[Rec] (2007)

We now interrupt our regularly scheduled program of reviews of old horror movies for a review of a relatively new one. I was able to get my hands on the Spanish original of [Rec] just before the American remake can annoy me (and I'm quite sure that it will).
A reporter and a cameraman of a local TV station in a Spanish city have the privilege to watch and film two firemen at work. They follow a seemingly routine emergency call into a small apartment building. Sooner than you can scream "Brains!" they, and the inhabitants of the building have to cope with the not that routine case of a full grown zombie outbreak. At least the Spanish authorities are acting fast and decisive. Too bad that their preferred way to deal with the crisis consists of totally isolating the building. Oh well.
I'm waiting for the backlash against the children of The Blair Witch Project any day now, but at the moment we (that is people of impeccable taste like me) can still enjoy the promiscuous tendencies of horror film makers around the world, who will not rest until every possible sub-genre has at least one entry full of fake found footage, shaking digital video and night vision.
As long as these films stay as entertaining as [Rec] I'm all for it. Of course the movie is not original in the least, but directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza use the loss of distance the film's concept provides to very effective ends. As if screaming and running zombies at close quarters weren't effective enough by themselves.
[Rec] does not add much to the huge load of subtext the zombie film carries around (the seldom seen, and here just intimated, zombie explanation it uses notwithstanding), instead chooses to present itself with the intensity of classic punk rock.