[rec] 2 from The Devil’s Advocates Movie Reviews

Ah, remakes and sequels. Sequels to remakes. Remakes of a sequel. Sometimes it’s really difficult to keep track of all the rehashed nonsense that Hollywood pumps out these days. And, because of that some movies get lost in the shuffle.

The [Rec] movies ([Rec] because everything is being recorded on a video camera and that’s what the viewer sees) are great examples of what I mean.

[Rec] was a small indie horror film from Europe that was never released here. It’s good. But, if you’ve seen Quarantine ([Rec] the remake) you know the story already. A huge old-fashioned apartment building has been quarantined and the people living there are now trapped with the victims of a virus that turns people into raging, unstoppable monsters. (Think 28 Days Later, but worse.)

I enjoyed both movies. I think Quarantine improved on the original because of its budget. But, it is a shot for shot remake of the original. The original [Rec] has a plot twist that was barely touched on in the remake. That was the only difference from Quarantine.

Now we have [Rec]2. This movie really surprised me with how it continues the story from[Rec]/Quarantine and takes it to a whole other level.

[Rec]2 picks up immediately where[Rec]/Quarantine ends. This time we follow a SWAT team that’s responding to the emergency quarantine at the building. In the first movie, everything was seen from the perspective of the video camera being used by a TV reporter and her camera man as they become trapped in the building. We saw what they saw. This time we see almost everything from the point of view of the helmet cameras that the SWAT team are using. They’ve been told by their superiors to record and document everything because they are escorting a “special investigator”.

Once they enter the building, things become intense almost immediately and what follows is now one of my favorite horror movies. It’s a great and exciting kind of horror movie that takes two great concepts that Hollywood is trying to bury (handheld camera movies and zombies) by overdoing it and makes them fresh and new again.

This movie is intense and visceral. Brutal. I’m a very jaded movie goer when it comes to horror movies. It takes a lot for me to jump out of my chair and scream. This movie did that and that hasn’t happened since I saw the original Day Of The Dead. There are scenes in here that are just messed up. Stuff that I don’t think any American director would have the nerve to even try to film. Awesome.

If you are a fan of horror, especially zombie movies, you must see this movie. Forget about the first [Rec] and Quarantine. You don’t need to see those to watch this movie. Trust me on that. This movie is one of the most innovative horror movies I’ve seen in a long time. I say that because of how they use the video camera style of horror (Cloverfield, Dairy Of The Dead) and turn the zombie genre into something even more terrifying than what we’ve seen in the best of that genre. This is a first-person shooter meets horror movie that takes you on one of the craziest and truly frightening rides ever. A must see. This was finally released on dvd this week in the States. I cannot recommend this movie enough for horror fans. It’s in Spanish and sub-titled.

5 out of 5 Pitchforks. This was one of the best movies of last year that no one watched.

 

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