Paco Plaza

Paco Plaza
At the 2009 Venice Film Festival
Born	Francisco Plaza Trinidad (1973-02-08) 8 February 1973 (age 52) Valencia, Spain
Alma mater	CEU Cardinal Herrera University
Occupations	Film director screenwriter producer

Francisco Plaza Trinidad (born 8 February 1973), simply known as Paco Plaza, is a Spanish film director known for his works in the horror genre. ^[1] He is the co-creator of the REC zombie film franchise. ^[2]

Early life and education

Plaza was born on 8 February 1973 in Valencia. ^{[3] [4]} He has a degree in Audiovisual Communication from CEU Cardinal Herrera University and a diploma in film direction from the ECAM. He speaks Spanish, English and French.

Career

Although he is best known as a director, he is also a screenwriter, producer, editor and even was a costume designer on one occasion for Tropismos (1995), his first short film and with which he made his debut as a director.

Plaza is known in Spanish cinema and abroad for the creation of the trilogy REC (2007). A year after the release of the first film, American director John Erick Dowdle made an adaptation of the Paco Plaza film, under the name of Quarantine (2008). The trilogy REC has accumulated a total of 26 awards and 17 nominations in numerous film festivals.

On 23 July 2025, Variety revealed that Plaza is among the filmmakers directing a segment for V/H/S/Halloween , Shudder's upcoming 8th instalment in their horror anthology V/H/S franchise. The film will be released in October 2025. ^[5]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
2002	Second Name	Yes	Yes
	OT: La película	Yes	No	Documentary Co-directed with Jaume Balaguero
2004	Romasanta	Yes	No
2007	REC	Yes	Yes	Co-directed with Jaume Balaguero
2009	REC 2	Yes	Yes
2010	Bunbury 3D	Yes	No	Enrique Bunbury concert film
2012	REC 3: Genesis	Yes	Yes
2017	Verónica	Yes	Yes	Also associate producer
2019	Quien a hierro mata	Yes	No	IMDb
2021	La abuela	Yes	No
2023	Hermana Muerte	Yes	Yes	[6]
2025	V/H/S/Halloween	Yes	Yes	Anthology film [7]

As actor

Year	Title	Role
1996	Adosados	Marido
2009	REC 2	Zombie
	Spanish Movie	Municipal
2020	La Suite Nupcial	Cameo Camarero
2023	Saben aquell	Chicho Ibáñez Serrador [8]

Producer only

Year	Title	Notes
2014	REC 4: Apocalypse	Creative producer
2015	Requirements to Be a Normal Person	Producer and executive producer

Short Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1995	Tropismos	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also editor and costume designer
1997	Tarzán en el Café Lisboa	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also editor
1999	Abuelitos	Yes	No	No
2001	Puzzles	Yes	No	No
2007	Sr. Rosso	No	No	Yes
2009	Lo siento, te quiero	No	No	Yes
2010	Luna de miele, Luna di sangue VII	Yes	Yes	No
2013	Habitantes	No	No	Yes
2014	Ultravioleta	Yes	Yes	No	Advertising short Also additional still photographer
2020	D.E.V.:Disfrute en Vida	Yes	No	No	Advertising short Co-directed with Daniel Sánchez Arévalo

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
2005	Cuento de Navidad	Yes	No	TV movie
2016	El Ministerio del Tiempo	Yes	No	Episode: "Tiempo de magia"
2021	Historias para no dormir	Yes	Yes	Episode: "Freddy" [9]

As himself

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2023	Drag Race España	Guest judge	Episode: "Secuelas de terror drag" [10]

As actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	La Forja de un Rebelde	Extra	TV series 1 episode
	Eva y Adan: Agencia Matrimonial	Policia
2002	Cuentame	Policía Gris

References

1. Crucchiola, Jordan (8 March 2018). "This Is the Scariest Part of Netflix's Veronica". Vulture.com .
2. "A Look Through the Lens of 'REC 2' With Paco Plaza - Bloody Disgusting". Bloody-disgusting.com. 2 July 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
3. Abelenda, Ana (6 February 2022). "Paco Plaza, director de "La abuela": "Visité muchos geriátricos en Galicia, eso me sensibilizó"". La Voz de Galicia .
4. "Paco Plaza, director de [REC]3, es el nuevo presentador de 'Hoy Programa'". RTVE . 30 March 2012.
5. Earl, William (23 July 2025). "Shudder Announces 'V/H/S/Halloween' With Directors Alex Ross Perry, Paco Plaza and More (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
6. Silvestre, Juan (28 March 2022). "'Hermana Muerte': Paco Plaza arranca el rodaje de 'Hermana Muerte' para Netflix". Fotogramas .
7. DiVincenco, Alex (23 July 2025). "'V/H/S/Halloween' Coming in October from Directors Paco Plaza, Alex Ross Perry, Casper Kelly, More". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
8. Hernández Luján, Raquel (30 October 2023). "Crítica de Saben aquell, la película de David Trueba en la que se narra cómo llegó a la fama el humorista Eugenio". HobbyConsolas .
9. Pérez, Cristina M. (24 September 2021). "'Historias para no dormir' presenta tráiler y detalles antes de su estreno en Amazon". Vandal. El Español.
10. "Paco Plaza, sobre 'Drag Race España': "Lo que más me gusta es que la fantasía se impone a la realidad"". Premium.atresplayer.com. 12 May 2023.

External links

• Media related to Paco Plaza at Wikimedia Commons
• Paco Plaza at IMDb