Review of [REC] (2007) by Jonathan I — 11 Nov 2018

Although it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore the cameraman (who is the audience's gateway into the proceedings) illogically encumbering himself by filming everything, that doesn't have too much of an effect on the overall impact.

And the impact is pretty big, which is what matters. The acting's perfectly acceptable and the way the story unfolds makes sense, for the most part, but what makes this such a (dis)pleasure to watch is the way it's directed, making great use of the camerawork, lighting and sound design that all come together to create a scary, claustrophobic and realistic-feeling atmosphere where you feel trapped along with the characters.

Speaking of characters, they're pretty thinly written, so don't expect much there, but maybe that doesn't matter too much when the exhausting and relentless pace gives you little time to dwell on it.

Terrifying with a particularly unsettling finale that maximises the fear with its visuals, 'Rec' should leave horror-fans (and particularly fans of the 'found-footage' genre) satisfied.