DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
Starring Manuela Velasco, Javier Botet, Manuel Bronchud, Martha Carbonell
Release date 11 August 2008

A fire crew, accompanied by a reporter and cameraman, head out to an apartment to investigate a disturbance. But when they become trapped in the building, the camera captures a disturbing series of events...

Oh for God’s sake, here we go again. Shaky camera work used as an alternative for skilled direction and originality? Check. Flaky sound used to ramp up fear? Check. Running around and blind panic as a substitute for tension? Check. ‘Naturalistic’ performances used to hide a script that is banal and bog-standard? Present and correct.

Yes, the lead actress is lovely, but the fact I want to hug her doesn’t make the film worth watching. This is a really low-rent zombie shocker devoid of any new angles bar the shaky pans. Zombies have been done to death in recent years, and the bottom line is that this adds nothing to an increasingly feeble and tired genre.

If truly great horror movies can cause you to leap from your seat in fright, [Rec] is unlikely to even make you shift uncomfortably. The nadir of the film comes when the directors manage the impossible and fail to make a zombie child frightening. Jonathan Wilkins

VERDICT: 3/10
Just like every other zombie movie ever made, only shakier.

Click here to read the original cinema review. Click here to read an interview with directors Jaume Balaguero & Paco Plaza.