Fifteen years of '[REC]': the terrifying experience that became a worldwide phenomenon

On November 23, 2007, [REC] arrived on the big screen, a project directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza that revolutionized the Spanish horror film scene, conquered critics and the public -it was released in more than 30 countries- and gave rise to a saga that reached three other installments, the last two without achieving the same success.

This phenomenon, which registered thousands of followers worldwide, is already fifteen years old and to commemorate the anniversary, the director Diego López-Fernández has made the documentary [REC] Terror without pause, which premieres on October 28 and has been presented this Friday at the Sitges festival in the Cocoon section.

At the event, which was attended by Balagueró, Plaza, and the actors Manuela Velasco and Javier Botet, who played 'La Niña Medeiros', they talked about what the unexpected success of the film meant for all those involved: "It changed our lives and gave us a lot of happiness," said Balagueró, who yesterday opened the fantasy film competition with Venus.

"I started talking first with Jaume Balagueró and then with Paco Plaza with the idea of ​​doing something and in the end I got involved and, after receiving the support of Filmax, we started recording talking about '[REC]' and the strength it had left the film", said López-Fernández, who in the documentary includes interviews with the team that was part of that adventure such as the main cast, those responsible for areas such as art direction, photography and makeup, as well as the testimony of external filmmakers to the production such as Nacho Vigalondo or Javier Ruiz Caldera and that of the director of the Sitges Festival, Ángel Sala.

In total, almost a year to compile a film that will delight the REC fan community, which tells the ins and outs of a project that was not born with the idea of ​​being a feature film. "The idea was to take a camera and record. It was an experiment that we had to do," Plaza is heard saying. "Do something different and daring," replies the director of Way Down.

Julio Fernández, producer of Filmax, was enthusiastic about the proposal and launched it with a budget of two million euros. It ended up raising 32. In the documentary, both Balagueró and Plaza appear sitting and talking about the film in the portal of the modernist building on Rambla Catalunya where the filming took place.

Zombies piled up on the stairs and the reporter Ángela Vidal, played by Velasco, hurled insults at them all covered in blood. "I am delighted to remember everything that REC was. An unrepeatable vital and professional experience. They always ask me about it, whatever I do," says the actress, who repeated it in the second and fourth parts. In the documentary she recalls how the directors "had the genius and bad blood to give us contradictory slogans to each other that made us go crazy."

"It is something that we are very proud of," adds Plaza about a story that is very present in their lives, "a vital and professional change", which made them understand cinema in a different way, boosted their careers and helped them to work " from freedom and enjoyment". He jokingly commented that "Jaume and I are like Dani Martín, that although he has a solo career, they always remember him for El Canto del Loco".

"And it's wonderful that the film is so present in our lives. They always ask me about it," says Balagueró, who on [REC] Terror sin Pauses thinks that "the feeling of watching a documentary about a film and what supposed, but also about a piece of our life. It's something that happened to us and it's very beautiful".