[Rec]

I have no idea if a thread has been made about this film, searching for Rec isn't particular helpful, but that's two Spanish horror films which have left me feeling really quite uncomfortable after watching them.

The first is Tesis and now there's this which does wonders with the tired old Zombie Apocalypse idea.

Essentially you have a young reporter and her camera man following a fire crew on their rounds. The first case they attend involves an old lady trapped in her apartment, turns out she's a bit past her sell by date and has a hankering for some human flesh.

Shit gets real, the Spanish police seal off the apartment building and the residents and fire crew find themselves having to stave off an outbreak of ZOMBIES.

What makes the film work is the format. Everything is shot from the perspective of the reporter's cameraman. Now before you start groaning fear not this is all for atmosphere than anything else and the actual gore in the film is still highly on show. What having a singular point of view, and the reporters attempts to interview the residents, does is make you really empathise with a few of the characters. The reporter herself, who I now have an immense crush on, is likeable enough but it's the firefighters and idiosyncratic residents which really work well. The use of a single camera also really gives a feeling of claustrophobia.

Also of note is the fact that everyone is on edge and bitching at each other. The dynamic is as close to the Thing as I've seen in a film, with people at each other's throats, officials trying to calm the public and the camera crew getting in everyone's way.

Added to this is the kind of cinematic violence which you don't expect from the format. The film is brutal and bloody when it wants to be with chunks of flesh getting torn out, characters getting thrown down stairwells and nice close ups of bite wounds.

It's the kind of film which had me on edge when I was watching the film and had me jittery after watching it.

What works about the interviews is that it makes you feel a little bit comfortable after the chaos you've just seen. It's a calm before the storm, the fact that it serves to give some of the ancillary characters a little personality and set up some stuff for later on is greatness.

I'm surprised that you felt a seventy minute film was bloated. I mean the interviews and the time between the fireman being dropped and the attacks is little more than ten or fifteen minutes.

And in terms of character work there were tons of little things I like. One of the main ones was the look Manu the fireman gives to the camera after the police officer has told them to switch off.

Also Martin: Diarrhea of the Dead? I know you hold being a retard as a badge of honour, but seriously?

I believe I was talking about about the rise of cult activity (Waco, the Sarin gas attacks) when I said that.

And I'm sorry if finding an adolescent play on the name of a film you don't like makes me boring.

Also in terms of dead time I was a little off. The old woman gets shot at the 18 minute mark and the Health Inspector does his inspection of the initial corpses at the 19 minute mark. So there's 20 minutes which are free of people being menaced by Zombies.

But that setup allows for the little girls turn to be handled economically in the third act and you get the setup for the intern's room as well as the dynamic between the reporter, police officer and firefighter. What the interviews do is allow the film to just keep going once the action starts as well as making the people about to get eaten vaguely recognisable. I mean without the interviews we wouldn't have gotten the insight into the slightly creepy and racist old man.

But is there any room for exposition once the little girl goes loco. I mean until they get to the top room they're running for their lives the entire time.

But for the last third of the film to work we need to know that someone else is upstairs, that a dog has been sent to the vets and that there's an apartment where no one has been and which is apparently deserted.

Out of interest what did you make of all the possession stuff towards the end?

I'm glad I'm not the only who picked up the survival horror vibe. That last bit in the room is like something out of Silent Hill.

Don't you worry that you've spoiled the movie for yourself?