Gateway Cinephiles

3-Minute Intro: [•Rec]

June 25, 2008 7:40 pm Andrew 3-Minute Intros, Foreign, Horror

Screened: June 24, 2008
Format: DVD - Filmax (Spanish Import)
Selected By: Chris

Since 1999, when The Blair Witch Project shattered expectations to become both a cultural sensation and the most profitable film of all time, “point-of-view” filmmaking has repeatedly reared its head in horror cinema. Granted, the conceit of placing a camera directly into the story itself owes a debt to decades-old documentary cinéma-vérité traditions, as well as to the Danish Dogme95 film movement. And its appearance in the horror genre dates at least to the 1980 Italian cult classic Cannibal Apocalypse. Yet it was Blair Witch that truly spawned a crop of divergent horror POV progeny, among them this year’s Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead. While sheer audience familiarity ensures that no subsequent POV horror fiction will likely acquire the urban legend qualities of Blair Witch, the subgenre does have its terrifying little gems, such as 2007’s Spanish hit, [•REC].

Directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza are rising stars in the burgeoning world of Spain’s horror cinema. Natives of Catalonia and València respectively, Balagueró and Plaza transitioned from festival-favorite short films to feature productions as their profiles grew, and both contributed to the film revival of Narciso Ibañez Serrador’s horror television series, Tales to Keep You Awake. Balagueró garnered some degree of cult fame from features such as The Nameless, Darkness, and Fragile. However, [•REC] is the first high-profile international success for either director, helped along by positive word-of-mouth in the alt-horror fan community in Spain, Britain, and beyond.

Balagueró and Plaza eschew Blair Witch’s less-is-more methods in favor of mainstream scares and gores, but [•REC] achieves an uncommon realism and simplicity in its presentation. Shot entirely on location, the film tells the story of a shoestring Barcelona television news crew comprising one reporter and one cameraman. In the course of taping a humdrum human interest feature, the pair find themselves trapped in an unthinkably nightmarish situation. In keeping with journalistic standards and the rules of the subgenre, naturally they keep right on filming. Consistent with the best traditions of horror, the film deftly delves into modern fears about paranoia, community, isolation, and biological terror. Running a lean 75 minutes, [•REC] shuns indulgent digressions in favor of the classic pairing of slowly mounting tension and gruesome shocks.

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3-Minute Intro: [•Rec]

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