[Rec]
2
This
Spanish horror film is the sequel to a surprisingly popular low budget
scare-fest.
The
[Rec] movies (the title refers to the record light on a video camera)
are a mash-up of a few different horror styles. As the titles suggest, they
are supposed to be actual events filmed completely with video cameras – much
like The Blair Witch Project. They also have zombie-like creatures
(though they are not supposed to be actual zombies) roaming darkened rooms
and hallways like a European Night of the Living Dead. We also add a
priest trying to ward off demons, sprinkling a little holy water and a lot
of Exorcist memories all over the proceedings.
I
have to admit I never saw the original [Rec] or its American remake
Quarantine, so I can’t really say if the
first movie is as convoluted as its sequel is.
However, if the story is a little over-busy (and it most certainly is), the
film does often succeed in sustaining a sense of fear and dread through many
of the sections of the over-complex narrative.
It
probably doesn’t help that the narrative several times flits back and forth
in time and changes main characters to show the story through different
perspectives. The Rashomon approach to filmmaking might be a little
too complex for what is essentially an arty indie zombie movie. After all,
beyond all the bells and whistles, this is basically the story of undead
creatures jumping out of the darkness trying to kill small groups of trapped
people.
It
all takes place in an old Barcelona tenement apartment building. Something
evil has escaped into the building and is infecting all that comes in its
path, turning them into slavering, aggressive killers (it is described in
the movie as being more akin to rabies than actual zombie-ism, but the
effects are essentially the same.)
Most
of the residents of the building have been either killed or turned, when a
few groups of people make their way into the building (which has been
quarantined and locked down by Barcelona officials) and try to survive the
carnage.
The
storyline essentially spends the first 45 minutes with the first group, a
priest and three firemen who have been sent into the house to find the cause
of the outbreak, which seems to be in the penthouse apartment of another
priest who had been trying to exorcise an evil little girl.
Then
the plot doubles back to three teenaged thrill seekers who figure it would
be an adventure breaking into the forbidden building, where they run into a
cop and a resident and they all discover how much of an adventure it really
will be.
And
finally there is the TV news crew which tried to capture an exclusive story
and instead become captured themselves.
The
different characters are all occasionally glimpsed through the earlier
phases of the script and eventually it all runs all of them together into a
final stand against the evil creatures surrounding them.
As
is usually the case with films that are supposed to be done in hand-held
camera, the movie trades off between the immediacy of real life and the
confusion of same. Between the dark and the shaky cameras you are often
trying hard to figure out exactly what is happening.
Still, for its type of
movie, [Rec] 2 is quite well done. I’m not big into zombie movies,
but I was mostly entertained.
Dave Strohler
Copyright ©2011 PopEntertainment.com.
All rights reserved. Posted: July 12, 2011.
