[Rec] 2 (2010)

[Rec] 2
Directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza
Starring Jonathan Mellor, Manuela Velasco, and Ariel Casas

Back in 2007 it seemed like the zombie genre was played out. Romero was still doing his often repetitive thing and Danny Boyle’s foray into the genre didn’t last long regardless of its impact. Then a little “zombie” movie from Spain set the indie circuit and horror buff circle aflame with the surprisingly taunt and legitimately scary POV film, [Rec].

While [Rec] didn’t break any new ground, it did stand solidly on the giants to come before it while at the same time successfully working in the cheap-to-film POV camera angle. We come to find out in the film that it is not really about zombies, but the point still stands: outward signs point to [Rec] being a very well done zombie movie.

Three years later we see the fruits of writers and directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza sequel filled brains* with [Rec] 2.

*And the announcement of the third film in the franchise, [Rec] Apocalypse.

[Rec] 2 is probably a movie that should have never gotten out of the concept stage and the original film is one that I normally would not support a sequel to. However, the film-makers in this case do not show much revolutionary talent behind the camera and have instead shown that they can hand-hold this particular accident of ingredients and make a good film. Maybe a sequel wasn’t that bad of an idea after all.

[Rec] 2 is a sequel that takes no break away from the action with regard to the first movie for it picks up right where the first left off. There is a brief recap as to the fate of the television personality from the first movie, and then the live camera cuts to a SWAT or military type group who is going in to the infected apartment building under the orders of a clandestine secret ops.

The movie paces itself deliberately as if it is borrowing directly from its predecessor’s playbook. The doors, the stairs, the hallways, and the penthouse are all startlingly familiar from [Rec].The gun-toting squad infiltrate deep into the apartment building before encountering the first of the infected. When the infected do strike, however, you are transported back to the jumps and thrills of the first movie. Certain sequences of [Rec] 2 are nearly impossible to watch without squirming; tension mounts and the scares are violent and as-sudden-as-that when they occur.

As the SWAT team makes its way through and around the building, the clandestine mission objective is revealed by the leader of the operation. This leader, played by Jonathan Mellor, fits perfect into the zombie movie non-zombie-good-guy-that-might-not-be-all-that-good archetype. The information he finally reveals once and for all makes it clear that this is not a zombie breakout, but something else entirely.

If there is a complaint about [Rec] 2 it would be also its greatest strength: doing everything again that the first movie did right. To say [Rec] 2 is derivative of the first is an understatement, but also not fair because the purpose of this film to be a natural extension of [Rec]. In that way [Rec] 2 works very well; it seems like the exact same movie – only the part you didn’t already see. Since [Rec] was a very good horror movie, then this mimicking is mostly a good thing.

Unfortunately there can be too much of a good thing. The fact that the pacing, scares, set, and in some cases actors are almost exactly the same as the original, bleeds the film of much of the tension and enjoyment created by [Rec]. Instead of a fresh and well done horror movie, [Rec] 2 is a well-as-could-be-expected sequel that never reaches the heights of [Rec] and has little enough individuality to walk tall on its own merits.

Coop says: 2.5/5