[*REC]

[*REC] / [*REC]. ES (c) 2007 Castelao Productions. D: Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza. DP: Pablo Rosso - shot on video - blowup to 35mm 1:1,85. Starring Manuela Velasco (Angela). 85 min. A Finnish release print by Future Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Saliven Gustavsson. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Prix Méliès series, Louhisali, Espoo, 20 August 2008. - Intentional video look. - Innocuous reality tv reportage about firemen turns into an all-out zombie massacre. This belongs to the current zombie cycle of films where the newsreel or industrial camera look is meant to trigger an instinctive feeling of authenticity. Basic visual devices: handheld camera, interrupted takes, camera artefacts. The colour palette is pallid and cold. The main setting is a Barcelona tenement building, where an elderly woman is suffering from some terrible infection. The rabies-like condition spreads immediately via saliva. The film-makers sketch strong vignettes of the inhabitants of the house, of many ages and various ethnic groups. The final shock awaits in the penthouse. Before that, maximum horror has already been in evidence with relentless screaming, bloodletting, panic, and hysteria.