Recently I’ve taken up the challenge of writing at least a little bit everyday. The results have varied wildly in quality to be honest. There’s pieces of upcoming articles, reference pages for my book, and some shit that may very well never see the light of day. Problem is those January blahs, and frequent naps, are making it tough to zero in on any one topic. That changes tonight however as I’m very much in scary mood. Some recent purchases along with the discovery of an unaccounted for multi-feature set have me just one title away from a collection of twelve-hundred horror movies. Plus I just finished a series I’d been meaning to watch for years. So let’s celebrate, indulge a bit you might say. None of that double-feature stuff or taking one at a time, nah, let’s just discuss the [REC] series in full.
The [REC] franchise is primarily a found-footage affair made in Spain by directors Paco Plaza (Veronica) and Jaume Balaguero (Darkness) who direct the first two movies together before tackling further entries individually. You may be familiar with the American remake and its own sequel under the title Quarantine, though I don’t see many people mention them anymore as they’re too new for nostalgia and too old for click-bait. From 2007 through 2014 both branches of the franchise amount to six films though I’m mostly gonna focus on the four Spanish films for now save for some comparison to the first film.
The set-up for the first movie is clean and straight-forward. A reporter named Angela has a program where she follows the night shift of various professions, showcasing what happens when most of the populace is cozy in their beds. Her current episode focuses on firefighters, a pair of whom she follows into an apartment building to deal with an apparently sick old lady. Turns out the old dame is more of a rage zombie and before anyone has a chance to figure things out the building is put-on lock-down while everyone struggles to survive against a growing population of zombie-like monsters.
By and large [REC] lives up to the hype set for it over the years. It’s well-made, fast-paced, entertainment from the early days of the found-footage craze that is now mostly dead. There are a few drawbacks of course, characterization is minimal at best, there are times when it’s hard to believe someone would keep filming (a found-footage mainstay). Still; I don’t feel the need to elaborate much on this one since it’s just really solid viewing.
For my sake there was fun in seeing what differences there where between this and the remake which I haven’t watched in quite a few years. Overall there isn’t much different between the two films, even Angela’s wardrobe is the same. The key differences are the ending, which is mostly the same but presents a different source for the infection, and the characterization of Angela. Going off memory for the comparison she feels more crass, opportunistic, and self-serving in the original whereas her American counterpart seems a bit more naive and caring. The general consensus is that the original is better but just going off memory I’m not 100% sure that’s the case. My memory of the remake is that it’s also a well-made scare fest and little bit longer so now I’m eager to hit up the U.S. flicks for a full comparison.
Two years after the original, and one after the remake, Paco and Balaguero returned for a direct sequel. And when I say direct do I ever mean it. [Rec] 2 picks up on the same night as the first movie and follows a strike-team into the building for a special mission. The team themselves don’t know what they’re getting into but they are actually escorting a priest who hopes to find the means of creating an anti-virus and better understanding the nature of evil. The creators double-down on the demonic possession hints from the first movie and swing straight into exorcist mode here. The rage zombies can talk in different voices, are scared of crosses and holy water, can be tortured by the rites of exorcism. Essentially the series stepped away from the 28 Days Later aesthetic and closer to Lambarto Bava’s Demons series.
Rather than stay centered on the strike-team the movie changes perspective around the halfway point to some teenagers who follow a couple of guys into the building through the sewers. While it’s a nice way to change up the pace of the film most of these characters have little to no baring on the story. In fact, some of them are just outright forgotten about, though I’ve heard there’s a comic that covers their absence. Thing’s seem primed to get back on track for the third act with the return of elements from the first movie but then everything gets bogged down by some unnecessary novelty involving stuff that is only visible in the dark.
That last paragraph probably makes it seem like I’m coming down on [REC] 2 but it’s actually a really good follow-up. The pacing and intensity of the first film are maintained, the story is expanded, and the ending sets up more entries yet could still serve as a proper final. Plus the headcams make for some interesting new camera angles and make the constant filming feel more realistic. That being said there are still enough loose threads like the teenagers or the final set-piece that hold the movie back from achieving greatness. Plus if you don’t care for Catholicism and exorcism stuff then those elements might not settle well. Still a very good sequel despite a few misgivings.
A few more years pass, along with a straight to DVD American sequel, before the directors decide to split the next two entries up with Paco Plaza handling part three all by himself. I’d heard all sorts of bad about [REC] 3: Genesis, most of it aimed at a supposed shift towards screwball Evil Dead style comedy. Was there any truth to these criticism? Sort of. It’s a bad movie for sure, just not the one I was promised.
The third entry actually starts off halfway decent. We’re still viewing everything from handheld cameras recording a wedding ceremony. The tone is intentionally lighter and corny but that tracks given the setting. Given a few clues we find that this is actually happening on the same day as the first two flicks, making the genesis moniker feel a bit misleading, but we end up with a separate outbreak at the wedding reception. A change in venue isn’t all that’s in order as the camera is broken about twenty-minutes in resulting in a shift to a traditional movie. Things start to spiral from there.
While the infected from previous movies were fast, vicious, and still maintained enough knowledge to occasionally use weapons they’ve suddenly shifted to be more like classic zombies. Some of them run around like madmen while others slowly lurch about accomplishing very little. The demonic aspect is trimmed back slightly but they’re still paralyzed by Catholic antics. Plus there’s a new bit where reflections show the true host of the demon which not only fails to trick with the previous movies but doesn’t line-up properly near the end either. Throw in a larger environment and a tendency for the infected to just disappear for a while and the threat level is vastly lowered. There’s not even much gore for that matter.
So what else does the movie have to offer? Not much in all honesty. Characters are horribly underdeveloped with the movie routinely stopping to remind us just how much the newlyweds love each-other which gets into this annoying fatalistic love-story bullshit. Our new lead, Clara is not all that compelling. The humor is pretty bland. The musical score bounces between generic and downright awful. Oh and those Evil Dead moments I’d heard so much about? There’s only a couple of em and they feel limp and out of place among all the dramatic slowmo shots and declarations of love.
[REC] 3 is absolutely a failure bit it isn’t some sudden left turn into comedy that’s to blame. Frankly it’s the complete inability to decide to do much of anything. It’s a largely generic zombie flick with empty characters, bland filmmaking, and remarkably little gore or scares. The whole thing doesn’t even reach the level of being so bad that it’s kinda fun, just a limp lame flick that I actually hate a little more every time I look back on it.
Balaguero takes the reins for [REC] 4: Apocalypse which has a better reputation than part 3, albeit a muted one. Much as I like to avoid spoilers the poster itself shows that Angela returns for this final outing marking the first step to correct the third films failings by returning to the main story. Knowing all this going in along with the fact that this one also leaves the found-footage angle behind I was really curious about what this final film had to offer.
Picking up right after the ending of the second film we find a small demolition team sent in to destroy the apartment building and rescue any survivors. They find find Angela at the last minute and things flash-forward to a cargo ship at sea. Some scientists want to keep the demo guys, Angela, and an old lady who survived the wedding away from the mainland population while they research and seek to find a cure for the illness. For her sake, Angela seems to have forgotten most of what happened at the apartment building though the audience has some reason not to fully trust her. We spend about a half-hour meeting the new cast and getting accustomed to the setting before shit naturally hits the fan.
Watching [REC] 4 I was amazed at how much better it was than part 3. Characters are still pretty flat but they’re still more fleshed out than those of 3, or 2 for that matter. The setting and cinematography bring back the claustrophobia and intensity of the earlier installments. There’s more gore, some interesting additions to the line-up of infected, and even a who can we trust aspect like The Thing. It takes the series in a new direction without losing sight of what made it work in the first place.
So why the muted reception then? Well I think that comes down to a sudden shift in franchise lore. After two films building up the demonic possession angle, Balaguero throws all that shit out the window. Save for the last shot of the second film and the old lady the middle entries are almost entirely ignored in favor of a more scientific approach to these events. So if you’re a fan of the demon aspect and the flavor it added to the series I’m sure it’d be damn frustrating to watch. For my sake I was so happy to have a decent movie again that I didn’t really care. The ending is a bit blah, the fairly standard left open for another sequel approach but it feels mostly finished at least.
I’m giving the series as a whole a fairly strong recommendation. The first two are an excellent back-to-back viewing experience and the fourth ain’t so bad either. I’d say avoid the third but it ends up making part four feel all the better so that’s on you. I’m definitely gonna take some time in the next month to revisit the remake and finally check out the U.S. sequel so we’ll circle back to this topic in a few weeks. Right now all this monster talk has made me powerful hungry.
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