Rec

Director: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza

2007 / 78min / DCP

When a Barcelona television reporter (Manuela Velasco) follows firefighters on what appears to be a routine emergency call to an apartment building, she stumbles into the scoop of a lifetime—and a hell of a lot of trouble. An infection passing among the building’s residents is rendering them rabid and ravenous for human flesh, and as the authorities decide to seal off the building for purposes of public safety, the unafflicted who find themselves locked inside are left to fend for themselves. The seemingly “raw” camerawork belies the precision of the filmmaking, which makes Rec—the first of a four-film series—an unforgettable running-the-gauntlet ordeal.