as Chinese Man: A Chinese immigrant who is married to the Japanese Woman
 * María Teresa Ortega as Grandmother: An Elderly resident in the apartment, and the Grandfather's wife
 * Manuel Bronchud as Grandfather: An Elderly resident in the apartment, and the Grandmother's husband
 * Javier Botet as Tristana Medeiros: A young woman who becomes Patient Zero for the virus. Due to the virus' effects, she has now transformed into a immensely tall creature
 * Ben Temple as Doctor: The Center For Disease Control doctor who comes to the building
 * Ana Velasquez as Colombian Girl: A young tenant in the building.
 * Daniel Trinh as Chinese Child: The Chinese Man and Japanese Woman's young son
 * Marita Borrego as Firestation Dispatcher #1
 * Jana Prats as Firestation Dispatcher #2 (credited as Ana Prats)
 * Víctor Massagué as Child in Attic
 * Javier Coromina as Voice of Pablo

Production
In October 2006, it was announced Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza for Filmax

Principal photography took place in late 2006 in Barcelona, Spain

Balagueró and Plaza had previously directed the 2002 documentary OT: la película.

Release
The film premiered in August 2007 at the 64th Venice International Film Festival, out of competition, in the opening and closing films sessions. It was also shown in October 2007 at the Sitges Film Festival and the Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema in November 2007, before going on general release in Spain later that month.

The film was also shown in February 2008 at the Glasgow Film Festival and the co-directors participated in a corresponding interview in which they revealed their influences during the creation of the cinema work: "Our main reference was TV; was not other films, or a tradition of previous features. I think the main influence for us was TV. What we wanted was to build a classic horror story, but, ahh, telling it in the way of a TV show." REC was then released in the United Kingdom in April 2008 and a North American DVD release occurred in 2009.

Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 90% approval rating based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's consensus states: "Plunging viewers into the nightmarish hellscape of an apartment complex under siege, [Rec] proves that found footage can still be used as an effective delivery mechanism for sparse, economic horror."

Reviewing the film for the BBC, Jamie Russell called it "A runaway rollercoaster of a fright flick", praising the "faux-docu handheld style", and the sense of claustrophobia and confusion, claiming that "[Rec] will definitely jangle the nerves"; however, Russell criticised the lack of substance and a "one-dimensional" supporting cast. Bloody Disgusting awarded the film four-and-a-half stars out of five, with the reviewer writing, "[REC] has it all and is probably one of the best Spanish horror films in recent memory." Bloody Disgusting later ranked the film eleventh in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article stating: "Out of all the 'shaky-cam' films... this one is arguably the best." In the early 2010s, Time Out conducted a poll with several authors, directors, actors, and critics who have worked within the horror genre to vote for their top horror films. Rec placed at number 54 on their top 100 list.

Accolades

 * Reaper Award 2009
 * Won: Best Indie/Foreign production
 * 2008 Goya Awards (22nd edition)
 * Won: Goya Best New Actress (Manuela Velasco), Goya Best Editing (David Gallart)
 * Nomination: Goya Best Special Effects (David Ambid, Enric Masip and Álex Villagrasa)
 * Fantasporto 2008
 * Won: Grand Prix Fantasporto, Audience Jury Award
 * Fantastic'Arts 2008
 * Won: Special Jury Prize, Youth Jury Grand Prize, Audience Award
 * Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival 2008
 * Won: Silver Scream Award
 * Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 2008
 * Nominated: CEC Award Best Editing, CEC Award Best New Artist
 * European Film Awards 2008
 * Nominated: Audience Award Best Film
 * Fant-Asia Film Festival 2008
 * 2nd place: Best European/North – South American Film Best Film, Fantasia Ground-Breaker Award Best Film
 * Festival de Cine de Sitges 2007
 * Won: Best Director Award, Best Actress Award (Manuela Velasco), Audience Award El Periódico de Catalunya – Best Motion Picture, Jose Luis Guarner Critic Award, Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver – Special Mention

Sequels
The sequel Rec 2 premiered in September 2009 at the 66th Venice International Film Festival, and was commercially released in Spain in October of the same year. The second installment portrays the events that immediately follow the end of the first film. Actress Manuela Velasco's role of Ángela Vidal returned in the sequels Rec 2 and Rec 4: Apocalypse.

Rec 3: Genesis is the third installment of the series and was released in Spanish theaters on 30 March 2012. The conclusion of the franchise, Rec 4: Apocalypse, was released in 2014, first being screened at the Toronto Film Festival and later in Spain at the Sitges Film Festival on 3 October before being released in cinemas on 31 October.