[Rec] - Will's Review

Spanish found footage movie: A reporter and her cameraman accompany a fire crew to what should be a routine call-out to an elderly lady apparently trapped in her apartment. Things quickly go awry when the lady appears to be suffering some kind of violent hysteria, and the health department seal everyone inside and declare the apartment complex a quarantine. 

Ever since The Blair Witch Project made a fortune from a tiny budget, found footage  has been the go-too sub-genre for every would-be horror film maker with an idea, but no money, and the results are a mixed bag. 

Some less than positive staples of the medium are almost unavoidable; shaky-cam is necessary to lend the film authenticity ([Rec] is a particularly bad offender), and "why are they still filming" moments will always be present to one extent or another (although this movie does an excellent job of providing a plausible excuse most of the time). 

Other more hokey conventions include the, thankfully absent here, inclusion of viewfinder junk (such as "recording" indicators, or on-screen volume indicators). One related annoyance, which sadly is present in this movie, is born from a moment where the characters rewind the footage to check something that just happened, and we the viewers see the tape spool back an replay; this is simply not how cameras work. This offence is made particularly egregious as it sets up rewinding (which of course is possible; it just wouldn't show up on subsequent viewings of the footage) as a focal point, yet later in the film, when the survivors are trying to remember who lives in which apartment, they never think to rewind to the conversation where living arrangements are discussed. 

But as far as negatives go, that's about it; this movie is otherwise excellent!

Once the story kicks in, we're treated to paranoia, followed by chaos (both brilliantly presented) with an amazingly suspenseful climax. 

Very enthusiastically recommended!