The virus is a supernatural pathogen that appears in the [ REC ] series. The source of the infection is a mutated enzyme obtained from Tristana Madeiros by Father Albelda.
Virology[]
The infection is transmitted by bite or exposure to infected blood and saliva to mucous membranes. The incubation can vary from minutes to days, depending on the host's blood and the will of the demonic force behind it.
Humans are not the only species vulnerable to the disease. Based on all the content available, it can infect most animal classes ranging from reptiles, birds, and most mammals, including (but not limited to): dogs, lions, tigers, hippopotami, monkeys, and gorillas.
Symptoms[]
Once infection occurs, infected individuals will display symptoms that could be mistaken for tonsillitis or any other viral infection(as seen in the first film when Mari Carmen states that her daughter, who is infected at that point, has tonsillitis. Whether this is a diagnosis given to her by a medical professional or just her intuition is never said).
The symptoms include fever, sore throat, and general discomfort.
Once the virus takes hold of the victim, the first symptom shown is general confusion, followed by aggression and cannibalism. The infected will attack any healthy human beings in their vicinity and try to infect them.
An infected Tristana Medeiros.
Worryingly, the infected also display a certain level of hunting instincts and planning skills, which could result from the virus only partially destroying the brain leaving enough for some higher brain functions to occur. However, given the demonic origin of this infection, it has also been implied that whatever demonic entity the virus originates from can coordinate and control the infected as a hive mind.
It must also be noted that this demonic infection does not destroy the mind of its host, as a story from Tristana Madeiros's point of view states that while possessed, she remembers her previous life. This does not mean, however, that the infected are just passive inside their bodies, unable to control themselves, but rather that infection corrupts their minds.
Treatment[]
There is no antidote for this infection, and the attempts to develop one have failed. Starvation and other forms of bodily harm are ineffective against the infected.
Holy water, crucifixes, and other religious paraphernalia seem to keep infected at bay, but the only 100% effective method to stop the infected is to destroy the hosts, specifically the brain.
Outbreaks[]
Apartment complex Barcelona[]
The first recorded outbreak came from Tristana Madeiros, a Portuguese girl who lived and worked in a convent and became possessed after being raped by a group of priests. Being found by a nun who believed her to be dead, she was tied to a bed, and a group of nuns tried to pray for her soul, believing a demon possessed her, but the prayers only elicited an aggressive response on her behalf. Tristana, now fully possessed, proceeded to kill the nuns and a priest before being subdued by the same nun who had found her that morning.
She was kept sedated and tied to a crucifix before a group of priests from the Vatican, among whom was Father Albelda, came. The case made headlines, and not shortly after, she was reported as missing.
In reality, she was taken by her father, Albelda, to an attic apartment in Barcelona, where he locked the demon behind a door that could only be opened in total darkness. Father Albelda used Madeiros's blood to experiment on local kids and rats, which he kept inside the apartment, discovering that the possession was caused by a mutated enzyme that could be transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids.
When the Vatican ordered him to kill the Madeiros girl, he poisoned Tristana's food (which consisted of human flesh) and unchained her once he believed she was dead, but Tristana jumped out and chased him around the apartment. Father Albelda locked himself in the air ducts with the other infected children, and Tristana Madeiros was locked in the attic, where she became an emaciated figure with no escape.
This should have marked the end of the demonic infection, but some of the infected rats managed to escape, and these infected rodents likely spread the disease to Max (Jennifer's dog) and Mrs. Izquierdo, which led to the events in the first movie.
In the same apartment building where Father Albelda had held Tristana Madeiros and conducted his experiments, a dog called ''Max'' became infected (probably through contact with the escaped infected rats), and it then spread to a small girl called Jennifer. The dog was taken to a vet, where he started displaying aggression similar to that shown in dogs infected with rabies and even managed to bite one of the veterinaries. At the same time, Ms. Izquierdo was infected and started wailing, alarming her neighbors, who then called the firefighters suspecting that Izquierdo, an older woman, had fallen and probably injured herself.
Two firefighters, Alex and Manú, arrived later that night along with a reporter called Angela and her camarographer, Pablo. When they entered the apartment along with two police officers and one of the firefighters, the woman was covered in blood and seemed to be confused. She then attacked one of the police officers and was restrained by Álex. The others grab the injured policeman and try to take him outside to get medical attention but they find themselves locked in by the military. As they are discussing what to do, Álex (who had remained upstairs with Mrs. Izquierdo, is thrown down the staircase, so they go upstairs where they hear more screaming, as Mrs. Izquierdo had killed a girl, and is aparently killed by the remaining police officer who shoots her several times.
Downstairs, in the textile shop, Angela interviews the residents of the building, including Mari Carmen and her daughter, Jennifer, who tells her that her dog, Max, was sick and at the vet. A health inspector then arrives and tries to treat the injured men. They suddenly become aggressive and kill the remaining police officer. He and Manú escape from the warehouse, managing to lock the infected in after which he is forced to explain that an infected dog had come from that building and Angela deduces that it must be Max. While Mari Carmen tries to defend her daughter, she fully turns and attacks her, running upstairs afterwards. Manú handcuffs Mari Carmen to the stairs and goes with Angela, Sergio and Pablo to find Jennifer, but Sergio is bitten and when the others go downstairs they find the residents fleeing because the infected have managed to breakdown the door to the warehouse.
Manú, Ángela and Pablo run upstairs and try to find a key that will let them escape through the sewers, but they are attacked by the infected residents and at some point Manú becomes infected. With no other way out, Pablo and Angela lock themselvees in the attic, where they discovver the remnants of Father Albelda's research. While looking for a way out, Pablo opens the attic and his camera's torch is broken by one of the infected children that creeped around the attic. Now submerged in total darkness, Tristana is able to emerge from her cell and kills Pablo, who drops the camera which records as Angela is dragged screaming into the dark. Angela is then infected by Tristana, who orally transmits a worm like creature into her, this worm being the physical representation of the demon that possessed Tristana long ago.
GEO squad enters the building[]
Minutes later after Ángela is infected by the worm, a team formed by Dr. Owen, an agent form the Ministry of health, and a heavily armed GEO squad made up by Fernandez, Martos, Rosso and Larra, enter the building and go up to the attic following unclear reasons which will later be revealed by Dr. Owen. The attic at this point is empty, being later revealed that when there's light, Tristana is unable to come out, as a reference to a part of the Bible that mentioned that all the demons where kept in total darkness by God and would only come out during Judgement Day.
The team eventually go downstairs after hearing a disturbance; and are then attacked by the infected residents.
Martos becomes infected, but Owen holds him in a room using a rosary and a prayer to hold him off. He reveals he is actually an agent from the Vatican sent to retrieve a blood sample from the Madeiros girl in order to make an antidote. The team doesn't seem to work much because there's constant tension, mainly because they weren't informed of the actual operation that was going on and continuously question Father Owen's authority; however they have to comply since he's the only one that can give the authorization to evacuate the building via voice recognition.
The team searches the apartment where Tristana Madeiros was held, where they discover the body of Father Albelda. They also manage to acquire a sample of Tristana's blood but loose it because of Fernandez's mishandling of it. Owen then tells them that they need a sample straight from the source (Tristana) but they are attacked by a group of infected. Larra then commits suicide after being cornered by the infected.
Outside, Jennifer's father convinces a firefighter to help him enter the building through the sewers, but they are followed by a group of teenagers, Tito, Mire and Ori. Once inside, the firefighter is attacked by the now infected Martos and both are killed by Mire. Tito is then infected and the group is discovered by Owen, Roso and Fernandez, who lock the kids in a room never to be seen again. They also find a distressed but seemingly healthy Angela Vidal.
Owen then does some type of exorcism to the infected Tito so that the demon can reveal itself. This leads them to find out that Tristana was in the attic this whole time but they were searching with lights on therefore couldn't see her. They head up to the attic contrary to Ángela's request as she is understandably traumatized and desperatly wants to get out of the building. It is also noticeable that the infected aren't attacking them anymore while heading upstairs, a probable effect of Ángela being the new host of the demon worm and not wanting to get attacked anymore.
Using night vision, they find a hidden door and are attacked by Tristana Madeiros. who manages to kill Fernandez before being blasted in the face with a shotgun by Ángela. Owen becomes enraged as he needed a blood sample but Ángela insists they must leave the building. After Owen refuses to authorize the exit, she kills Rosso, the remaining of the team, and incapacitates Owen before snapping his neck. She then takes his radio and imitates his voice to contact the authorities, informing them that him (Owen) is infected and that the only survivor allowed to leave is Ángela.
A special forces team is then dispatched to retrieve Ángela but they are attacked by the infected residents, but Lucas and Guzmán, the team's last remaining survivors, manage to complete the task. However, Ángela managed to transfer the parasite to Guzmán at some point during her rescue.
Ship[]
She is then taken into a ship, where she is tested on by Dr. Ginard to see if they can make a vaccine. After an escape attempt, she is told by Dr.Ricarte that she is not infected. Lucas and Guzmán are also on the quarantined ship, as well as an elderly woman who seems to be the only survivor of the wedding outbreak. There they are told by Nic, a technician, that he is trying to reconstruct the events in the Barcelona building using the footage from Angela's camera. The footage is then sent to the lab along with the blood sample so that the scientists can develop a vaccine.
Unfortunately, the previous night a power outage allowed one of the test subjects, a monkey, to escape. The infected monkey then infects the cook and most of the ship crew are infected by ingesting infected food. After the doctors try and fail to cure the cook using the antidote they have developed, Ángela, Lucas, Guzmán, and the elderly lady run to the bridge but the elderly woman separates from the group and becomes infected, which forces Lucas to shoot her down. Ricarte recognizes that the antidote was ineffective because they need an non-mutated sample of the virus and he decides to initiate the self-destruct sequence to the ship, but before he can do so, he is informed that the reconstructed film shows Angela being infected by the worm-like parasite and attempts to surgically remove it from her but before he can do it, he is attacked by a now infected Ginard.
Ricarte chases down Ángela, and as a last resort of her to prove she's not infected, she bites him; and after he takes his own blood tests, they come back negative. Unaware that Guzmán is now the host for the parasite, he believes that Ángela must be tricking him.
Later on, Ángela, Nic and Lucas try to restart the auxiliary engine but are unable to do so. Lucas is then killed by the infected and Nic finds Ricarte trying to leave in a lifeboat. He takes the lifeboat for himself and finds Ángela running from a group of infected monkeys who they manage to kill. Guzmán then tries to transfer the parasite back to Ángela but they manage to kill him with a harpoon and escape the ship right bfore it self-destructs.
The parasite is last seen being eaten by a fish while Ángela and Nic manage to make it back home.
Wedding[]
Another outbreak seems to have occurred at the same time as the first outbreak in the Barcelona building, where a veterinary who had been bitten by a dog became agressive and infected a whole wedding. Police presence to the area proved ineffective, resulting in a massive life loss. The police managed to contain the infection, finally shooting down two infected who were later discovered to be Clara and Koldo, the bride and groom of the wedding.
During this outbreak is is revealed that other Fathers seem to know about Albelda's experiments on the case of la Niña Medeiros, however Father Lozara (the one who married Clara and Koldo) explains that humanity's time is over, because the demons that were once held in total darkness by God have been let out as a punishment during Judgment Day, or as he calls it: Genesis, the beginning.
Zoo[]
Another similar outbreak resulted in the infection of all the animals in a Barcelona zoo by a single infected human and their posterior rampage through the city streets, though it must be assumed that the outbreak was contained by the authorities.
References[]
Migoya Hernán and Zecchin, F.G. (2012) REC. Barcelona: EDT.
Rec (film) (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec_(film) (Accessed: April 13, 2023).
Rec 2 (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec_2 (Accessed: April 13, 2023).
Rec 3: Genesis (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec_3:_Genesis (Accessed: April 13, 2023).
Rec 4: Apocalypse (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec_4:_Apocalypse (Accessed: April 13, 2023).
Tonsillitis (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonsillitis (Accessed: April 13, 2023).