REC (2007) **1/2

I like found footage films about as much as I like cannibal films. I think even less so. All the shaky cam strains my eyes and it’s not my style of filmmaking. REC (2007) is perhaps one of the better examples of this technique and starts out pretty strong but like almost every film I've seen in the genre, quickly wears thin and leaves me cold before the credits roll. 

Essentially a Spanish language Blair Witch Project (1999) with "zombies," REC largely consists of characters screaming each others' names and things like "What the hell is that?!" or "What the hell is going on?!" plus cheap jump scares for the entirety of its runtime. Thankfully it's under 90 minutes. 

I get that films likes these can be tense and anxiety-inducing horror exercises but I just don't see the appeal beyond that. They seem a lot alike—gimmicky and they don't have any replay value for this viewer.