REVIEW: REC 2

I don't care if a zombie's eating me, I will hold this camera in the most aesthetically relevant place.

REC was awesome. And while it certainly wasn't the first to use the camcorder as gimmick horror movie, it may be the most viscerally thrilling. I'd still say Blair Witch stays the best, but REC was some tense shit, like a full movie version of the first person sequence from Doom, only not shite. And its late in the day supernatural twist was creepy as fuck. It was so good and impactful, it was remade within 10 months of release and got pretty good reviews. For a horror remake anyway. As for REC 2, well it goes down the Aliens route and basically gives you more of the same only more, and this time guys have guns.

It doesn't quite reach the heights of the original, in part because of the weight of its last reel twist in the first film. And while that worked aces as a from nowhere gut-punch with no consequences, the sequel finds itself slightly boned in the fact that its trapped expositioning the whole demon thing for a while. It should also be said that for all intents and purposes its lead, a kind of demon-busting priest, is an 80's cliche. And in his spinning of hackneyed dialogue and horror movie cliches it takes the chilling, terrifying sense of reality that was present all through the first one. Here its a bit more of horror movie. But, all complaints cease when people STFU and we get to the various sequences of horror, all masterfully captured by DOP/actor Pablo Rosso, who has played the unseen dude holding the camera in both of these films now. He does some good work.

So for sheer spine-tingling adrenaline, REC 2 remains fairly awesome. But sadly in good conscience, I can't give it too good of a review, because like I said some of the dialogue is a little too Roger Corman, and the characters certainly make less of an impact this time around, most notably a sidetrack featuring some teenagers, that comes and goes with no real need or point and seemed to be there just to pad the film's running time, that is still fairly slight. But if you like this kind of thing and can handle the occasional moment of idiocy then you'll forgive it its flaws and just enjoy the ride.

Rating: 6/10