[REC]

A cornerstone of the resurgence in Spanish horror cinema, [REC] (2007) is a propulsive single-location found-footage film in which a news reporter and her cameraman investigate an incident at a Barcelona apartment building. Beginning with a discussion of the aesthetic choices of co-directors Jaume Balaguer and Paco Plaza, Jim Harpers Devils Advocate assesses the various political and social themes present in [REC], in particular the range of human responses to crisis situations and the threat of violence. He goes on to consider the influences upon [REC] especially George Romeros Night of the Living Dead (1968), the cornerstone of the modern zombie movie, and Danny Boyles 28 Days Later (2002), the film that kick-started the 21st century zombie boom before offering a brief history of Spanish horror, illustrating the continuity between the first true Spanish horror film in 1962, the flourishing of Spanish gothic horror in the 1960s and 70s, the barren period of the 1980s, and the subsequent resurrection epitomized by [REC]. Harper then goes on to consider the American remakes (2008 and 2011) as well subsequent emergence of the international horror franchise [REC] 2 (2009), [REC] 3: Genesis (2012) and [REC] 4: Apocalypse (2014) addressing the different concerns and themes of the sequels.