Incessantly freaky, [Rec] is one of those films that is refreshingly simple both in concept and practice, making it one of the better examples of the reality-concerned, mockumentary-style horror films such as Cloverfield (Matt Reeves, 2008) and Diary of the Dead (George A. Romero, 2007). In fact, its unique premise was almost literally re-appropriated by Hollywood for the weaker Quarantine (J.E. Dowdle) barely a year later, unable to come up with their own idea to cash-in on the reality-terror craze. Seen through the shaky, hand-held lens of Pablo, cameraman for the late-night TV show "While you Sleep", the film follows Angela (Manuela Velasco), the program's host, as she is doing a report about the night in the life of a fireman. Following them on a call to an appartment building in which an old woman is supposedly locked in a tenement, Angela gets the scoop of a lifetime; if she survives her own story that is. When the old woman in question attacks one of the assisting cops, their quest for assistance is stopped-short when the building's exits are found to have been barricaded from the outside by the authorities, everybody being locked inside. When the injured turn out to be not as lifeless as initially perceived, Angela and Pablo attempt to stay alive long enough to shed some light on this outrageous turn of events. Dealing with themes of autoritarian abuse, freedom of information and mass hysteria, this frenzy-fest is there to scare. The fact that we are frustrated and made uncomforble by the camera work greatly aids the frightening effect, the fast and glimpe-like views that we get of the threatful elements creating more questions than they answer. Mysterious until the very end, [Rec] has no illusions of grandeur as it sets out to scare the wits out of its audience, its straightforward entertainment value making it grand nonetheless.
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