With the decline in definitive American horror movies, some other nations have taken the mantle and made it one of their better exports.  Spain was one of them with the original [REC] released in 2007.  A young female reporter and her cameramen film and follow a crew of firemen during their night shift.  Upon receiving a call of a woman trapped in her apartment complex, the firemen, the news reporter and her cameraman eventually enter the building but could not escape the horrors within.  The filming of this movie was exceedingly similar to the The Blair Witch Project released in the United States in 1999, and it inspired Quarantine and its sequel, Quarantine 2: Terminal.  The filming of [REC] 2 followed in a similar suit but a bit different as it dealt with two separate cameras once said and done.

Cast

Let’s begin with the important characters of this sequel starting with Dr. Owen. Dr. Owen, essentially a medical doctor/priest, is played by Jonathan Mellor.  Jefe, the lead of the four-man SWAT team (in Spanish, El Grupo Especial de Operaciones or GEO), is played by Oscar Zafra.  Larra and Martos are played by Ariel Casas and Alejandro Casaseca.  And leading the rear is Rosso, essentially the cameraman for the GEO team, played by Pablo Rosso.

The other group, mainly consisting of teenagers, a fireman and Jennifer’s father (the father of the girl infected in the original [REC]).  The teenagers are Mire, Ori and Tito; they are played by Andrea Ros, Alex Batllori and Paul Poch respectively. Manu, the fireman, is played by Ferran Terraza.  Jennifer’s father is played by Pep Molina.

Some of the returning cast from the original are Jennifer, the young girl who becomes one of the infected of the original [REC], and Angela Vidal, the female news reporter of the original [REC].

Plot

The GEO team prepares to arrive into the apartment complex of the original [REC] fifteen minutes after.  The building has been quarantined, and as the GEO team battles through the crowd, they finally enter the building.  They are escorted by Dr. Owen sent to obtain the blood of patient zero, Sra. Medeiros. They go to the penthouse and ultimately obtain the blood.  However, upon testing by Dr. Owen, the blood sample becomes lost. Dr. Owen then concludes the only way to obtain more blood samples is from patient zero herself.  In the meantime, three teenagers are found playing on the roof the building prior to the quarantine of said building but are found by the police.  They are escorted by the police down to street level.  The teenagers find a way inside the building through the sewers.  However, they are tailed by the police and after the teenagers have entered the building, the police seal the sewer entrance as well.  The teenagers meet Jennifer’s father and Manu inside.  Unfortunately, no other entrance exists other than the front door which is reliant upon Dr. Owen’s radio.  Both groups  eventually meet each other.  However, most won’t survive as they are being attacked by the infected.  The final sequence begins as the remaining survivors meet Angela Vidal who had remained hidden inside the building.  Dr. Owen and the remaining survivors eventually meet up with Sra. Medeiros, but nothing goes as expected.

Review

This movie lacked the punch of the original [REC] frankly.  With the movie becoming The Hills Have Eyes 2 meets The Exorcist, the two separate groups (and cameras) involved and the non-linear storyline, the movie wasn’t quite as compelling.  It did have a couple of good jump-out-of-your-seat moments, but the scares paled in comparison to the original.  Having two separate cameras failed to draw me into either group.  Perhaps the closest to a proper scare was near the ending with their encounter with Sra. Medeiros herself.  The sequence mirrored [REC].

Verdict (Out of 10)

I won’t be quite as harsh as the other critics, but this movie is about a 6 out of 10. It has occasional scares, but nothing quite as pulsating as the original.  In my opinion, the original had much more impact since it was with Angela Vidal and her cameraman throughout the entire film.  In any case, this film was still significantly better than Quarantine.