Empire's [.REC] Movie Review

[.REC]
Horror goes handheld... again.

Plot
[.REC] tells the story of a young TV reporter and her cameraman who are taping a real-life late night news programme when things go horribly wrong. What appears to be a routine emergency call quickly turns to hell as the team are trapped inside a building with no means of escape.

Review

A peppy, bored TV reporter (Velasco) and her loyal camera-guy spend a night with the Barcelona fire department, hoping something will happen. When a call-out spirals into a full-on crisis, they get their wish.

[●REC] is a short, swift, terrifying ride, expertly assembled by up-and-coming Spanish horrormeisters Balagueró and Plaza, but it’s the third film to arrive inside six months to combine George Romero’s zombie rules with the hand-held Blair Witch aesthetic (the others being Zombie Diaries and Romero’s own Diary Of The Dead).

Without competition, it would seem fresher but, even in a crowded field, [●REC] is strong enough to hold its own.

Verdict

Reviewed by Kim Newman

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Your Reviews

Average user rating for [.REC]

SHOCKED at the 3 stars.
I expected so much more from Empire. efinate classic, no doubt. The ending is especially rememorable as it is iconic. One of the best horror movie endings. The characters were marvelously developed, the pace was perfect, and the tension was built at just the right moments. An amazing film. With a 96% rating on Rotten tomatoes and even a 7.6 on IMDb, I expected Empire to follow that tradition. ... More


Posted by YouWillBeUnprepared at 00:16, 30 November 2012 \| Report This Post



Experience Fear
This short, terrifying and disturbing film is one of the best zombie films to date. The premise is good and, although hand held, it is perfect. It has sense of style that not even Romero, god of zombies, was able to capture with Diary of the Dead. This is an impressive film that has great shocks throughout. And, although Hollywood remade this with Quarantine, this is still superb. Low-budget. Short. Swift. Tense. Terrifying. Simple words to descripe a masterpiece in the nearly-dead Horror genre.... More


Posted by lostboys96 at 00:48, 03 February 2012 \| Report This Post



i wish there was no stop button
best zombie flick since dawn of the dead... best hand held camera flick since EVER! ... More


Posted by jackcarlin18 at 15:55, 22 January 2012 \| Report This Post



nice horror!
really enjoyed this movie had to watch the second one straight away. you don't even notice the subs after 10 minutes. not gonna bother watching quarantine as it will probably spoil my enjoyment of this original ... More


Posted by jerkyjudas at 13:25, 15 November 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: REC - 1 Quarantine - 0
Glad this was bumped up again! A great 4 star horror film-agree with a lot of the positive comments above. This is how cheap movies should be made. ... More

Posted by BOHEMIANBOB at 10:20, 07 June 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: REC - 1 Quarantine - 0
Saw it for the first time over the weekend and enjoyed it, but the last 15 mins took a weird turn with the (spoilers) - Catholic involvement, the mysterious child in the actic and the 'original possessed girl'. Still, great fun and terrifying in equal measure. ... More

Posted by Timon at 10:03, 07 June 2010 \| Report This Post



REC - 1 Quarantine - 0
REC is a great hand held camera movie, much better than that American piece of shite Quarantine. This is a prime example of how shit American horror films are to the rest of the world. Ok, so the films are pretty much identical but REC has a hell of a lot more gore and a way more disturbing ending. There's that weird as fuck creature in the end of REC, much more freaky. Plus REC feels a lot more realistic. It's a pretty good concept too, people trapped in an apartment block with no where to go w... More


Posted by buckley1989 at 14:23, 03 March 2010 \| Report This Post



One of the finest.
In an age of pointless remakes, constant disappointments and sparkly vampires, it's good to see the spanish come through YET AGAIN.. Shaky cam is obviously not original but it's without doubt next to cloverfield the best of the lot. The sheer intensity of the film is what makes it so scary, it never pretend that something bad will happen, when you hear those noises you know it will. Best til last, the ending is the shit your frillys ending of the decade. Forget Blair Witch, Fuck Paranormal Acti... More


Posted by elmwood2309 at 22:34, 29 November 2009 \| Report This Post



Must watch!
I approached ome trepidation because I didn't know anything about it. I just knew that it was Spanish, it had an old lady in it and that it was shot with a camcorder. I just switched it on, sat down and was glued to my seat for 78 minutes. The movie is amazing! The suspense of not knowing what the infection is and then the thrill ride of the ending, well it left me terrified. Oh, and who else wants to know what that attic thing was? Well want no more because the horizon and I cant bloody wait. ... More


Posted by filmfanatic123 at 16:15, 03 November 2009 \| Report This Post



*[REC] Not as good as DIARY OF THE DEAD, Much better than the piss poor ZOMBIE (Yawn pile of Crap) DIARIES.**
ick ass spanish zombie flick, not as good as Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD( the zombie godfather still kicking ass) Miles better than the cheapo looking and badly acted pile of crap ZOMBIE DIARIES. If you have seen the first twenty minutes of Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD, it's essentially the tenemant building under siege scene but with a spanish twist, it zips along nicely, ending is kick ass, can't wait for st hope the makers of ZOMBIE DIARIES go back to their day job, probably at a call centre som... More


Posted by Horrorguru at 17:08, 18 August 2009 \| Report This Post



RE: Check our my review here!
L: KnightofZyryab Saw this for the second time last night, and just had to bring something up that I hadn't noticed before; when they enter the expriest's apartment and Pablo looks in the attic, he is attacked by an infected boy. But, how did the boy get there in the first place ? If the 'possessed' girl had been locked up and there was no way in or out, how did she infect the boy, and how did he get up into the attic ? Did she give birth to him or something ? Still a brilliant film noneth... More

Posted by jcthefirst at 17:04, 21 July 2009 \| Report This Post



RE: Check our my review here!
Saw this for the second time last night, and just had to bring something up that I hadn't noticed before; when they enter the expriest's apartment and Pablo looks in the attic, he is attacked by an infected boy. But, how did the boy get there in the first place ? If the 'possessed' girl had been locked up and there was no way in or out, how did she infect the boy, and how did he get up into the attic ? Did she give birth to him or something ? Still a brilliant film nonetheless. ... More

Posted by KnightofZyryab at 00:25, 06 January 2009 \| Report This Post



RE: REC
** MAJOR SPOILERS ** It's undoubtedly a well made movie but as we all know the camera thing has been done before. If you add in the standard zombie goings on (people who get bitten get infected, people who should be dead - suprise suprise - return to life, the 28 Days Later type of highly active zombie etc.) it could be looked at as pretty run of the mill. That is until the very end which added a nice final twist to the proceedings. That said it's still got enough scares to make ... More


Posted by Fluke Skywalker at 12:04, 05 January 2009 \| Report This Post




Sometimes knowing zippo about a movie before going to see it can be a distinct advantage. This was most recently displayed in Cloverfield, a project no-one knew naff all about til it hit. Unfortunately for this film though it had been born out of the mind of a very much sought writer and subsequently was backed by a (rather successful) viral campaign. Luckily, unlike The Blair Witch before it, Cloverfield lived up to the hype and was an outstanding piece of cinema. .Rec has started life somew... More


Posted by gepete80 at 11:12, 23 December 2008 \| Report This Post



RE: SHIT ME PANTS...
Saw the remake last night. It was... alright. It was decent enough, yet I couldn't help but feel it was lacking the tension of the original. REC had me on the edge of my seat ] times I've seen it, yet with Quarantine I was much more passive towards it. The best bit of the remake is the final attic sequence, which come close to REC, but still a little short. To sum up, it's a curio, and only to be watched by people who've already seen REC. It's not bad at all, but not a patch on the or... More

Posted by rikkie at 10:42, 27 November 2008 \| Report This Post



RE: SHIT ME PANTS...
L: jonson Replace the Spanish actors with American cliche-ridden characters and this would probably have been a 3 start film nd I was wrong as the remake Quarantine seems to be getting good reviews. Edit: Apart from Empire who gave it 3 stars ... More

Posted by jonson at 17:30, 26 November 2008 \| Report This Post



RE: Perfect horror
Finally got round to seeing this - what a ride ! The sense of reality and real time is excellent; probably the most effective use of handheld since Blair Witch. This was of course all watched in Pitch Black in the evening with surround sound - the screams sounded genuinely frightening and all the reveals were definitely augmented. There's one particular part towards the end where Pablo takes the camera up into the attic that made me really jolt even though it was obvious it was coming, which as... More


Posted by KnightofZyryab at 11:55, 26 November 2008 \| Report This Post



Perfect horror
Scared the f**king pants off me. The lead actress was hot. Perfect horror. ... More


Posted by yxl1 at 19:18, 30 October 2008 \| Report This Post



A stunning nail-bitter-balls-out-top-notch-heart-racing of a movie!
But actually I had to watch it twice, 'cos I dumped out the first time 'cos I couldn't take it anymore. Still, it's an amazing, awful, terrifying, cool, scary, booey, bloody, frightening ride. Honestly, don't miss this. A masterpiece! Shockingly beautiful. A compelling movie. The acting, screenplay and photography are terrific. Great Movie. ... More


Posted by nc_jj at 06:39, 16 September 2008 \| Report This Post



RE: [.REC]
Finally watched in on DVD...I was expecting a shaky cam, with cheap thrills...but I was wrong...this movie is awesome. Probably the most realistic horror movie I've ever seen....how can empire justify a 3/5 rating? definately a 5 star movie. ... More


Posted by mysterious at 13:27, 31 August 2008 \| Report This Post



Freaking Scary!
I rented this out and saw it last night, my God it was scary! Though it's in Spainish, my mum was totally guled to the horrifying events that were coming to past. I don't know how many times I jumped and screamed, it is truely terrifying especilly the moment at the attic. But there some problems like there was a lot of chat in the first ten minutes until the action got going and then there was more chat later on which somehow annoyed me. When the film ended, it left a lot of questions that werrn... More


Posted by joanna likes films at 08:34, 23 August 2008 \| Report This Post



RE: SHIT ME PANTS...
Good point, the end credit music was shite, no need at all. ... More

Posted by BigKovacs at 12:53, 21 August 2008 \| Report This Post



RE: SHIT ME PANTS...
This should be watched at 2:00am in the morning, on your own, in the dark with the 5.1 cranked all the way up for maximum effect. Can't be watched any other way in my opinion, it's the most atmospheric horror film I've seen since the original Blair Witch. Just one complaint however, the music that plays over the end credits after i]finale, completely obliterates the mood, or am I being a fussy bastard? Either way, thoroughly recommended. 4/5 ... More


Posted by paulyboy at 11:47, 21 August 2008 \| Report This Post



RE: SHIT ME PANTS...
L: jonson Not the scarefest I was led to believe, but still pretty grim all the same. I did sit there after about 50 minutes thinking to myself "I don't know what all the fuss is about" but then that final 10 minutes or so. I'd have to say though that the scares were very obvious, there was nothing groundbreaking about this film at all IMO, but the natural feel to the set-up (particularly the actors - loved the old arguing couple) as well as the fact we were set in Spain did give it more o... More

Posted by Mr Grady at 00:15, 21 August 2008 \| Report This Post



Spanish Flyer!
THis was brill. Really creepy and effective. Way better than the snoreathon that Romero put together. Sorry George. You'll alwys be a hero to me, but DOTD was soooooooooooo slow! Still, kudos for the effort. This on the other hand is brill. Once it gets going it's gripping stuff, and as predicatbale as it is (and yes it is predicatable) it's still compulsive viewing. And although I agreee that it does very little that is new, it does it incredibly well. Watch it and love it. But watch it... More


Posted by damn im good! at 16:52, 20 August 2008 \| Report This Post



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[.REC]Horror goes handheld... again.

[.REC]
Horror goes handheld... again.