[Rec] 2

 



Director(s) - Jaume Balaguero (The Nameless, Fragile) and Paco Plaza (A Christmas Tale, Second Name)
Starring - Jonathan D. Mellor (Brain Drain, On Fire), Oscar Zafra (The Return of El Coyote, My Prison Yard), and Ariel Casas (Battle Games, Nowhere)
Release Date - 2009
Genre-  Horror
Tagline - "Fear revisited"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

 

     Sometimes a sequel is better than the first film.  It doesn't always happen but there is a few times where I liked the sequel more than the first film.  My most controversial opinions on horror are how much more I like Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 more than the original films.  I wasn't expecting a lot when I tossed in [Rec] 2 but I was very surprised by just how much more I enjoyed this installment over the original film.  I know a lot of horror fans really liked the first film but this follow up was far superior in my eyes. 

     The film follows a man from the health department and four armed military escorts enter an apartment building that is under quarantine.  The escorts are to follow the health department official while he searches for a cause of a virus but they don't make it far before they are overtaken by the infected.  Two of the escorts fall to the infected but the others are able to escape.  That is when the official from the health department reveals that he is a priest and those infected are actually possessed by a demonic virus and they need the blood that another priest was working with in order to find a cure.  They make their way to the attic where Angela was last scene and find her.  The priest refuses to call for their extraction so she kills him and changes her voice to sound like the priest in order to radio for their release from the building.

     I didn't have much hope for [Rec] 2 after watching the first film but this one was genuinely better.  They took what was established in the first film but made it more interested and not so by the book like most zombie/infected movies would.  The acting in this one is once again solid.  The cast has to portray generic and clichéd characters but they give it their all which shows in every scene.  This really helps move the story along and keeps it interesting.  The story for this one takes what is mentioned in the last 15 minutes or so of the first film and expands upon it.  This was a very interesting angle and this film goes deep into this angle.  Religious horror can go so many ways but [Rec] 2 does a great job at giving us something different than just a boring zombie movie.  Another major improvement is the fast paced scenes when compared to the first.  It was a struggle to finish the first film but this one kept me glued to the screen.  Finally, this one is more of the same in terms to on screen deaths.  We get plenty of blood and out of focus zombies but we do not get gore or elaborate death scenes.  Overall, [Rec] 2 takes everything from the first film and makes it so much better.  Many may argue they are the same movie but I will really have to question them as to if they truly watched the two because the sequel is far superior if you ask me.  This gives me hope for the third and fourth film.