Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

REC Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 28, 2021

This Blu-ray release of 'REC' is currently only available in a four-film boxed set with 'REC 2,' 'REC 3: Genesis,' and 'REC 4: Apocalypse.'

By the time REC released in 2007 neither its structure nor story were exactly groundbreaking concepts. The film released in a world that years before embraced The Blair Witch Project which many might call the "grandfather" of the "found footage" genre. Revolutionary or not REC perhaps further proved the genre's viability and helped pave the way for similarly structured films to follow, whether its own sequels (save for the fourth) or those telling different kinds of stories, ranging from the haunted house Paranormal Activity films to the monster movie Cloverfield. REC works for several reasons: it's very lean, even more intense, and relentless from beginning to end. The nightmare is presented tangibly and terrifyingly, engrossing the viewer into the mayhem, the fear, and the clutches of the unknown within an inescapable building on total lockdown.

Television reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso) have been assigned to cover a night in the life of a local fire house. It’s not long until the firefighters, and the journalists, get a call to an apartment building for a welfare check on a woman who is clearly in distress. They enter her apartment to find her covered in blood and clearly in a state mental break and emotional instability. She violently attacks one of the men conducting the welfare check, biting the flesh from his neck and leaving the team to split up, some to subdue her, others to get the victim out of the building. But down in the lobby, the team and the tenants learn that they have been locked inside. The building has been cordoned off and there’s no hope of escape. Worse, there is no help for the injured – which are multiplying in number – and no hope of anyone getting out anytime soon. As they struggle to understand what they are facing and survive the increasingly persistent and violent attacks, a desperate hunt for escape, and for answers, come to define a night of terror neither the news crew nor the firefighters could have ever envisioned.

With the shaky handheld camera and both the intimacy and the sense of urgency the jostling perspective creates, REC is often more about the experience than it is the cinematic structure. The film doesn’t follow convention and it doesn’t even follow too many rules. The entire film is seen from the cameraman’s perspective. If he sets the camera down then down, too, goes the viewer. If the light goes off, the audience is left in darkness. If the cameraman is fleeing, so too is the audience. None of this is new, but it works in REC with the film almost always being in motion and never quite allowing its audience to get that more traditionally stable and sturdy firm, full grasp for the lay of the land or the monsters that lurk throughout the building. But what it does do is give the audience a new perspective on the sheer terror playing out within that building. There’s a sense of involvement with the story that actually makes it more terrifying because there isn’t so much of that traditional veil between screen and viewer, that sense of safety in the slick artificiality of a standard Horror film. The film forces the viewer into the unknown and it’s a powerful tool in amplifying the terror by, in some ways, deemphasizing the bloodletting and emphasizing the panic that is the result thereof.

REC doesn’t waste much time. There are a few minutes of necessary introductory niceties but it’s very quick in getting into the blood, blood which covers skin and flows over floors and walls with unabashed intensity. The film has its gruesome moments. While the camera doesn’t always capture every attack in full gory glory there are some choice examples of the lens picking up, with some stability, flesh being torn from skin, for example. These scenes of bloody panic shape much of the movie, but some of the film’s best scenes occur when the trapped tenants and some of the emergency personnel argue about where the fault lies, what exactly it is they may be facing, the personal problems springing from the ordeal, and venting their frustrations to one another. That’s the “real” component away from the Horror-fantasy that grounds the picture and gives it character, more so than the frenzied panic and violence which may be the film’s draw but isn’t its glue. The performances are very good. There’s a tangible belief in what’s happening and a legitimate sense of fear at both the in-the-moment violence and the larger crumbling world around them. Even for the secondary characters there’s not a bad work in the film; every one feels real and on point.

REC Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The film was shot to appear as if it was filmed with a news camera. It is often lit by the camera's light and without any "professional" lighting. The result is a raw look, lit harshly by that mounted light and the fluorescents inside the building or whatever light streams in through windows from the outside. The result are colors that are less than ideal for depth and saturation. There's a flatness to colors that is the rule from start to finish, even in the opening minutes before the madness begins. Tones are a bit muddy and bland but effective within the film's stylistic context. The same observations hold for detailing. The camera is not of cinema grade, favoring more of a local TV level quality (and from years ago at that; the movie was made in the mid-2000s). Various artifacts abound, details are never tight or intimate, and clarity is only as good as the camera's resolution, quality, and the supporting lighting allow. It's sharp enough to matter when needed, such as towards the end when some major revelations are discovered by means of newspapers and paperwork. This is not a pretty picture by any means, but its faithfulness to the source earns it high marks.

REC Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

REC includes a pair of DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtracks, one in the native Spanish language and the other an English dub. Both tracks offer satisfying volume at reference level and impressive aggression defining various elements. Both are a bit "boomy" but maintain a healthy clarity insofar as the material allows; this is not a "polished" track in the traditional sense, captured through the TV microphones but it has been engineered for some sonic impact along the way. For example, the track enjoys some positive reverb around a firehouse basketball court in the film's opening minutes, finding an authentic location recreation and feeling for basic immersion into it. Once the action begins, chaotic din proves well balanced, such as when the first man attacked is taken downstairs and treated in the lobby. The sound cues are a little unkempt, lacking polish, but are well capable of drawing the listener into the chaos and, really, the somewhat unkempt nature may be even more effective in creating a grisly, uncertain environment. The track offers some extreme subwoofer output, such as at the 26-minute mark, and several examples of both discrete and motion sound effects throughout the film. Dialogue is clear (under the film's unique sound parameters) and center positioned for the duration.

REC Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

REC contains a number of extras, including an audio commentary track. As it ships in the above-linked boxed set, no DVD or digital coopies are included with purchase.

• Audio Commentary: Directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza deliver a Spanish language track (English subtitles are included) that cover the film's style, structure, characters, filming logistics, visual effects, and plenty more.
• The Making of REC (1080p, 4x3, 40:52): A lengthy piece that covers some of the same ground from the commentary but with the added benefit of more focused exploration of various components, behind the scenes footage and interviews, and the like.
• Crew Interviews (1080p, 4x3, 46:38): Lengthy chats with several key crew who made the movie happen.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, window box, 3:13 total runtime): Several scenes with no identifying markers.
• Extended Scenes (1080p, window box, 30:05): Additional content lengthening several scenes and expanding upon some of the support characters.
• Behind the Scenes Footage (1080p, 44:27): "Fly-on-the-wall" footage from the making of the movie.
• Teaser (1080p, 1:57).
• TV Spots (1080p, 1:27 total runtime): Five short ads for the film.
• Theatrical Trailers (1080p, 3:09 total; runtime): Two trailers.
• Still Gallery (1080p): A number of photographs from the set. These auto advance or can be forwarded with the chapter skip remote button. There is no accompanying music.

REC Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

REC may not be inspired moviemaking, but it's effective moviemaking. It's intense and stable in its instability, well capable of fully drawing the audience into the terror and amplifying fear, irrationality, and the unknown over straightforward scares and gore. It may not have been the first "found footage" film but it's certainly a very polished example thereof. Shout! Factory's Blu-ray is a delight. Quality video and audio are paired with a nice array of supplemental content. Highly recommended.