Boy oh boy do I love the horror film [•REC]. My experience with it was a unique one. While working at the comic shop, David, one of the regulars brought in a DVD for me to watch. It didn’t include the case or any description of what the film was, just the DVD. I asked him what it was about. His response was, “Just watch it. I don’t want to spoil it.”
That evening I went home and popped the DVD in. It opens with Ángela Vidal and her cameraman, Pablo. They are covering a local fire station for a documentary. The fire station gets a call to an apartment building. In one of the apartments is a sickly old woman who isn’t responding to anyone. She eerily stands at the end of a dark hallway. After a moment, she bolts down the hallway and violently attacks a police officer. As the crew tries to rush out of the apartment building to get aid, the doors are slammed shut and locked. And a plastic tarp rolls down around the outside of the building.
Yah, pretty awesome way to start a movie. The entire movie was a really fun roller coaster ride. You can imagine how excited I was when they announced the sequel. [•REC] 2 picks up fifteen minutes where the previous movie left off. This time it’s Dr. Owen from the Ministry of Health and the GEO (basically a SWAT team). Very quickly you learn that Dr. Owen isn’t who he seems, and neither is the situation they are stuck in. The GEO team thinks its a simple quarantine due to an airborne disease.
That is really all I want to touch on, because I feel so much of the fun in these movies is the thrill ride. I highly recommend both of them. The “shaky cam” isn’t really all that shaky. The special effects are top notch. And as far as the DVD features, they are outstanding. Hours of wonderful behind the scenes features. Make sure you pick this up when it comes out tomorrow, July 12.