Double Feature: [REC] & QUARANTINE

[REC] - Directed by Jaume Balagueró    
             2007
             Rated R
             78 minutes

QUARANTINE - Directed by John Erick Dowdle
             2008
             Rated R
                                                      89 minutes

 Summary from Netflix:
[REC] - Trapped in a quarantined Barcelona apartment building with residents, firefighters and a growing horde of ravenous zombies, television reporter Angela (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman, Pablo, record brutal deaths and terrifying events while trying to stay alive. Filmed entirely from unseen Pablo's point of view, this tension-filled Spanish horror film thrills viewers with its aggressive action. Paco Plaza and Jaume Balagueró direct.

QUARANTINE - While on assignment shadowing firemen, a Los Angeles news reporter (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman (Steve Harris) get trapped in a quarantined apartment complex with a vicious unknown killer. With all forms of communications cut, the news crew keeps the cameras rolling as they search for a way to escape rabies-infected zombies. John Erick Dowdle writes and directs this frenzied horror film that also stars Johnathon Schaech.

My rating: [REC] ★★★★ out of 5         QUARANTINE ★★★ out of 5

[REC] - "It's nearly 2 A.M. and we're still sealed in this building that we came to with the firemen earlier this evening, to assist an elderly woman who later attacked a policeman and a fireman. They're both in critical condition. The police won't let us leave and are giving us no explanations."

QUARANTINE - "They won't let us out."

Low-budget horror movies are not as common as they used to be but foreign film makers get quite noticed in Hollywood when they manage to make something that almost redefines an entire genre. We have seen many "hand-held" style movies over the years since Blair Witch Project managed to become a large hit but nothing really that pulled you into the film so much that the audience loses themselves completely within the point of view the camera is actually portraying. REC manages to pull it off by building up levels of suspense and a growing mystery of what is causing the spreading infection which trapped everyone inside the apartment building. The cameraman just seems to fade away in your mind as you are pulled into the story and when the shocks of the film come out of nowhere it's quite easy to jerk backwards and protect yourself out of a subconscious reaction.

Maybe it's just because we live in such a video camera and webcam addicted world that makes it so much easier to handle these kinds of movies. Thankfully the film makers only create that "hand-held" feeling by staging each shot so carefully that it only appears that way. This was a welcome change for those who have suffered through so many higher budget films that just abused this effect so much that motion sickness just becomes so overwhelming they need to leave. The scenes are paced out enough that only when the action picks up or requires the camera holder to move around that sensation of forced moment comes though your mind at all.

While most foreign films find their fan base outside their own home country once they are released on DVD with subtitles and/or redubbed dialogue, REC caught the attention of Screen Gems productions and a much higher budget remake of REC was written and filmed under the title of QUARANTINE. Most folks would think that an Americanized version of an award winning Spanish film might lose something in the adaptation but even though it was mostly filmed shot-for-shot - it was done in a single take improv style for more realistic effect. Once you add on the enhanced camera tricks for practical special effects to be hidden until they are needed for their shot it becomes quite an achievement for "shakey-cam" films. There are several major changes in the storyline between both versions but that mostly deals with the background of many of the characters and the origins of the virus (REC depicts that a supernatural element might be involved while QUARANTINE focuses on chemical weapon experiments).

Both films really stand on their own in their respective countries they were filmed in and deserve reviews of their own but these two movies earn the unique right of becoming alternative versions of the same story concept and sold together in a special double feature collector's case (these films are sold separately but were both released on DVD by Sony Pictures so it's possible). REC really stands out as a thriller documentary-style "found footage" film and keeps the audience guessing while taking them through an intense drama filled story. QUARANTINE was a good adaptation of the same plot but suffers from falling into typical Hollywood formulas once the supernatural element from the original story was removed.