What’s the cause of the virus outbreak in your typical zombie movie? An evil corporation playing god? How about a new strand of a disease found only in monkeys? How does demon possession sound? Loony? Not according to the creatures of [Rec] 2, the long-awaited sequel to [Rec], the original Spanish version of the first person camera thriller “Quarantine.”
Taking place literally minutes after the events of [Rec] a Special Forces team is called in to investigate a quarantined apartment building and save any survivors. They meet Dr. Owen, a member of the Department of Health who is actually a priest looking for a blood sample from a possessed girl to find an antidote. Meanwhile, a group of teenagers decide to break into the apartment and find themselves in the worst time of their lives.
One of the major complaints people have with these types of movies is the shaky camera makes them nauseous or gives them a headache. In [Rec] 2 the camera is pretty steady all the way through and looks very professional. No nausea or headaches here.
Nor is there any of these symptoms when the camera operator switches to the teenagers.
These switches in point-of-view are disorienting at first, but the film makers connect these different point-of-views very well. The branching storylines all intertwine perfectly in the end leaving out any plot holes that may occur.
The big question is “is [Rec] 2 scary? It’s not scary in the sense of the word, but it is thrilling. The action scenes are very well done and will keep you entertained. There are some moments of pure dread as the characters must face some scary situations but some of these do fall flat.
That brings us to the movie’s downside. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Sadly, every time something goes wrong it’s due to the character’s sheer stupidity of the situation. In one scene, the kid is obviously infected and wants the characters dead. So what do the trained Special Forces members do? They pin down the kid and try to keep him alive. The priest was the only smart one. How do you confuse an uninfected person with an infected person? It makes one wonder how these guys passed basic training.
Despite these lapses in logic, [Rec] 2 is still an enjoyable movie for the horror fan. If you don’t mind reading subtitles (why not? Just because a movie is in a foreign language does not mean it’s unwatchable) than you will have yourself a good time.
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