thought it was French, not Spanish, when I 1st heard of it
1:08 AM 9/17/09 · Okay, I'm about to start watching [REC], which is the film that Quarantine was a remake of. My expectations is that it will be pretty much the same basic story, slightly different emphasis on certain aspects given that it's a foreign film, and that my dreams later on after that will be more than a tad unsettling. That and, from all I've heard, the original is far better than the thing that spawned from it...
...even though I did enjoy Quarantine.
Probably not going to write the review until after some serious shut eye.
11:03 AM 9/17/09 · Okay, I don't think I need to put an LJ·cut here because, really, the only spoilers here could be covered in my review of Quarantine and they're behind one there. Mostly what I've got here are a number of comparisons...
...and that [REC] really is better than what came after.
I largely attribute this to realism. On a whole host of levels. The actors look okay but they're not especially attractive. Even the newslady is more cute than anything else, whereas in Quarantine they got a real "hottie" to play the role. The firemen in this are remarkably normal and polite, which was nice.
The firemen in Quarantine were more like the ones from Rescue Me, which is still nice but a tad raunchy to boot.
Zombie effects are what nailed it for me. Most American zombie films follow a fairly repeated pattern on zombies. From film to film they all pretty much look the same. Not so here. Zombies tend to be, in most films, rotted and bloody. Here we have rleatively normal looking people displaying zombie like behavior. They don't seem to be rapidly rotting away, there is no major skin discoloration...with the exception of those that have suffered severe blood loss.
The bites incurred from the zombies are not excessive either. Most zombie films it looks a bit much, the littlest thing is exagerrated to unheard of proportions.
One thing I wasn't prepared for was that the film seems to run much faster than the American version. Most foreign films I've seen are gnerally more epic, they go on and on and on. I don't have the times to compare offhand but I think this movie might be a bit shorter than Quarantine.
Having seen Quarantine I pretty much knew what happened here and what was going to happen and yet [REC] kept surprising me. It's a little more intense, special effects aren't as good which somehow gives it more impact...if that makes any sense. Maybe because the more special effects used in a lot of things tends to put it further and further away from reality. Sure, what goes down here is not likely to ever happen but it still reaches out and tries to haul you into the screen.
The final zombie, at the very end, much more impressive. So amazingly gaunt and scary looking. Haven't watched the "making of" portion yet, can't compare it to the extensive description in the other film, but whatever they did this one looks so much better.
You really should see [REC] as soon as possible. Especially if you've already seen the other.
Actually are spoilers, of a sort, in the "making of" portion. They chose a cast of complete unknowns for [REC], to make it as fresh as possible. What I didn't know until viewing this is that they didn't actually tell any of the actors what kind of movie it was, they gave them their initial lines but they had no idea what was going to happen until it actually started to happen...
...they were really going for a genuine shock value!
Another thing, which isn't really a spoiler but I forgot to mention it before, is the whole "shaky camera" thang. This is a re·occuring annoyance in a number of American films but I think it's mostly because it's not handled well. It was handled expertly here, still shaky but nowhere near as aggravating as anywhere else I've seen it used.
The little girl in this was much more animated than in the other film. Not sure if the casting director is exaggerrating or not but they said it was a hard role to cast and then she just appeared on set, this shockingly violent child that turned out to be perfect for what theyt had in mind. In Quarantine I don't remember the little girl being anywhere near so chatty before she changed.
Thought it was interesting that they used pig blood instead of the fake stuff a lot of film companies used...not sure if that was just for this or typical of films made in Spain.
...even though I did enjoy Quarantine.
Probably not going to write the review until after some serious shut eye.
11:03 AM 9/17/09 · Okay, I don't think I need to put an LJ·cut here because, really, the only spoilers here could be covered in my review of Quarantine and they're behind one there. Mostly what I've got here are a number of comparisons...
...and that [REC] really is better than what came after.
I largely attribute this to realism. On a whole host of levels. The actors look okay but they're not especially attractive. Even the newslady is more cute than anything else, whereas in Quarantine they got a real "hottie" to play the role. The firemen in this are remarkably normal and polite, which was nice.
The firemen in Quarantine were more like the ones from Rescue Me, which is still nice but a tad raunchy to boot.
Zombie effects are what nailed it for me. Most American zombie films follow a fairly repeated pattern on zombies. From film to film they all pretty much look the same. Not so here. Zombies tend to be, in most films, rotted and bloody. Here we have rleatively normal looking people displaying zombie like behavior. They don't seem to be rapidly rotting away, there is no major skin discoloration...with the exception of those that have suffered severe blood loss.
The bites incurred from the zombies are not excessive either. Most zombie films it looks a bit much, the littlest thing is exagerrated to unheard of proportions.
One thing I wasn't prepared for was that the film seems to run much faster than the American version. Most foreign films I've seen are gnerally more epic, they go on and on and on. I don't have the times to compare offhand but I think this movie might be a bit shorter than Quarantine.
Having seen Quarantine I pretty much knew what happened here and what was going to happen and yet [REC] kept surprising me. It's a little more intense, special effects aren't as good which somehow gives it more impact...if that makes any sense. Maybe because the more special effects used in a lot of things tends to put it further and further away from reality. Sure, what goes down here is not likely to ever happen but it still reaches out and tries to haul you into the screen.
The final zombie, at the very end, much more impressive. So amazingly gaunt and scary looking. Haven't watched the "making of" portion yet, can't compare it to the extensive description in the other film, but whatever they did this one looks so much better.
You really should see [REC] as soon as possible. Especially if you've already seen the other.
Actually are spoilers, of a sort, in the "making of" portion. They chose a cast of complete unknowns for [REC], to make it as fresh as possible. What I didn't know until viewing this is that they didn't actually tell any of the actors what kind of movie it was, they gave them their initial lines but they had no idea what was going to happen until it actually started to happen...
...they were really going for a genuine shock value!
Another thing, which isn't really a spoiler but I forgot to mention it before, is the whole "shaky camera" thang. This is a re·occuring annoyance in a number of American films but I think it's mostly because it's not handled well. It was handled expertly here, still shaky but nowhere near as aggravating as anywhere else I've seen it used.
The little girl in this was much more animated than in the other film. Not sure if the casting director is exaggerrating or not but they said it was a hard role to cast and then she just appeared on set, this shockingly violent child that turned out to be perfect for what theyt had in mind. In Quarantine I don't remember the little girl being anywhere near so chatty before she changed.
Thought it was interesting that they used pig blood instead of the fake stuff a lot of film companies used...not sure if that was just for this or typical of films made in Spain.