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In case you have been following these reviews for a couple of years, you are probably aware that I do not particular enjoy the found footage category of horror movies. Back in 1997, when Blair Witch was released, I was a homeschooled little weirdo which went into his freshman year at Private Christian college. The Sixth Sense scared the living daylights out of me during this period. In the last twenty years, I have trained myself to watch a lot and like in excess. If you ask me, I would say Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity are the worst forms of art. One of the aspects of the found footage genre is that the audience must believe the “story” presented to them, and doing so requires prolonged stretches of boring, uneventful scenes. The horror element is packaged into micro chunks, or it is withheld until the story reaches its climax. I’d heard the stories about whether [REC] was different and was having bits and pieces of good commentary so I researched more to see if it was worth the hype.
Angela Vidal is a news reporter from Barcelona, filming a series on people who work at night. Pablo, her cameraman accompanies her while she reports from a fire station. To pass the time, they film the area of the station and interview the firefighters. After some time, they receive a call and head to an apartment where an old lady is reportedly stuck in her home. Things take a turn for the worse when the old lady starts attacking a police officer by ripping out his throat. Shortly after that, the military arrives at the scene, seals off the entire building and informs the people inside that they are not allowed to leave. Something bad is clearly happening in that building and, through Angela and Pablo’s eyes, we uncover the awful happenings in the mysterious building, one person at a time.
Honestly, I don’t think [Rec] stands as an astounding horror film. I would say it is one of the better found-footage films, but I was never frightened. With regards to my suspension of disbelief, it is relatively low in this genre; hence, getting into the narrative is hard. Even though there is an attempt to make the horror mysterious and slowly reveal bits of information while still being aloof, this is nothing more than a zombie movie wearing the mask of a demonic one. The people who get possessed act no differently than the manic zombies of 28 Days Later, and only toward the end do we see something that I would even vaguely describe as demonic.
Not a bad movie, just an okay one. The best part about the movie is its runtime, which is a perfect 78 minutes as it does not overstay its welcome. This means the film starts off with a lot of action, and the pace does not die down. There is always something new being revealed, and we are always exploring new areas of the apartment building. That said, there are some lulls in the fast pacing, but the lack of quiet moments offers a different problem.
Due to the lack of effort towards character development across the board, I wasn’t really bothered when they were murdered. It hardly freaked me out when the main characters were facing the wrath of the evil that lurked in the apartment.
Found footage horror films work the same way amusement park rides do, and that is one of my issues with them. The narrative is auxiliary to the experience of the ride. This is often evident from the films’ editing style, the generalized camera movements, and the restricted duration of the story. Watching found footage films always seems unsatisfactory to me; it is like they only manage to scratch the surface. As an avid reader of horror novels, I enjoy it when there’s some mystery left to be unfolded without completely eliminating the horror aspect. This is why I find pleasure in Suspiria (2018), Hereditary, and Midsommar. To me, those films feel like intricate novels. We can delve deep into the narrative without it all being served on a platter. Instead of the invigorating thrill of a found footage film, the horror is instead based on the atmosphere created.
With only twenty minutes remaining in the film, we are given an exposition dump of the oh-so-familiar unexplored apartment trope. I would have preferred this information to be more staggered throughout the movie, rather than just being introduced the moment the film ended. They had a captivating idea of the overlap of demon possession and a commutable disease. I wish the found footage style wasn’t a part of it so we could enjoy it as a standard horror movie. I did not feel as if the camera point of view contributed much to my viewing experience. I believe it was executed as well as it could be, but it ultimately served as a distraction to a well-thought-out story. To me, this portion of the film did feel very interesting in my opinion, but the movie ended directly after and it was very unfortunate. Most of the film consists of a camera spinning in a circle while images remain blurry and only screams can be heard.
I find horror in experimental forms to be fascinating. Skinamarink is an interesting way to alter perspective and its method of disturbing its audience. What separates Skinamarink from [Rec] is the coherence. The former was somehow able to make a coherent abstract narrative and make me feel absolute terror.[Rec] has an understandable yet very “real life” narrative, but somewhere within the story, realism seems to hinder authentic story telling. The framing device, however, reduces the magical aspects. I feel like every found footage horror film I see will be my final one, yet something tells me to give it another chance. Maybe I should stop since they are failing to tickle my personal horror fantasy.
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