‘Nightmarish hellscape’ 00s horror film streaming on Prime Video in time for Halloween

A ‘terrifying’ and ‘tense’ 00s horror film has arrived on Amazon Prime Video – if you dare.

Released in 2007, REC is a found footage zombie film often hailed as one of the scariest of the genre – and it’s easy to see why.

Directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, it follows reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso) covering a late-night news segment with a Barcelona fire station.

They accompany the firefighters on a call to an apartment building where an old woman is reportedly trapped.

While there, the building’s residents and everyone caught inside are sealed in by the police and military due to an infection spreading inside.

The film was a huge critical and commercial success, being named on Time Out’s list of the Top 100 best horror films.

It spawned three sequels as well as an American remake, Quarantine, in 2008, which then received its own 2011 sequel.

REC holds a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critics’ consensus reading: ‘Plunging viewers into the nightmarish hellscape of an apartment complex under siege, [Rec] proves that found footage can still be used as an effective delivery mechanism for sparse, economic horror.’

In their review, Time Out said: ‘A brilliantly staged early scare signals that the safety rails are off and, despite an unexpected, last-minute swerve into the supernatural realm, the edge-of-the-seat tension is sustained to the very last second.’

Empire wrote: ‘Even though it’s the third such effort to employ handheld camera in a zombie flick, this has more than enough shocks to hold its own.’

Deep Focus Review added: ‘REC proves to be an enjoyably jump-inducing ride into the horrific and panicky, moving so fast (in part due to the very short, barely feature-length running time of 77 minutes) that it’s over seemingly in the same instant that it starts.’

Backseat Mafia went as far as to say ‘the sheer impact of REC has never been replicated,’ while Film Threat wrote: ‘Don’t come looking for subtlety or subtext – this offers wall-to-wall thrills and intensity, period.’

Combustible Celluloid summarised: ‘Co-directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza unfold their story over a tight, tense 75 minutes, using the hand-held camera to create an atmosphere of immediacy, and never wasting an opportunity to ramp up the sense of panic, or provide a brutal scare.’

Earlier this year, co-director Plaza opened up to Film Talk about the importance of REC in the world of horror.

‘I think they were important films at the time, and in Spain, they helped a lot of people to start their career in genre films,’ he began.

‘That is the most important thing we can achieve, I think, which is helping younger people who are following in our footsteps. I also know that for Balagueró and me, they changed our lives, and I don’t think we will ever make another film that reaches a global audience again.

‘Those films were shocking and unexpected—something we are very grateful for.’

REC is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.

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