Rec 3 : Genesis-Review One Wild and Fun Ride

“[REC] 3: GENESIS” is the third installment in the highly successful “[REC]” series. In case you are not completely familiar with “[REC]”, the American remake of it was called “Quarantine” which is basically a shot for shot remake of the original “[REC]” (although “Quarantine 2” deviates from “[REC] 2”).

The original “[REC]” follows a female reporter (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman (Pablo Rosso) as they basically do a fluff story on firemen and paramedics, who then fatefully end up going on a call at an apartment building for an unresponsive woman.

Upon arrival the fire crew hear screams coming from an apartment, the woman appears to be crazy and having some type of melt down. From there things go from bad to worse as the residents find themselves being sealed inside the building do to some sort of outbreak which the authorities are vague in explaining, even to their own people inside. The infection begins to spread thru the group that is locked in, making them come across as rage-filled (think “28 Days Later”) zombie-like creatures that move fast and attack in a second, and with each attack the infection spreads. In “[REC] 2” we follow as a SWAT team enters the building to asses the situation, along with a group of adventurous teens who find a back way in.

Both “[REC]” and “[REC] 2” are shot in POV so the action develops as the camera rolls and we see it first hand as the participants do, and whereas “Quarantine” is practically the same film as the first “[REC]” the two films deviate from each other over what causes the infection. In the American version of the infection is a super sized type of the Rabies virus made by a doomsday cult hell bent of destroying the world, and in the original Spanish version the infection is steeped in religion where a doomsday cult hell bent on destroying the world has figured out a way through exorcisms for the devil to come into our world and start Judgment Day.

Which takes us to “[REC] 3: GENESIS”. “Genesis” begins on the same day as the first two films only that it starts hours before and at a completely different location, and like the first two films begins in the POV style filming as we follow the wedding of Clara (Leticia Dolera) and Koldo (Diego Martín), in fact the whole first twenty minutes of the movie is just like raw footage you would have from an actual wedding. As we are introduced to the party goers who are destined to become the horde of psychotic possessed zombies we are shown who is to be patient zero of it all while they are still normal, tying in the first “[REC]” nicely because patient zero works at the same vet where the infected dog from the building of the first film was from.

You get your usual junk cuts and shaky camera work that is to be expected from using hand held camera as we watch the set up too and the wedding itself all the way up to the reception (on side note I might add if this is how Spanish weddings are, I so want to go to one). But as things go south and the shit hit’s the fan with zombies, the POV camera (and since if you are watching this film you more-than-likely know how the filming will be) that has become a staple of the “[REC]” series suddenly changes. We now go from POV to a more traditional style of film making. And at first I got the impression that maybe it was going to go back and forth from the two. Alas, while I, personally thought it would be cool, it is given up pretty quickly for a straight shot.

I don’t want to give any spoilers, because the “[REC]” series is like an onion and the more layers they peel away the more layers there are. Although I want to add that while films one and two were dead serious this third film brings in a lot of dark comedy to the series that works quite well with all that is happening, and the comedy doesn’t over step it’s bounds like it can and has been the case with plenty of horror films. When something funny happens it is usually followed by something really horrible.

In the end I found “[REC] 3 GENESIS” a fun and wild ride and a must see for those who have seen the series and like these types of horror movies and that it fir nicely with the first two films making yearn all the more for “[REC] 4 apocalypse.”

The only real problem I had with this “[REC]” is that some of the zombies shambled and moved slower than they did in the previous films.

I give “[REC] 3” 4 out of 5 severed heads.