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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
[REC] (2007)
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[REC] (2007)
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Released 5-Aug-2009
This review is sponsored by
Details At A Glance
| General |
Extras |
| Category |
Horror |
Featurette-Extended Footage, What the Neighbours Saw , Secret Archive
Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Behind the Scenes
Interviews-Cast-Production Secrets, Casting
Theatrical Trailer-Theatrical Trailer
Gallery-Photo-Image Gallery
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| Rating |
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Year Of Production
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2007
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| Running Time |
75:00
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RSDL
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Flipper
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RSDL
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Cast & Crew |
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Start Up
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Menu |
| Region Coding |
4
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Directed By |
Jaume Balagueró
Paco Plaza
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Studio
Distributor |
Madman Entertainment
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Starring |
Manuela Velasco
Ferran Terraza
Jorge Serrano
Pablo Rosso
David Vert
Vicente Gil
Martha Carbonell
Carlos Vicente
María Teresa Ortega
Manuel Bronchud
Akemi Goto
Chen Min Kao
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| Case |
Amaray-Transparent |
| RPI |
$29.95
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Music |
None Given
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NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.
Plot Synopsis
It is a good time to be a horror fan. On the domestic front, both the joyfully ridiculous Saw VI and the indie masterpiece Paranormal Activity have stood apart from the pack of unpleasant DTV disappointments (Trick 'r Treat, Deadgirl) whereas the international market has bloomed with different and sensational offerings including brutal French horror masterpieces Inside and Martyrs, and the Spanish hit REC. Using a similar technique to The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and the aforementioned Paranormal Activity, directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza force the terrifying experience of a night trapped in an apartment building with an escalating horror upon the audience, viewing the action from the first-person perspective of a video camera struggling to capture the protagonists' final moments.
Manuela Velasco is Ángela, a reporter covering the night-shift of a local fire station with her cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso) when a distress call sends the team of firefighters out to an apartment building. When a hysterical woman in her broken-down room attacks one of the firemen, the reporter and the firefighters find themselves sealed in, quarantined from the outside world along with the residents as they fall victim to something inside the building - something that refuses to die.
REC is an exercise in horror technique - after setting the scene and characters with the opening at the fire station, the situation inside the apartment building slowly intensifies, the characters finding themselves in escalating danger which we experience with them, through their eyes, via Pablo's camera. Scenes draw out as characters panic and try to rationalise the situation, leading up to dramatic and startling sequences of terror bookended with moments of calm that never last. The pace unfortunately lets up in a plodding expositionary scene where Ángela interviews the residents, but soon returns to horrifying form.REC has little regard for social norms or political correctness - both children and the elderly fall victim to violence and horror, and the residents are fast to point fingers at their multicultural neighbours in scenes that discuss racism more realistically than a thousand Crashes. It all culminates in a gloriously intense finale, borrowing from the Apocalyptic Log trope popularised by Resident Evil-style horror games, leading to a spectacular ending (unfortunately spoiled for anyone unlucky enough to see the trailer for the mediocre American remake Quarantine).
Minor pacing issues aside, the only misstep taken by REC is that it lacks anything beyond the surface; whereas George Romero's Trilogy of the Dead was filled to the brim with sociological commentary and subtext, REC is nearly entirely an exercise in effective first-person horror, with little depth to the preceedings. It's also a victim of unfortunate timing - there's been so many films recently created in a similar style that REC's originality may come into question. (It was made over two years ago, and has only just now found release here.) Regardless, it is still a very effective film that becomes relentless by the closing - it is instantly recommendable to any horror fan.
Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.
Transfer Quality
Video
The video is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced. This is a fantastic video transfer that maintains the exact effect that the film is going for - it's very clean video clearly shot on HD, with minimal grading to maintain the realistic-documentary feeling that only video has; at the same time, in the aspect ratio it's also very cinematic and pulls you in, with no artefacts and a minimum of grain (as expected). There's no low level noise at all - it looks great during both the lit and the dark scenes. There's no interlacing, the layer change is unnoticable, the colours are bright and alive; it is, essentially, excellent.
The English subtitles are readable and accurate, an absolute blessing in a time where every other legit DVD of a foreign film that I find myself viewing has poorly translated or completely incoherent English subtitles - they not only accurately translate the dialogue but keep the feeling of frenzy and panic that the film strives to create.
Video Ratings Summary
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Audio
The audio is presented in Spanish Dolby Digital DTS, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo). Unfortunately, this DVD defaults to the DTS track, which is far inferior to the Dolby Digital 5.1: the DTS favors extreme loud over actual precision surround, whereas the 5.1 mix creates a much more realistic, claustrophobic and intense soundscape with which to experience the film through. This is a truly unusual case - rarely is a DTS track inferior to Dolby Digital 5.1, but the surround of the DTS is an obnoxious mess, seeking only to blow out your ears rather than make it feel like the things are all around you. Avoid it.
Thankfully the 5.1 track makes up for this by being perfectly terrifying to experience the film with. The minimalist score alongside the excellent dialogue and sounds of screaming and heavy breathing add to the panic of the imagery. The scenes I sampled with the Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo) were also fine, only lacking in rear surround and bass.
Audio Ratings Summary
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Extras
Animated Menus with Sound
The menus here feature flashes of zombies and atrocious things to a heavy metal song I don't like at all, and doesn't set a good tone for the film. Image Gallery
A set of images from the production in a tiny-tiny window that you can scroll through, or skip altogether - since these images are so low quality, I don't understand the appeal of an extra like this aside from being able to "view these pictures on my TV". None-the-less, lots of DVDs have them, who am I to complain? Theatrical Trailer (1:40)
A short but effective trailer that avoids major spoilers (like the aforementioned Quarantine abomination) repeating the film's "Never stop recording" mantra half a dozen times. In the original 1.85:1, in excellent video quality though featuring subtitles with dubious grammar and spelling. Production Secrets with Manuela Velasco (12:21)
Lead actress Manuela Velasco clearly plays herself in REC, cute-as-a-button here ruminating in a first-person interview about the production, including how the film was shot in chronological order, her interaction with the crew, various costume mishaps and other anecdotes cut together with the b-roll (which includes essential footage of at least one alternate ending). It all goes together making this a pretty nifty little featurette, shot in 1.85:1. Extended Footage: What the Neighbours Saw (8:23)
This frustrating and annoying featurette expands upon the most boring part of the film, the interviews with the doomed residents that was already overlong and pointless while in the film, and is all the more tedious by itself as a featurette. Any footage here that wasn't in the film is completely worthless - skip this one. In the same 1.85:1 as the film. The Secret Archive (2:25)
Another expanded featurette, this one covers the revelatory audio tape that tells us about the tests run on the original "upstairs patient" that eventually lead to the events in the movie. It's odd in that it doesn't seem to have anything new in it at all - anything it elaborates upon was better put across in the intense finale of the film. In the same 1.85:1 as the main feature. Behind the Scenes (13:48)
This is a short fly-on-the-wall featurette showing some of the scenes being rehearsed and shot, but is mostly dispensable - there's little here to be learnt for film students and little here for fans. Seeing the elderly lady from the film's first half as an actor in a costume takes away from the stark realism of the thing, unfortunately - I'd skip it. Castings (14:00)
Some lengthy B-roll and casting footage mixes together to show the actors acting and blocking out scenes - there's not much to see here, really.
R4 vs R1
NOTE: To view
non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually
also NTSC compatible.
Our R4 release is far superior to the original barebones R1 release, probably as US distributors were pushing their crappy remake instead of the original. However R2 offers various choices - but these are limited depending on whether or not you speak Spanish. The R2 United Kingdom DVD features extra special features that are fully subtitled, like our version, but the R2 SE Spain has much more in the way of extras, including a commentary track, but no English subtitles for these extras. So it comes down to the languages you speak - there will no doubt be even more confusion with the BD releases.
Summary
REC is an excellent horror film that's best experienced on a late night on a big screen with nice loud surround sound. The video and audio transfers are both excellent, though avoid the default DTS audio setting for the far superior 5.1 mix.
The extras are a mixed bag, mostly dispensable but with a couple of gems.
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| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
© Ryan Aston (Bioshock)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
| Review Equipment |
| DVD | Sony Playstation 3 (HDMI 1.3) with Upscaling, using Component output |
| Display | Philips 47PFL9732D 47-inch LCD .
Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
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| Audio Decoder | Logitech 5500 THX.
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| Amplification | Logitech 5500 THX |
| Speakers | Logitech 5500 THX |
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