REC 2 (2009 - Cert 18)

The original Rec, about a zombie-ish virus outbreak in an apartment block, is one of my favourite horror films of the last ten years. The handheld camera footage/faux documentary style has become more frequently used in recent years but that film is certainly one of the best exponents of it. It had a simplicity to it, a realism. Quality acting managed to make you feel for the characters despite there being little to no back story for all of them. There was a constant sense of panic and peril, there were jumps, it was creepy. It did everything a horror film should do, scare, disturb and emote. All of this in a Spanish language film, nothing lost through subtitles at all.

There was an American remake (shock) called Quarantine that was almost identical, shot for shot, but somehow managed to lack all of the terror and substance that the Spanish original had. Another example of something being lost in translation.

I then discovered that Rec 2 was being made. I presumed that it would be a case of another director/writer coming along to try to build a franchise cashing on the original. However, my presumptions were wrong. Rec 2 was to have the same co-directors and co-writers of the first, Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza, and they were going to set the sequel directly after the first with armed police going in to the building to get rid the demonic menace. I was picturing a type of Aliens scenario, the joy of the first but with more guns.



Well that'll teach me for getting my hopes up. The two film makers have made two completely and utterly different films, on both content and quality.

Whereas the first film was simple in it's set up, people in an apartment block trying to survive, this only succeeds in being overly convoluted and bogged down in plot. There is a dual story line involving two different hand held cameras that come together at various points in the film. It's a bold move and does do something interesting with the narrative threads and makes the familiar format slightly more intriguing, however rather than just keeping it simple the writers have built on the clues at the end of the film referring to the origin of the virus and in doing so they have immediately destroyed the simple premise of the original. It becomes a bit like the exorcist meets the scene in Aliens where the marines enter the nest. But in a shit way. As it develops it quickly becomes apparent that the story hasn't been thought through at all, the plot has got more holes than colander, all suspense is lost, you don't give a toss who gets killed. In fact you're never really sure who is getting killed. I know the handheld footage is meant to be a little erratic but there are whole sequences where you haven't got a clue what's going on.

It's a mess, a hurried mess. The more I think about it afterwards, none of it really made sense. Why did the second batch of people go in to the building? The Fireman's motives were clearly not thought about. Where were all the monsters from the first one? Did they just pop to the shops? At times the monsters are there, then they disappear just for the sake of having some exposition without the people being under attack. And the ending, oh the ending. It thinks it's clever, but it's just dire. The whole film is a shambles. I'm not being too harsh, it shouldn't be given the benefit of the doubt because it's a genre piece. If the first film, made my the same people remember, can be so good, why can't the second at least be 75% as good. It's like Jaws 3 compared to Jaws. Not worthy of playing on the name of the original.

I was thinking of signing this review off in the manner of a parent, 'I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed'. The truth is though, I am angry, really angry. At Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza, at the studio for letting it happen, at myself for contributing some money towards the coffers. That's the key thing, people will see this because the first one has become a bit of a cult hit, and if Rec 2 makes money, the chances are they will make another one (look at Police Academy - how did it get to 7 films?). I just hope there is some return to sanity for the makers and they manage to put some thought into what they make.