Those seeking a contemporary of Hammer Studios would do well to look across the waters to Spain, where Filmax keeps the legacy of a fine genre production house alive. Having funded the likes of The Machinist, Beyond Re-Animator and The Abandoned, the company has now completed what might be its finest achievement to date: [REC]. Shot in the same manner as recent smash Cloverfield, [REC] tells of a zombie outbreak and the horrors that take place as a hapless news reporter attempts to cover the event. Calum Waddell caught up with Paco Plaza and Jaume Balagueró, who co-wrote and co-directed the film, for the following exclusive interview at the annual Glasgow Film Festival.

Was the reality-horror of [REC] influenced by such previous genre films as Cannibal Holocaust and The Blair Witch Project?

Paco Plaza: No, [REC] was not inspired by these films but, of course, they came before us and we both love these movies. I would say that our biggest influence came from television shows such as Cops and the live reports that you see on the news from places like Iraq. So what we wanted to do was to make a movie that felt like a television news report and to keep it strictly in real time. So the film is shot as if it is really happening and unfolding in front of you – and it is like that from the beginning to the end.

I believe that is what makes [REC] different from the other movies you mentioned because, although they use a similar technique, they are based around the concept of ‘found footage’.

Jaume Balagueró: I would like to add that we are part of the YouTube generation and I think that is affecting the way that people make films and consume images. More and more we are exposed to new things because of the internet and movies are not only made for DVD and the theatres anymore.

I think, in a sense, [REC] is very contemporary, and what makes it different from the two films you mentioned earlier is that this movie happens in 2007 and we, personally, were very influenced by the work of kids playing around with their camera and putting the result up on YouTube. I would also say that, just as important as Cannibal Holocaust, is a video by Chris Cunningham called Rubber Johnny, which he shot for Aphex Twin. The way that he shot that is very contemporary and it looks quite new and we tried to acknowledge this with the way we made [REC]. We wanted this to look very fresh and unique.

All the same, your movie is about a contagion that breaks out and the resulting filming of it. George Romero’s Diary of the Dead is based around a similar concept. Are you worried that he might have unintentionally stolen your thunder?

Jaume Balagueró: When we started to prepare [REC] we knew nothing about Diary of the Dead – or Cloverfield for that matter. When we were finishing the movie and mixing the sound we began to receive information about Cloverfield and we were really shocked because we did not expect anyone else to be doing this sort of thing. Of course we immediately thought “what is going on here?” (Laughs) Then a few months ago we realised that something extraordinary was happening in the film industry because very similar movies are all coming along at the same time. It is not so much a coincidence as much as it is a consequence of how the audio-visual landscape is changing.

Paco Plaza: Our job was to create a fake reality and then put a cameraman there and try to capture it on film. Originally there was not even going to be any editing or music in [REC], so the decisions that we had to make were very different from an ordinary film. We wanted to make something as real looking as possible and what other people were doing was not even in our minds.

Are you involved in the American remake of [REC], Quarantine?

Paco Plaza: No, we have no input into Quarantine. We actually found out about it on the internet. (Laughs) One day I was surfing the web and I read that they were going to remake it in America. I said to Jaume, “Do you know anything about this?” And he told me he did not. So we called Filmax, the company who produced [REC], and they told us that they had sold the rights.

We went on location to where they were shooting it. The cast and crew were very polite to us and the producers took us out to dinner but that was as far as the process went.

Jaume Balagueró: We would have liked to have been asked. (Laughs) But we are not bothered about being involved in the remake. To remake your own movie one year after you finished it is a bit too soon for us. Our names are only attached as “from a script based on.”

Speaking of Filmax, you have both made films for them in the past and, in Jaume’s case, the company has funded all of your feature releases. What is it about this company that makes you want to continue working with them?

Jaume Balagueró: I think it is something natural. I made my first film, The Nameless, and my second film, Fragile, with Filmax. I have a very good relationship with them and, as a director, I believed that I was growing with them. So it was just natural to continue.

Paco Plaza: The same for me, I got great support from them when I did my film Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunter a few years ago. I think they are a great collaborator. They have given us a lot of support and it is a two way street. In fact, they tend to come to us now and say “what do you have coming up next? Would you like to do it with us?” Now how can you argue with that?

[REC] is released in UK cinemas on 11 April 2008. With thanks to the Glasgow Film Festival, Seonaid Frame and Ian Rattray at Fright Fest.