[REC] (2007)

[REC]

Rating: Five stars out of five.

Note: No substantial spoilers beyond expository information you may read on the back of the case or see in a trailer.

Overview: Claustrophobic, terrifying, and with a decent amount of action, this is immaculate proof that found footage needn't always rely on subtle build-up and people walking around doing nothing. It'll be a ten decades before there's a more superbly-crafted zombie film in the found footage genre.

I have absolutely no complaints about this film. [Rec] is quite possibly the perfect hybrid of found footage and zombie. I can honestly say I think it will be many moons before anyone creates a found footage zombie movie that is better than [Rec].

[Rec]'s story begins with the crew of a late-night television news program called "While You're Asleep." Tonight they are at a Fire Station in order to record the nighttime duties of firefighters. But when they get a routine call to rescue an old lady who apparently had a serious fall in an apartment building, things take a turn for the grim as the whole building is forcibly quarantined and an outbreak occurs of a disease turning residents into flesh-eating zombie-like monsters.

[Rec] handles its simple premise with absolute mastery, crafting truly terrifying creatures, pulse-pumping action, and believable interactions between our faux-verite characters. One of the most difficult questions a found footage film must attempt to answer, is why our protagonist continues to film even as the scenario escalates into pandemonium and death. [Rec] provides perhaps one of the best answers to this question. As journalists, the crew of "While You're Asleep" at first is bound to consider this an opportunity for some award winning on location journalism. As the situation escalates and it no longer is clear whether they will make it out alive, the tape becomes assurance that what has happened to them (arguably with the government having been implicit in it), will not be overlooked.

In the same sense that Cloverfield could have been an incredible reboot to the American Godzilla, I can only imagine how happy Resident Evil fans would have been to receive [Rec] as the iconic game's film incarnation. [Rec] may represent the closest palatable film experience to that of playing a good Resident Evil game.... the much-noted claustrophobic atmosphere and the restricted locale of the dusty apartment complex is gorgeously reminiscent of the original Resident Evil's haunted mansion setting.

The many treks through blackened hallways dreading what horrible thing will jump out at you next continues the Resident Evil feel (in addition to being exceedingly creepy), but perhaps the best allusion to the Resident Evil format is the way information is disseminated. In a regular film, we tend to have a decent overview of the situation, whereas in [Rec] you find clues bit by bit while searching through the wreckage and encountering curious characters. It's a chillingly exciting film experience, and one I enjoy going back to again and again. It increases the feeling of realism and urgency in the film probably as much as the found footage style in the first place.

A Spanish film, [Rec] was remade for the United States into Quarantine, which itself had a sequel unrelated to [Rec] where an outbreak occurs on a plane. Quarantine 2: Terminal is well-regarded, although I don't believe it's found footage. [Rec] also has a sequel and two further sequels upcoming..

Paranormal Entity (2009)

Paranormal Entity

Rating: 2 stars out of 5.

Notice: No spoilers until noted.


Here we have one of Paranormal Activity's various mockbusters, films produced specifically to capitalize on a major picture's popularity. Generally their production values are low and their scripts are crumby, but I found this one at a used CD store and it looked so creepy, I just had to see it!

I can't say it was as good as I hoped, but it also wasn't as bad as I feared. The plot is fairly weak and it gleams most of its scares from Paranormal Activity (accomplished much less effectively here, of course). But it does get genuinely scary at a part or two, setting it leagues above other cash-in attempts such as Strawberry Estates (believed to have been an attempt at capitalizing on The Blair Witch Project).

If you're an absolute Paranormal Activity junkie, I could recommend this film after you've gone through the best found footage films. But before you go for Paranormal Entity, you may want to check out Lake Mungo. It's not as scary as Paranormal Entity -- it's more spooky and atmospheric than scary -- but it's a better film.

(SPOILER WARNING)

The early spooks were ineffective because they didn't show any scenes or lengths of time that didn't culminate in a ghostly occurrence. It would say "Night 1" and show something happening, "Night 2" and something small would happen, etc.

But as the film carries on, the scenes actually get more subtle and it becomes a occasionally scary. Maybe they were trying for the classic found footage build-up from mundane to terrifying, although that's a little more effective when you don't immediately start out with paranormal occurrences, instead starting out skeptical and then allowing terror to dawn on the audience. But the two scenes of the brother home alone, walking around the house in the dark, going from room to room.... is very creepy and much appreciated.

The movie does tend to drag after that, though. The point where they get so scared as to flee the house happens about half-way through, which should have set off the climax, but instead we're treated to half a movie of diminishing returns.

Naturally it doesn't expand much past what Paranormal Activity forged. However, the initial premise of the demon's interest being incurred first by the mother trying to write to her deceased husband, and instead end up corresponding with a demon, is pretty interesting and creepy. And *ehem* it may be a better premise than certain turns the Paranormal Activity series may or may not have recently taken.

Overall Paranormal Entity shows just how much craftsmanship is really in the original Paranormal Activity, crafting the plot and the scares so much more effectively than does this film. But Paranormal Entity has some good scares of it's own and it's a fun film to watch if you're an absolute found footage junkie like myself.