Movie Review: [REC] 3: Genesis (2012)

The poster of the chick with the chainsaw is awesome, but I could not resist this one. Way more awesome.

Anyway. I learned two things from watching [REC] 3: Genesis. One - it is not really a [REC] movie. Two - I don't care because I love zombies. I'll explain what I mean later but for now I'll just say that Genesis was one kick ass zombie-infection film that I couldn't help but love - even if it's not really a [REC] movie. Genesis made me happy in the way that pretty much all zombie movies make me happy.

Clara and Koldo are celebrating the happiest day of their lives, surrounded by friends and family - and a few video cameras. Their day of bliss suddenly turns into a nightmare when their guests become infected with a strange illness [read: demonic possession that presents itself exactly like zombisim] that makes them rip each other apart. The couple becomes separated in the chaos and do whatever they can to survive and see their beloved again.

Now what I said before about this not really being a [REC] movie is totally true. Sure, they do a bit of the found footage stuff in the beginning and then little bits of it throughout the movie. And the infection that sweeps Clara and Koldo's wedding is the same infection from the other two [REC] movies. However, Genesis does nothing to further explain the storyline or explain the infection's true origin (as the title "Genesis" might imply). I guess we'll just have to go with what [REC] 2 told us. Oh wait, I lied. The only thing that Genesis adds is that reading scripture out loud makes the stop in their tracks. That's not really much of anything is it? The movie is really just about these two people... and how love really gets in the way during a zombie outbreak. 

Strangely, I found myself not minding at all that Genesis was just one of those sequels that only took the idea from previous films and was really not related at all. It was too awesome for me. Genesis actually adds something that 1 or 2 didn't have - comedy. At first I was all annoyed that they might b turning one of the best horror films of the past decade into a meaningless zom-com. But again, I suddenly found myself not caring. The comedy starts in the beginning, actually, before the title card. In the opening sequences before the wedding, during the wedding, and at the reception, the audience is seeing the story play out like the other [REC] movies - through the viewfinder of a video camera. But when the shit starts and Koldo asks the dude why he is filming stuff, the dude uses a line similar to the first [REC] - "We have to film everything!" Koldo then walks up to the camera and breaks it, and the movie goes into regular movie-mode from (mostly) then on out. It's like they were saying "Ha! You thought we'd just do the same old shit again... but we're not!" I liked that, and I respected it. 

Though the comedy element is not that blatant or obvious, it's there, but not too much to be annoying or take away from the horror element. Genesis is much bloodier than the previous films and I, for one, was freaking stoked about that. It was about time this series amped it up a bit. My favorite kill was when Koldo uses one of those electric cocktail mixer thingies and shoves it into a zombie's mouth. Clara gets the best zombie kills in the whole thing when she wields the chainsaw in the underground tunnels. Then we get some awesome shit. Chainsaw decapitation, chainsaw to the head (and getting stuck in the head), and chainsaw through the chest, then up through the body, splitting the head in half. Niiiice. With all of the non-gory horror I've been watching lately, I really needed that. Thank you, Genesis, for bathing me in your bloody gory. And that ending? Bloody gorgeous, as well. 

Genesis has some pretty good characters in it, too, and some pretty good actors to play them. Clara and Koldo are the main people, obviously, but as they try to escape the zombies, they keep meeting up with people - and then those people get killed. That was the only thing I wasn't too keen on about the movie was that we're introduced to so many minor characters and none of them, except the priest, play out to anything. Atun, the wedding videographer, should've made it further, I think. No reason to give the guy such a limited role just 'cause he's fat, seriously. Find another way to escape than through the tiny ventilation shaft so the awesome guy can get through, too. Anyway, I loved the actress playing Clara - Leticia Dolera - mostly because her look was so awesome for this movie. With her pale skin, black hair, and eyes running with black mascara she looked beautiful and even more so when she gets covered in blood. Diego Martin as Koldo is also a hunk, and I liked him in the movie because he's just your typical nice, normal guy and you really can't help but like him and root for him.

So again, I want to thank [REC] 3: Genesis for bringing some much-needed blood back into my movies and for just sticking to what works best and being a good, fun zombie film. You're not really a [REC] movie and I don't care. Your cinematography and coloring is beautiful; you've got some nice kills; and you're a wee bit funny, too. I'm calling it a win. 

Movie Review: Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011)

The stellar 2007 infection film [REC] spawned a Hollywood remake, Quarantine, that was damn near the same film. Both films now also have sequels but the Quarantine sequel took the story in a much different direction than [REC] 2, which is a good thing in this case. And while Quarantine 2: Terminal is not nearly as good as either of the original films, it's not exactly a complete failure either.

On the same night as the quarantine in the apartment building from the first film, passengers and crew on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles are forced to land prematurely when one man shows symptoms of the same deadly virus. They think they are safe when they make it to the airport terminal, until the government quarantines them inside as well. As the infection spreads, the survivors try to find a way to escape the terminal.

So for this sequel, the filmmakers have completely done away with the found footage style, which was a welcome relief. It would not have made any sense for this situation and would have made the movie seem too gimmicky. Instead, they go their own way with the story while still answering the main question from the first movie which is what is this virus and where did it come from? The reasoning they came up with was not exactly what I expected nor does it make all that much logical sense but who would watch this movie for the amazing writing anyway? We want to see infected dudes and dudettes eating other people.

The first third of the movie is on the airplane and centers around a young flight attendant named Jenny, who later becomes the reluctant leader of the survivors. When a fat guy gets sick and pukes all over her, that's when the fun starts. And this wasn't in a 747, either. The situation is made more claustrophobic by the setting on this tiny plane with only one aisle and few passengers. The audience is glad to finally see them land and give the characters more room to move around - and therefore make it easier for them to fight off the crazies and escape being infected.

Sadly, most of the gore work is simply okay. There's lots of blood and neck ripping and biting, and even a part where an infected kitty cat bites an older woman, but there's nothing really new or exciting. Actually the freakiest part of the whole movie has nothing to do with the infected. It's when the bad guy, Henry, first puts some drops into his eye to numb it (you even see him pat his open eyeball with his finger - without blinking!) and then sticks a needle into his bottom eyelid. Yeesh. For those of you who don't like eye trauma, this might be a good scene for you to close yours!

The part I liked the most is the end when Jenny and young George are crawling through that tunnel, with George using the thermal vision goggles to see where they're going. It's quite suspenseful, especially when George looks back one time and sees the bite mark on Jenny's side. This is really the only suspenseful part of the movie as the rest is your standard fare of people running and fighting and getting bitten and infected. The survivors get into a lot of unnecessary fights and their characters are severely underdeveloped. You only really get to know Jenny and George, but only in the most basic way.

I can't completely recommend Quarantine 2: Terminal because really, if you don't see it, you're not missing a whole lot. But you won't be totally disappointed if you do see it either. It's better than I expected for a straight to DVD sequel even though I'd much rather watch the original, and even more than that, I'd rather just watch [REC]. 

Movie Review: [REC] 2 (2009)

Oh baby, I have been waiting for this. [REC] 2 pretty much went straight from the mailbox to my DVD player and then into my horror-loving brain through my greedy eyes. [REC] is an insanely awesome Spanish horror film that I loved from the word "go" and I've been shaking in my pants ever since news of a sequel came out. Well, now I've finally seen it and gladly, [REC] 2 does not disappoint.

Taking off right from where the first film left us, [REC] 2 follows a small group of SWAT team-like leaders and a doctor from the Ministry of Health as they enter the quarantined apartment building after losing communication with those inside. Their orders are to record everything that happens and hopefully they can finally put a stop to the deadly infection that has taken over the building and the people in it.

The first doubt I had about this movie was how the filmmakers were going to justify using the real-time camera-vision thing from the first film. It made sense for that one because Angela and Pablo were already filming for a television show when they happen upon the apartment building. The SWAT guys going into the building and having to record everything for the health officials is a sort-of good excuse, but still a little iffy. Then the whole story gets turned on its head when we find out that the Ministry of Health guy leading the team is really NOT a Ministry of Health guy but a priest and what's been happening in the building is part of a religious experiment.

Ah, yes! Finally we get the truth about the infection. It was explained to a point at the end of the first film, but honestly, I still didn't get it. I was still believing there was some zombie-infection-virus thing going on and all the newspaper articles in the penthouse about demonic possession just confused me. The priest explains that the confirmation of the Portuguese girl's possession allowed the church, and one priest in particular, to discover that possession can be like a virus or infection in the host. While trying to find the antidote, using the girl herself in the experiments, the virus mutated and became contagious.

I truly thought that this little turn was quite ingenious. The idea of demonic possession as being a biological problem is a bit of a stretch, but it worked on me here. It's a different way to look at the monsters than if they were just zombies, or as the American version of [REC], Quarantine, interprets it, as people infected with rabies. There are a couple of good twists toward the end of the movie and while I usually enjoy spoiling the endings of movies, I feel like I should keep these to myself and just let you discover them on your own.

Okay, just one spoiler. And it's not really too surprising either - Angela shows up again. But I leave it at that.

Big downside to the movie was repetitiveness of the action sequences. Same thing, over and over - crazy yelling and red bloody eyes coming at our characters, teeth ready to chomp. The thing that got annoying in this movie was that different people are attacked several times and they are always able to throw them off - even if they remain at teeth distance for a long time - and walk away unscratched or unbitten, and therefore uninfected. With all the crazy kamikaze attacks by the possessed in this movie, a lot more people should have been turned or at least severely injured.

That aside, I was ecstatic to find a sequel that was just as good as, if not better than, the original. The acting was believable and real - loved the guy playing the priest. Very creepy face right there. The documentary style filmmaking was never distracting or too shaky or anything like that. As in [REC], scenes were often framed up very well to both look like a real film and like an amateur was shooting it. You could see all the important action, although at times the lighting was quite dark. But then again that sort of added to the scare factor.

[REC] 2 truly expands on the original film, answers questions from the original film, and brings in tons of new elements to make this movie almost a totally different experience.