Entering the frame: Tesis (1996) and [REC] (2007) audiovisual horror in Contemporary Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37536/preh.2024.12.1.2002Keywords:
Spanish Horror Films, Metacinema, Reality Horror, Snuff Movies, Found FootageAbstract
At the end of the last century, Tesis (1996, dir. Alejandro Amenábar,) became one of the highest-grossing movies in Spain. Some years later, [REC] (2007, dir. Paco Plaza and Jaume Balagueró) doubled that success and was among the most viewed films of its decade. This article suggests a correlation between both films based on the cinematic metadiscourse of each film’s plot. Specifically, it argues that the entry of Tesis’s protagonist in a video camera frame implies a fusion between reality and spectacle that is expanded in [REC] as a fake reality program. This preliminary idea allows a reading of both films in conversation with the concerns related to the society of the image at different moments in its evolution. The films under study include snuff movies, closed-circuit cameras, found footage, shooter videogames and faux TVdocumentaries in their narratives and aesthetics. Besides creating suspense, these elements lead to considerations about the role of the audiovisual in the contemporary age. This paper also examines Tesis’ dialogue with previous films where the ghostly takes center stage, and it analyses the contribution of the trope of the zombie in [REC]. All of it advances a discussion about how the technological evolution that links one film to the other, and their horror tropes depict political and social anxieties at the time, which are rooted in historical events.
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