[Rec] ²

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan

The original Rec was just wonderful. I was lucky enough to be able to witness it in a cinema, the one and only time it played in Perth and it was one of the best nights in a theatre I've had. That film works a crowed like few can.

I didn't have the same luck with its sequel but it has finally gotten a release on dvd here. The american remake "Quarantine" was ok too I suppose but pretty much because it was almost identical to the original. However the ending that they changed makes that series impossible to follow on with what the original has done with its sequel.

The film starts off with the last shot of the first film a then continues from there, albeit with a new group of people entering the diseased building. The continuity between the films is impeccable, with main characters from the first film returning as crazed zombie things in this one, even in the same rooms they were left in. Watching the films back to back is the best way to enjoy them.

What this one lacks is the slow build and set-up the first one has. This one throws you straight into the action again, which is fine if it's carried over from just having seen the first part but not so much if you just walked out of a Rowan Atkinson comedy. I think for that reason, watching it this time through didn't seem nearly as effective as the first time I watched it. But it still has its share of great moments.

This film wisely develops the mythology of the disease that was left extremely vague in the first film, but still leaves enough questions to make me excited for the next two sequels set to be released next year. It also starts a convention of jumping around in chronology a little where we re-wittness events but now from the perspective of a new group of characters until they meet up again. It does make an entire section of the movie seem like filler but now that I read they are using these same characters in the next sequel I'm hoping they will pay off in the way this second film makes me appreciate and understand the first film even more. Few sequels pull that trick off successfully.

That creature is still one of the scariest things ever put in a movie but I have to admit I don't like the rather supernatural lengths they took the night-vision cam tricks too. The American remake opted for a very scientific explanation whereas the original series seems to be becoming more and more supernatural and religious. I still like the first film the best, but this is a great addition to the story, which I hope continues to develop in an intelligent and exciting way.