[REC] (AKA Quarantine), 2008

Holy cupcakes, this film is awesome! A TV reporter and her cameraman are following the LA Fire Dept for the night in the hope that something interesting will happen. A call comes in that something has kicked off so they all jump in the trucks and head off to the apartment building where the call was made. When they get there, they find out that one of the residents appears to have been 'infected' by something and has gone all kinds of crazy. I don't want to give away any more of the plot but I will just say that this film has lots of suspense, bucketloads of violence and enough jumps to give your heart a cracking workout. It's a must, must see but get the cushion ready to hide behind if you're a scaredy cat like me!

SECOND OPINION: Films like this are great. Yes it's a spanish horror (many of the best horrors are at the moment) but the subtitles shouldn't put anyone off. Personally, they don't bother me, but if it's an instant turn-off for you, consider this... people in horror films don't say much when they're being killed, and screaming is an international language! What might put you off is the fact that the whole film is shot on handheld, a la Blair Witch (hence the [Rec] title). But don't worry about that either, because this movie is a short sharp kick in the teeth at only 75 minutes long. Not enough time to feel sick, not from the shakey camera anyway!

So our jobbing reporter follows a fire team into an apartment block with her fearless cameraman. They're there to tend to a woman who has been acting strangely, but since we only see what the cameraman sees, we have no idea the whys and whatfors. As you can imagine at 75 minutes long, things don't stay calm for long, and it gets more and more tense with every minute. Put simply, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza have crafted a perfect example of shock therapy. It's quick, painful and terrifying from start to finish.