REC (2007)
Victim (2010)
Two movies and not enough for one review- seems kind of strange doesn't it? Not when you look at the movies.
See the problem with these movies is they don't lend themselves to traditional reviews, and thus I can't really dig too far into either of them without spoiling them completely, albeit for different reasons. In the case of the first one, it's a found footage film that doesn't lend itself too well to an analysis, and the latter is done in such a way that anything beyond the very basic plot outline would reveal too much. Still, I'll do what I can.
Plots
Let's start with the 2007 Spanish found footage film REC, which was remade in the United States in 2008 as Quarantine. I have been informed by the friend who recommended both these films that I should not bother with the remake, which works for me as I tend to hate remakes on principle. The movie follows a reporter and her cameraman who work for a late night news show. The two are doing a feature on firefighters and are allowed to tag along with the crew as they are called to what sounds like a very basic emergency: an old woman trapped in her apartment. However upon arrival at the scene, both they and the firefighters discover the call and the woman are not what they seen. Soon they, along with police who were also called in and the apartment's inhabitants find themselves locked in for reasons they do not know, as well as the woman who they were called to 'help'. To say much more would ruin the film, but suffice to say given the name of the remake you should be able to get a good grasp on what will occur.
While chatting with the same friend who told me about Rec a few days back, she mentioned she was watching a film on Netflix she described as weird, sick, and fucked up- which coming from this person, intrigues me, so I figured I'd watch it. Now unlike her, I figured out where the film was going early on, but only because I am familiar with another movie that is based on the same source material as this one. Not to say it's not fucked up though. The film, Victim, is a revenge story taken to a whole different level. The film begins with a young woman being filmed in a hotel room, where she is viciously attacked and seemingly killed by the cameraman. We then cut to a bar, where a good looking young man is having a drink while being watched by a man in a hood. As the younger man goes for his car, he is attacked by the mysterious watcher and another man and knocked out. He awakens in a cellar turned dungeon/ laboratory, where is confronted by a large mute man and a strange scientist, who begin to torture him in increasingly bizarre ways. That's all I can say because anymore would ruin the film.
Thoughts
I'm not a big fan of found footage films, both because they tend to give me a headache and because I feel that especially nowadays the genre is becoming over saturated. Still, like any genre that fills up quickly, there are a few good ones floating around, and REC is one of them. Even knowing a good amount of what to expect based on knowing my horror films, it's still well set up and tension is built quite well. You don't really get to care about any of the characters but in this kind of film that's not really the point. Emotional investment in not required because the movie does not treat itself as fiction- kind of the whole point of the 'found footage' tag. They have an element of reality based solely on the fact that they are not filmed like normal movies but instead as if they are being shot by regular people, and that is supposed to make us feel like this could be real and we could be one of those people.The effects are decent, and the use of the shaky camera is good- you see just enough to worry but not enough to remember that this is a fictional film. There's also some decent kills and a genuine scare or two, which admittedly is getting to be quite rare in modern horror films.
As for Victim, seeing as I was privy to the film's goal, the tension that could have existed was thus gone. However, even knowing where it was going, getting there was pretty disturbing. Again, I can't go into any detail as to why, but what I can say is if you are looking for a very gory torture related film this is not it. The blood is minimal, but that's fine, because it's the more 'clean' torture that really gets under your skin in a film like this. As this is not found footage we actually get characters, but they are portrayed in such a way that really there are no heroes or villains- the three leads are all despicable to one degree or another, so really you aren't rooting for anyone as much as waiting for them to do what you know they are going to do. That said the acting is quite good- Bob Bancroft is quite disturbing as the mysterious scientist who is doing all of this, and while you understand why he does what he does it doesn't change the fact that he is disturbed, and Bancroft plays the role well, being calm and collected one moment and creepy the next.
However both films are not without their flaws- in REC's case, the film, like plenty of horror films before it, has plenty of "why are they doing that" scenes, which, while it adds to the realism, gets pretty damn annoying. In Victim's case, the ending really spoils the entire film. Again I can't say much but really, with the build up it has, the ending just does not feel right. It's kind of like Law-Abiding Citizen, where the ending just seemed like a tacked on Hollywood ending where the 'good' character won... Except just like that film, the 'bad guy' in this film is very much justified in his actions and by the end you feel more for them then you do the 'good guy'. Let's just say that in a film where all the leads are pretty bad people, the one who is really the worst doesn't get what he deserves in my opinion.
Conclusion
Both films are flawed in one way or another, but they are still pretty good in their own ways. REC is a pretty well done found footage film that has some missteps along the way but also have enough positive elements that you can forgive the rest. Victim is a disturbing piece of work that looses some of it's edge if you catch on early like I did, and is pretty much pointless come the ending. Still it does its job of messing with you and by the end your skin will have crawled a little. Of the two I'd recommend REC first and foremost, especially if you didn't see Quarantine or just like the genre. Victim I only recommend if you are looking for a very sick revenge flick with very little blood and sub-par ending.
3 Infected Neigbours our of 5 for REC
2.5 Mindfucked Assholes out of 5 for Victim
That's all out of me for this time, until the next movie, I'm The Drew and I Be Awesome.
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