In 2007, directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza teamed up to unleash the genuinely harrowing [REC], a film that simply set out to scare the crap out of the audience, without any pretensions. The fan favourite quickly spawned the U.S. remake Quarantine, which only proved how innovative the original was.
[REC] is told through a reporter’s camera as she accompanies firefighters on a routine call and ends up trapped with them in an apartment building infected with a ferocious virus. Sealed in and desperate, they trace the contagion to the attic, discovering abandoned research on demonic possession. Needless to say, [REC] didn’t have a happy ending.
While infectious demonic possession was itself a disturbing premise, the live-television aesthetic of [REC] gave it a level of realism that translated into palpable fear – it was not just a film to be seen, but to be experienced.
Now the duo returns with [REC] 2, which leaps right back into the action as a medical officer and a SWAT team outfitted with video cameras are sent into the sealed-off apartment to control the situation.
By using the flipped perspective of the camera-equipped troops, Balagueró and Plaza have designed a shocker meticulously calculated to set your nerves on edge. [REC] 2 is Aliens to Alien, a sequel that ramps up the action but does not defile the spirit of its predecessor. Balagueró and Plaza have proved themselves exciting additions to the gory canon of Euro-horror masters, and they can’t wait to drag the Midnight Madness audience into the darkness, screaming at the top of their lungs. —TIFF
