No locked up apartment building, no firefighters or SWAT Team members. Fans of the previous [REC] & [REC]2 films might be disappointed if they were hoping for a similar ride the third time around. However, fans of the infected/zombie-esque/demonized genre will still get a kick out of this film. This time around Paco Plaza takes the helm as director without companion Jaume Balagueró, whom he co-directed [REC] & [REC]2 with. The possessions have spread, as mentioned in [REC], through infected dogs and a guest at a wedding has been bit by one of them.
The action all takes place at a wedding reception for Koldo & Clara, played by Diego Martin & Leticia Dolera. It is captured through the videographers recording the wedding, unlike the previous films though Plaza decided to shoot the film as a standard horror film as well. The majority of the film being the latter, it offers a fresh take on all the events unfolding without explaining how each are being recorded. The film is split between Koldo and Clara as they’ve been separated and will do whatever is necessary to get back to one another.
This film throws a bit a comedy into the mix but not too much like Shaun of the Dead; although I couldn’t stop laughing when Koldo and a waiter put on knights armor then roamed around like characters from Monty Python’s and The Holy Grail. There is not a dull moment in this film and with a running time of 80 minutes the thrills, blood and action keep going at a steady pace. This is pushed mainly as a love story and the lengths to which Koldo and Clara will go to be and most importantly stay together on their special day. This really ends up being a fun ride with lots of mayhem where as [REC] & [REC]2 were straight horror. Who can’t have fun watching a bride with a torn wedding dress going to town on demonic zombie-like creatures with a chainsaw?
Plaza keeps the story of demons flowing from the previous films but does not dwell too much into it other than letting on that the church knew this would happen, just not so soon. So fans hoping to get more insight to the story will be out of luck and other than a television flashing a news story about the apartment building that’s all we get. As I mentioned above this is a fun film on its own but if you have to nitpick about it because it is a sequel; I would say it is simply expanding the realm of the story/world where it is no longer contained on a single block but now spread to the point that no one is safe. This film will open up for [REC]4 Apocalypse which will follow immediately after the events of [REC]2, it will also be directed solely by Jaume Balagueró and said to be shot as a conventional narrative film.
Fans of the series will have their own opinions but I can’t wait to see how the story unfolds as this, just like the previous films, were all a prelude to a bigger story that so far we have only been given glimpses of.
Rating
3 out of 5
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