[Rec] and The Cottage

Eirebear

Been meaning to post these up here for ages, i was working at the Glasgow Film festival a couple of weks ago and thought some of you might be interested in a couple of the films that are due for release soon

[Rec]
Quite simply one of the best "zombie" movies i have seen in a long long time.
The spanish film was screened at the GFT the other night and i must say it really surprised me.
(ok the zombies arent actually zombies, rather more like the "rage" infected humans in 28 Days Later)
It starts with a young TV presenter and her cameraman who follow a firecrew out on a seemingly normal call out to free a woman who is trapped in her apartment.
When the firemen break down the door to her flat they find that everything is not quite what they expected, and when they realise that government agencies have sealed off the whole building escape looks like an impossibility.

The whole thing is seen from the point of view of the cameraman, with Blair Witch style handheld camera movements, giving the sense of realism tha you would get from watching the news (this actually went into production before cloverfield) which gets more and more erratic as the film goes on.
The last 5-10 minutes of the film are completely in the dark, with the camera on nightvision settings leading to some extremely tense moments.
The film has a release date for sometime in April for the UK.

The directors of the film Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza


The Cottage
Andy Serkis (Gollum, LOTR) and Reese Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen) where in Glasgow for the World Premier of their new movie "The Cottage" which also stars Jennifer Ellison.

From the opening credits you know that this is going to be played for laughs, and after a 15-20 minute introduction to the story the blood gore and slapstick humour ensue in their floods.

The film is based around Andy Serkis and Reese Shearsmith's failed atempt to kidnap Jennifer Ellison's scouse "ned" character, who is the daughter of a rich gangster.
Things begin to go wrong when she escapes and takes Shearmsith's character hostage leaving Serkis and another accomplace to go hunting in the woods for them, eventually stumbling onto a farm inhabited by a cannabalistic freak.

TBH this film didnt really do it for me (despite meeting Serkis and Shearsmith being pretty cool) it pretty much seemed to me like "League of Gentlemen" without the brains or characterisation.
The comedy deaths and blood and guts are hoever fantastically imaginative and its a worthwhile watch if you dont want something too heavy.

Andy Serkis & Reese Shearsmith in the GFT

senordingdong

Hmm...interested to see [Rec] but this is the first I've heard of it.

I've seen a trailer for the cottage but dismissed it as 'Severance' or 'Black Sheep' style crap.

Eirebear

I wasnt expecting much of [Rec] to be honest as the guys i was talking to before the film described it as a "bit of a dog" but it really surprised me, and it definetly got a good reaction from the people leaving the cinema.

It was seemingly the second highest grossing film in spain last year behind "The Orphanage"

Otis Driftwood

Heard alot of good things about [Rec] so Im interested in seeing it.

As for the cottage,meh.

Karl Hungus

I'm really looking forward to [Rec]. Did you know they're already rushing out a Hollywood remake? Shame.

Eirebear

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I'm really looking forward to [Rec]. Did you know they're already rushing out a Hollywood remake? Shame.

Why do they need to do this all the time?:(

Karl Hungus

Eirebear wrote: »

Why do they need to do this all the time?:(

Who knows? Maybe America doesn't like to admit that anything interesting ever goes on in the rest of the world, I mean, they remake English TV shows.

[Rec] is being remade as Quarantine, and it's already been filmed.

johnny_ultimate

For anyone interested, ifi is showing [rec] during the Spanish film festival this month.

TerrorFirmer

[Rec] looks great, The Cottage however looks dreadful (but I will admit it could have potential), not to mention that when she's not photoshopped to the high heavens, Jennifer Ellison is really, really not attractive in the slightest.

On a side note, that reminds me, when is Diary of the Dead out here? I've gotten both an email and a text including it in this weeks releases in Ireland, the official UK date is tomorrow, yet no Irish cinemas seem to have it...not even listed in coming attractions either.

Eirebear

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Who knows? Maybe America doesn't like to admit that anything interesting ever goes on in the rest of the world, I mean, they remake English TV shows.

[Rec] is being remade as Quarantine, and it's already been filmed.

I have come to the conclusion that americans cant read.

The thing about this for me is that they arent even giving the original film a chance to make a name for itself, rather swooping in just behind it and grabbing the glory.

Necronomicon

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

On a side note, that reminds me, when is Diary of the Dead out here? I've gotten both an email and a text including it in this weeks releases in Ireland, the official UK date is tomorrow, yet no Irish cinemas seem to have it...not even listed in coming attractions either.

Yeah the official date is listed as the 7th on a few sites, but none of my local cinemas seem to have it listed, even from next week

Karl Hungus

Eirebear wrote: »

I have come to the conclusion that americans cant read.

I don't think that's true, especially when there's films like Hero, Letters From Iwo Jima, Pan's Labyrinth, Passion Of The Christ and Apocalypto getting theatrical releases, not to mention the sheer amount of partially subtitled films like Kill Bill and the like.

Even if they couldn't read, that doesn't explain why English sitcoms get remade left right and center, despite that England is an English speaking country.

Decuc500

Saw The Cottage at the Dublin Film Festival and didn't think much of it. The first half was quite funny but it just descended into an uninspired gorefest. I'm looking forward to Rec though.

Eirebear

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I don't think that's true, especially when there's films like Hero, Letters From Iwo Jima, Pan's Labyrinth, Passion Of The Christ and Apocalypto getting theatrical releases, not to mention the sheer amount of partially subtitled films like Kill Bill and the like.

Even if they couldn't read, that doesn't explain why English sitcoms get remade left right and center, despite that England is an English speaking country.

I was just being sarcastic Karl...pay no attention.:D

Your first point is probably closer to the reality, im not entirely sure wether it is american audiences or the studios/production companies themselves, but they just dont seem to like anything intersting happening without them having some kind of "ownership" of it.

senordingdong

[REC] will be in Cineworld in Dublin on the 11th of April.

Zapp Brannigan

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

For anyone interested, ifi is showing [rec] during the Spanish film festival this month.

interesting. Must go.

L31mr0d

sorry for the bump. Watched [rec] last night and loved it. Finally a horror movie that sticks to the horror and avoids faffing about with extensive dialogue and trying to give reason to the movie. To me a horror movie should just have tension, isolation, paranoia and fear, by the bucket load.

Also, being a staunch hater of shaky cam I was surprised I liked this movie so much. Even though it is filmed from the point of view of a camera man, he is using a TV grade camera which means the quality of the picture is good and the person is also trained in how to hold a camera properly.

It was also one of the first movies which had the wife burying her head behind my shoulder, the tension building towards the final crescendo was just perfect.

some highlights for me where

the little girl zombie, seriously the only thing scarier than a little girl zombie would be a little girl zombie in a clown suit. The final nightvision scene was also excellent

TerrorFirmer

Great, no sign of (rec) here in Galway either...missing Diary of the Dead was bad enough.

johnny_ultimate

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Great, no sign of (rec) here in Galway either...missing Diary of the Dead was bad enough.

Its not out in Dublin yet either... was meant to be in Cineworld this week but on Friday all mention of it was dropped from the site. Bummer.

Decuc500

I saw Rec at the recent Spanish Film Festival in the IFI and I think I can say that the last time I have been so freaked out by an ending to a movie was the original Ring.

Rec is a great film, scary and claustrophobic with several great jump-out-of-your-seat scares but the last 15 minutes takes it into a different league altogether. It's simply terrifying. This movie has to get a cinema release here.

Yakuza

+1
A fantastic movie, several scream-out-loud moments to be had...and grown man that I am, I have to admit to watching the last 10 mins or so through my fingers :eek: