rec

I like Jaume Blaguero and Paco Plaza's [REC] so much that I wish I disliked Quarantine, the beat-for-beat American remake, more, but I just can't bring myself to it. Sure, it's unoriginal, but because it hems so close to the magnificent [REC] it ends up being actually pretty decent despite the remake stigma. But what of Quarantine 2, you ask? How will it fit into the [REC]-verse?

Shock 'til You Drops' source tells us Sony's Screen Gems has just hired Ghost Ship writer John Pogue to both write and direct the Quarantine sequel. However, it looks like Q2 is not going to be a remake of [REC] 2. The first films may have been almost identical, but it looks like horror fans are in for a breath of fresh air on both ends as the two projects have nothing to do with one another. [REC] 2 takes place immediately after the events of the first film and is, for the most part, still confined to the same virus-infected apartment building, only it ups the sequel ante considerably with some characters and twists and turns that are best left unsaid.

Quarantine 2, on the other hand, is going to break free from its title action with a jump from the apartment building to an airport setting. I actually think that's a pretty cool idea (especially since it's not a remake) as I can imagine the larger area to be quarantined could make for some really great set pieces. There's only one problem, though. Shock also reports that Q2 is being shaped as a straight-to-video film. That obviously doesn't mean it'll be an inherently small, but grand production design isn't exactly what STV films are known for. Either way, put me down for 'mildly interested.'

Jaume Balagueró is perhaps best known for his popular cinema verite thrillers [REC] and [REC]2 (review), which was co-written and c-directed with Paco Plaza, and have since become tremendous hits among horror fans. While speculation concerning the potential for a [REC]3 continues, Shock Till You Drop has reported that Jaume Balaguero's solo directorial effort Flatmate has entered the pre-production stages and has announced its first cast member, Spanish actor Luis Tosar.

Tosar is most widely known for his role as the primary antagonist Montoya in Michael Mann's Miami Vice, though he sports an impressive list of roles from Spain, including last year's Cellda 211, for which he received a best actor nomination at the 2010 Goya Awards, which will be held on February 14th.

In addition to this little tidbit of info, Shock also brings to us an updated synopsis, expanding on the one they reported a few months back.

Once again we find ourselves in the throes of our favorite holiday: Halloween. What I love about being a horror geek at this time of the year is that all the non-horror people get to pretend they are just like us. Video stores are beset by droves of customers clamoring for the horror section all of whom would otherwise avoid it like grim death. I don't mean to sound elitist, the amount of horror films I watch on a weekly basis is probably wildly unhealthy, but here is my list of the top five must-watch titles for All Hallows Eve.

John and Drew Dowdle, the duo behind the Reaper Award-winning "zombie" flick Quarantine, itself a remake of the Spanish cinema verite thriller [REC], will be directing Chris Messina as a "sobered up homicide detective" in the upcoming Universal thriller Devil.

Written by Hard Candy scribe Brian Nelson, the plot of the film is being kept hermetically sealed. Variety reports that the film will be the first film produced and financed under the M. Night Shyamalan and Media Rights Capital joint venture known as Night Chronicles. It will be based upon a story from Shyamalan himself, which is an enticing prospect, as his stories are, dare I say, quite good, but his transferring of them from his mind to paper is a task better left to others.

This partnership will see Shyamalan's ideas written for the screen by other screenwriters, with one new genre film being released per year for the next three years. The film begins production on October 26th in Toronto and will be produced by Sam Mercer and Shyamalan.

Special thanks to Dread Central for the heads up.

I like that the original [REC]'s real-time unraveling of an apartment building under quarantine for a mysterious virus that turns the infected into fluid spewing, flesh clawing maniacs is logistically conducive to a sequel. I really like that returning filmmakers Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza can pick up from the second they left off and tell another (almost real-time) story still shot entirely in the first-person perspective without being confined to a single camera's viewpoint thanks to our new story proxies by way of a doctor and his four SWAT-team escorts. And I absolutely love how [REC] 2 not only upgrades some aspects of the apartment, of the virus, and of the victims, but it completely overhauls the presentation of the proceedings. Yet I still have one nag.

[REC] 2 is not scary. Not one bit, actually. Even after 4 or 5 viewings (and the American remake, Quarantine), [REC] still turns my circulatory system into a NASCAR event, but none of that pulse dominating terror and anticipation is matched in the sequel. But what Balaguero and Plaza don't deliver in the fear department, they deliver in the idea department. [REC] 2 may not be scary, but it damn sure has more concept and convention re-toolings than you can shake a rail-thin, pale-white, string-haired woman wielding a claw hammer at.

The stand-out, no questions asked, run out and buy it recommendation for this week is undoubtedly [REC], which finally gets a nearly bare-bones release in Region 1. But that's only if you don't already own the excellent Region 2 two-disc special edition. Directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, [REC] sounded like a tired premise -- I had no desire to see another shaky-cam flick shot entirely from the POV of one camera -- but it's so intelligently executed that it puts the Hollywood remake (Quarantine) to shame.

A local television reporter (the very hot and very convincing Manuela Velasco) is doing a standard "night in the life" of a firefighting crew when they're called to a medical emergency at an apartment building. Events ramp up and out of control very quickly, and that's all I have to say about the plot. [REC] is intense, grueling, and graphic, and I'm not just saying that because my boss Scott Weinberg said it first (in his own words, of course).

It's easy to deride The Haunting in Connecticut as an overly familiar ghost story. The elements are all in place: "based on a true story," creepy old house that nobody in their right mind would buy or rent, and a sordid past ready to leap out and lure unsuspecting teens to their death. But I liked the movie, and part of that is probably the empathy and good will generated by Virginia Madsen as the mother of a seriously-ill teenage boy (Kyle Gallner).

If you're a big fan of Quarantine, then you're automatically an even bigger fan of [REC], which finally hits Region 1 DVD next month. And if all of those things are true (and they probably are) then you can't wait to see some footage from [REC] 2 ... which you will, after the jump.

Okay, so for months and months, we've yammered on about the merits of [REC], the Spanish-language horror flick that inspired the moderately successful Quarantine, and how we'd yet to see a proper domestic release of it (with Canadian retailers coming to the rescue in that regard).

Well, worry no more, all two of you that held out, because Sony's home entertainment department has seen fit to release the movie this July 14th, according to Fangoria and DVD Active. Apparently, the movie will come with a single making-of featurette, though I find the inclusion of an English-language dub track a bit superfluous in the wake of the (virtually) identical remake.

I haven't been able to check out Quarantine yet on home video, though I hear that the commentary track by the filmmakers makes no mention of this film, but does name-check their previous work, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, which has still yet to hit shelves. Maybe they'll get it out once they're done remaking [REC] 2...