Why I looove the [REC] films....

Right about now, it is all about [REC] and more importantly, [REC]:Genesis. I watched this last week and absolutely LOVED it!!! So, I thought I had to share my thoughts and tell you lovely people just what thought....

" [REC] 3: Genesis is the third and penultimate entry in the [REC] franchise and begins prior to events in the first film before then running parallel alongside the original movie. Fans will recall that [REC] 1 and 2 were entirely focused around an apartment building in Spain where an "infection" had occurred that turned everyone inside into zombies. [REC] 3 looks at what happened elsewhere around the same time as the "infection" attempts to spread in another part of the country.

[REC]: Genesis is set entirely around the wedding of Koldo and Clara; two childhood sweethearts who have finally decided to tie the knot. The film begins like a traditional Wedding video with shots of the happy couple as they were growing up and video footage of all the preamble that leads up to the ceremony. Much like with Cloverfield, all this takes about 20 minutes as we are slowly introduced to the principle characters and learn a bit about them and their lives. Things all start to go a bit sour however, when it comes to the evening Reception...

A distant relative of the groom, Koldo's Uncle in fact, is a Vet who has been bitten by a dog. The same dog that bit the little girl in the apartment building from the first film. At first he seems alright, a little distant perhaps but fine, but by the evening, he has started to lose colour and is swaying as though drunk. In the middle of the Reception, the Uncle falls from a balcony to land on the dance floor. Standing up, he begins spraying the guests with blood. Suddenly the whole ballroom erupts as guests turn upon each other and begin attacking each other. Panic ensues and Koldo and Clara become separated.....
And that is the main focus of the film. Can the happy couple, split up in what looks to be the worst day of their lives, manage to reunite? Will either of them survive until the final reel? Can eternal love really triumph when faced with insurmountable odds?

[REC] 3 is an awesome, awesome film and probably one of the best entries in the series so far but has not been received without a bit of criticism. This is for two reasons: firstly that it is a more humorous affair than either of the first two offerings with much dark humour in an Evil Dead 2 kind of style. And secondly, because, about a third of the way through, the film abandons the Camcorder style of the first two films when the Groom smashes the video camera being used to film events. From this moment on, the rest of the film pretty much watches like a traditional horror flick and for some diehard fans, they see this as breaking the established rules of the [REC] series!

I think this is a little unfair and, as one reviewer has said, if this was an independant film outside of the [REC] series then it would probably have gotten a better response! I think the different camera technique and the humour both lend a different feel to this film, making it stand out as not just another [REC] movie but allowing it to stand on its own merits! I also think a bit of humour is very welcome seeing as how the final chapter [REC]:Apocalypse looks like returning to the dark, gritty nature of the first two films as the "infection" begins to spread outside the original apartment building and escapes the quarantined zone!

I loved this, watched it a week ago, and am already planning to watch it again! It is gruesome, horrible and very nasty in places but there a couple of great twists and, along the way, is very, very funny! There are some real comedy moments here ("Sponge Bob!" "Actually, for legal reasons I cannot be called 'Sponge Bob', I must be referred to as John Sponge...it's complicated") that break up the darkness and provide some much needed humour but there is also a lot of nastiness as you might come to expect from this series. It's not giving anything away, as you can see from the cover, that I can tell you that, at one stage, the Bride even ends up wielding a chainsaw! Don't mess with a Bride on her special day......

Can I recommend this? Hell, if you don't have this in your life you are seriously missing out! The DVD comes with two hours of extra features and this includes a making of the film, deleted scenes (that don't really amount to much) and a few extra bits and bobs and can be picked up at Asda for £10 right now which is a bargain!

This film just proves once again that the [REC] series is, without doubt, the best horror franchise of all time and simply is amazing, awesome and absolutely brilliant. Can I gush about this any more....probably not, but this is one of those films that just makes you want to shout about it. Foreign language horror cinema has NEVER EVER  been better than now...


As an aside, I think I have been suffering from too much Zombie exposure right now.....I keep having Zombie dreams. In one, my house was being attacked and I was trying to fend them off by blocking their way up the stairs while me, Vicky and Emilie tried to escape into the loft. After watching [REC] Genesis, I dreamt that one was trying to bite me so I forced my leather-clad arm into its mouth whilst I thrust my thumb deep into its eye trying to reach its brain! Both times, I have woken up in the early hours thinking I need a better strategy for when or if this ever happened! It's a good job I know better in the daylight hours that the Zombie Apocalypse is unlikely ever to happen...