Rec

Saw Rec last night. To be honest with you, I wasn't expecting a great deal. I've already seen one great Spanish horror movie this year. To see a second struck me as unlikely.

Oh, how wrong I was.

Horror movies don't really make me jump anymore. I've seen so many masked killers jump out of the shadows that I spend half the time in any horror movie thinking "come on, get on with it." Likewise, I don't feel a lot of tension when watching these sort of movies anymore. I know people are going to get turned into zombies. I know people are going to get eaten. It would almost be more surprising if they didn't.

However Rec completely ripped the (sticky, faintly distasteful, really glad I can't see it) cinema carpet from under my feet. Filmed and presented at a break neck pace, even the scenes of exposition are mercifully short and the focus is on action and scares. At times the pace is absolutely breathless, and towards the end of the film you almost want everyone to suffer the zombie plague death because it will relieve some of the tension of the film and give you, the viewer, a chance to calm down. Then the film changes gear, and starts suggesting there is another cause for the zombie plague. And, after a moment in the attic, everything switches to night vision and you have some of the most nightmarish images I have ever seen in a film played out across the screen.

Rec made me feel like I had been hit by a train. But in a good way*. It was the film Diary of the Dead should have been. So go see it. Go see it now.

Except, the vast majority of people probably won't go see it. Because it is in Spanish. And there are subtitles. Fuck it, let me reverse that. It is in Spanish, but there are sub titles. And a lot of the dialogue is "Pablo, are you filming this?", "Holy Fucking Shit" and "What the fuck is happening?" The fact that it is in Spanish shouldn't put anyone off the film. Except it will. Particularly since it is already being remade in the US. In fact, the rights to the Spanish version were bought before that version was even released in the cinemas!

At best, the remake will be like the US remake of Funny Games - a pointless shot for shot remake that only packs a punch if you haven't seen the original.** At worst, it will be just plain shit - people will go see it, hate it, and wonder what all the fuss was about. So see the original. Really, it is worth it.

*In other words, not actually hit by a train and therefore dead.
**Probably the biggest difference between the European and US versions of Funny Games - aside from the language - is the title. The American version is called Funny Games U.S. Presumably Funny Games Inferior Version didn't make it past the marketing guys.