Category: Movie Reviews

Directed by Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza

Genre: Found Footage

Plot: A television film crew is shooting a late night special, going by the name While You’re Asleep, somewhere in Barcelona, Spain. The special is covering the life in a day of a firefighter. What do they do while waiting for a call? What do they eat? How do they pass the time? And more importantly, what happens when the alarm goes off?

Manuela Velasco plays Angela, the host of the late night show and the main protagonist. She is consistently directing her cameraman, Pablo, played by Pablo Rosso, to record this or that (I love how original they went with Pablo’s character name!). Soon enough, during a friendly game of basketball, the alarm begins blaring. Pablo and Angela quickly run to the nearest fire engine and hop in. The fire crew has been called to an apartment building, where an elderly woman has apparently fallen and needs immediate assistance.

When the firetruck arrives at the apartment, they can see the police are also there. One of the firemen says, “Maybe this is more serious than we thought.” The building manager says that she was screaming for help for quite a long time. It soon becomes apparent that the woman didn’t just fall. Oddly enough, after breaking through the door, she is not on the floor but is up and standing there when the firefighters and a couple policemen arrive.

The old woman becomes aggressive and bites one of the policemen in the neck. The spooked residents of the building have gathered in the lobby, and none of them really knows what’s happening. Suddenly, a firefighter who had remained behind and was subsequently bitten, falls from the upper level and strikes the lobby floor.

The remaining officers and a firefighter ascend the stairs to the old woman’s apartment once more. A policeman shoots the old woman after she attempts to attack them. Angela is understandably shaken by this. She asks Pablo if he taped it all, and he plays it back for her.

The police and firemen locate a medical intern (one of the residents), to look after the bite victims and the fireman who fell. He says that they are all critically wounded and must be moved to a hospital as soon as possible. Of course, they are unable to leave. Eventually, despite their injuries, the wounded also become aggressive.

Meanwhile, Angela tells Pablo to continue to tape even though the police keep telling them to shut the camera off. Angela interviews a little girl named Jennifer (played by Claudia Silva), who her mother claims is simply suffering from tonsillitis. Jennifer had a dog named Max and he was recently taken to the vet.

A man in a hazmat outfit enters the building. Angela and Pablo learn that there is some kind of infectious disease that is rampant in the building, and that the old woman was certainly infected with it. The condition causes rages and makes the affected individuals aggressive toward others. Because of this, the building is being sealed from the outside by police and the military, plastic sheeting being used to cover doors and windows. It comes to light that the health department was called to a vet’s office yesterday. The dog was showing signs of aggression and attacked all the other animals in the clinic. He was soon put to sleep. The dog’s name was Max. He was microchipped and traced back to this apartment building.

Jennifer bites her mother, displaying the same aggression as the old woman and Max. Somehow it appears the disease is transmittable from a dog to a human. Many of the characters decide to track down the little girl. The mother is handcuffed to the banister, now at the mercy of the rage disease. Things really go downhill from there.

Ending: The movie explains itself a bit more near the end, dealing with the creation of the infection, but I don’t want to give away anything else!

Final Thoughts: This is one of the first movies to really push the found footage genre further onto other markets, especially in Spain. Due to [REC]’s popularity, it inspired the 2008 American film starring Jennifer Carpenter, which is nearly a shot-for-shot remake of the stunning original. The original film also spawned 3 sequels, which I am in the process of watching.

Grade: A – for violence, some gore, and frightening images. This film was brilliantly shot and constructed. It really makes you feel as if you, yourself are there with Angela and Pablo and the others. You get the sense that this could even be YOUR apartment building. Maybe your dog’s name was Max, too. I highly recommend you give this one a try, especially if you haven’t seen too many found footage horror flicks in the past. [REC] is found footage done right!

Have a good day!