Film: [REC]2
Release date: 20th September 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 85 mins
Director: Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza
Starring: Óscar Zafra, Jonathan Mellor, Manuela Velasco, Ariel Casas, Alejandro Casaseca
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Studio: E1
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Spain
[REC] splattered its way onto our screens three years ago, and part of its power was the fact this small-budget Spanish horror tale seemed to come out of nowhere. The sequel will struggle to match it simply because it lacks the surprise element which made the first one so great, right?
Actually, no, this is just as scary and surprising as the first film, with added gore, certainly more laughs , and some twists which take the story in some unexpected directions.
It starts 15 minutes after [REC] ended, which means we’re back on the streets of Barcelona with a SWAT team, who have been called in to sort out the mess in the ‘infected’ block of flats. Remember, something has caused the inhabitants of a building to turn into blood-thirsty zombies, but the authorities don’t know what is causing it, so they send in the team, along with a medical officer, Owen, to sort it out.
Of course, in true horror style, they get split up, and set upon by the nasty beasties, but Doctor Owen is convinced the infection is coming from the penthouse attic. He’s right, and there’s a blood sample there to prove it, but the gormless SWAT team make a pig’s ear of retrieving it, and there are lots of nasty-looking bald creatures up there, too…
The film turns down a road clearly marked ‘Exorcist’ about half an hour in, but somehow it still manages to maintain the suspense, scares and thrills, while still threading together a coherent storyline. At the heart of this one is the battle between Dr. Owen, who is not what he seems, and the forces of evil, just about everyone else in the building. What deficiencies there are in the script are more than made up for in the visual style, which uses every trick in the book to maintain the spell.
The action is all filmed by the characters, whose cameras shake, flicker, fail, the sound muffles, and the lights sometimes don’t work, all adding to the atmosphere. The screen does go blank a few times too often, and the battery indicator in the corner becomes irritating, especially as it never actually appears on video tape. Minor quibbles, though, in what is essentially a thoroughly successful, sweaty-palmed horror tale.
Fans of the first story of course will know that [REC] starts with a camera crew who get stuck inside the building and slowly get bumped off one by one. The filmmakers haven’t forgotten that, and the one survivor does appear here, too - right at the end - but it’s a stunning cameo, far more successful than a long middle section, which involves a group of kids. As the SWAT team battle the infected, they spot a gang who have somehow got into the building and are making their own video. We then rewind to see the two boys and a girl, bored and up to no good. They spot a sewer which leads to the building where all the fun is happening, and decide to go down it. It’s an unnecessary distraction which breaks the tension and leads, ultimately, nowhere that the existing characters couldn’t have gone.
Apparently there are to be two more films, one a straight sequel and a prequel. The sequel will, like this one, carry on pretty much straight after the ending, but it will be hard matched to equal this one. [REC]2 introduces some humour which the first one lacked, but to go down that road too much will spoil all the hard work that the first two. We’ll see…
A gloriously nasty Spanish roller-coaster ride up and down the stairs of that Barcelona apartment block – just don’t eat too close to the film. Seriously, it’s that gory.
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