REC: OMG WTF ETC

[The Curmudgeon]

And, y'know, other three letter "words."

I guess it's the best way to go when watching a horror movie; have zero idea what it's about. I had only ever heard good things about the Spanish horror movie "REC", but only knew that a) it was Spanish and b) it was a horror.

So fuck me if it wasn't one of the best horror films I've seen in years. Not a lot TO it, granted (the story; camera crew goes into apartment complex, shit gets crazy) is up there with the most straight forward of movie plots, but who needs depth or character when you've got OH FUCK WHAT IS THAT???

I've now got the sequel lined up to watch next, and so I'm hoping the law of diminishing returns that most horror movies fail to escape proves untrue.

So anyone seen REC? The sequel? What do you think about it?

[trashcanman]

My review here:
www.amazon.com/review/ROKDZVR1TKUGZ/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0028DRGDQ&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=#wasThisHelpful

The sequel is not quite as good in my opinion, but it's absolutely worth a watch.

[The Curmudgeon]

I've held off from commenting on this until I'd seen the sequel. Just have, so..

SUPERB review there on Amazon, Trash. Really good stuff. "Subtitles will not scorch your precious little eyeballs, foreign languages will not harm your ears, and watching a non-American cast should not upset you that much." Fuckin' PREACH. You really need to keep this reviewing lark up, Trashy.

The whole time I was watching REC I was puzzled why it was never remade for us ignorant Westerners. I'd heard of Quarantined (never seen it) but didn't put two and two together. Is the US version any good?

Anyway, the sequel. Hoo boy. There's a part of a horror film franchise, happened with Halloween, happened with the Ring.. where it all starts to get a little bit stupid. I always figured the religious "they're possessed" part was just a knee-jerk reaction from religious figures in Rome. I always thought it was actually just a Romero style virus that broke out and religious figures painted it as some kind of demonic possession.

So yeah, when the first "demon" (the cop, who seemingly turned insane in about 25 seconds) stopped dead in his tracks at the Priest's speech, I was more than a little surprised. Hmm. So THAT'S where this franchise is going, then.

And I think it just got worse from there. Making them demons is one thing, having them pop up slobbering and screaming at the camera every five minutes get a little tedious - and that's not even counting the yelling, screaming and ceaseless fucking "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING" prattle from the cast. God that got old fast. And the whole concept of the film (it's from a camera POV) really was stretched to breaking point when the soldiers switch cameras to the point it started looking like a FPS. And then MORE people, surprise surprise armed with a camera head into the house.. really?

The first movie was tense, frightening and believable. The second movie had more up close drooling kids and more idiots yelling for most of the movie, not to mention (ugh) blood exploding when it touched a crucifix) but it had little of the genuine scares of the first film. Big, big disappointment. Hey, REC writers - there's a reason you never saw the Blair Witch, y'know.

[trashcanman]

I'd just as soon had the original stand on it's own as well. I enjoyed the sequel as a fairly straightforward horror flick, but you are right on all points. I like that they introduced the demonic possession angle in the first one as a change from the usual virus cliche fallback, but i also like that they left it mysterious. Too much explanation takes all the mystery and suspense out. And yeah, that FPS segment was lame. Haven't seen Quarantine, ain't gonna. I know they went the virus route, but what really pisses me off is that this company bought the distribution rights to REC, then sat on them so they could make Quarantine, then released that with a massive ad campaign, then released the Quarantine DVD, then about a year later after all the profits were wrung out of their bastardization, they finally put REC out on DVD with zero fanfare. So about nobody in America has seen it, and the original creation fades into obscurity. So not only do they rip the film off like a year after it comes out, but they fucking BURY the original work. Pisses. Me. Off.

[The Curmudgeon]

Those are scumbag tactics of the highest degree and no mistake. Remake a movie - fine. Do do everything in your power to bury the foreign movie it came from? Let's be honest, a Spanish horror film is never going to take a ton of food from any Hollywood table, if anything it could benefit the remake. I don't recall ever hearing that the Japanese Ring hurt the US version much.

As it stands though, REC is a recognized modern classic, even to those (like me) who had previously never seen it. I didn't even know Quarantine was a remake, and I don't imagine we'll ever see it discussed in any "modern great" lists in the future. Fuck that shit.

[Quillford]

I find REC to be an awesome horror movie of the modern collection If you can get over reading subtitles. But honestly that film was good - much better than it's god awful american re-make quarantine starring the chick who plays dexters sister in dexter.