I'll go on record right now and say that the Spanish horror franchise of [REC] films is one of the best series of horror films, in my humble, little opinion. I'm sure there are differing opinions, but this is mine. I love [REC] and [REC2] like I love cake. They're both heaping helpings of visceral tension with a claustrophobic, scared-of-the-dark atmosphere as the icing on top. While the franchise is essentially going to be a trilogy, it has a sort of "middle episode" that strays from the usual formula of darkened hallways, scarce lighting, and outright terror. [REC3]: Genesis is definitely a departure from the other two films, especially in tone. While it is a little jarring, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Paco Plaza, who co-directed the first two films with Jaume Balagueró, takes the solo helm for this film which, unlike the first two, takes place over a longer period of time. We begin in the afternoon and end the following morning, whereas the others were in real time. There are two huge differences that will either be applauded or derided: one, the use of the first-person camera is not all the way through the entire film, and two, the tone strays from the franchise in that it employs much more humor. Don't get me wrong: it's still full of gore, frights, and outright creepiness. But it's also funny in many parts.
The movie begins with a wedding, and we're introduced to many of the characters, mostly family and close friends of the bride, Clara (Leticia Dolera) and Koldo (Diego Martín). They're a beautiful couple (who look a little like a young Shelley Duvall and Jason Segal), getting married in a beautiful church in a beautiful part of Spain. You just know this idyllic event is going to be ruined by bitey demon-things at some point, and you would not be wrong. In fact, there's a clue early on that tells you who is going to be the first to be all bitey. It's just a sweet wedding and reception (and I love the touch of a DVD menu of the wedding starting the film - trust me, you have to see it, it's quite funny). But when a dear uncle exhibits strange behavior - which gets really strange - all hell breaks loose. The infection that spreads in the [REC] films is fast-acting and truly evil, in every sense of the word. The survivors have to scramble and in the chaos, Clara and Koldo are separated. The driving force of the film kicks in here: Clara and Koldo's love and desire to be together versus the evil demonic infection. What happens after that is all-out grindhouse-y fun with some really clever moments (that I can't really spoil), even if it does stray from the already-successful formula.
It's a change of pace from the first two films, to which, as a sequel, this film will always be compared. There's a wackiness that threads its way through the horror, involving things like ancient armor, a Spongebob knock-off, and a badass, chainsaw-toting bride. Seriously, when Clara has had enough and grabs that chainsaw, you know it's on like Donkey Kong, baby. [REC]3: Genesis is like a quick breather in between more intense episodes, and the franchise is set to finish off soon with [REC] 4: Apocalypse which tells you right there where the infection is heading.
A fun, strange, and still-terrifying film from a country that produces some great horror films, [REC]3: Genesis isn't the same animal as its predecessors, but it's still good and still has that sense of hopeless doom...with one small glimmer of hope, but I'll let you figure that one out for yourselves.
Until next time, chopper passengers, here's the trailer:
These are just some of the titles this wild mess has gone under, like a sneaky con-man sliding from alias to alias. I can almost envision this movie sitting in a dark corner, cackling over its latest grift, looking all disheveled and wild-eyed. It not only lifted things like incidental music - which I'll get to later - and documentary footage, but it may also steal your soul.
And yet there's an odd, nostalgic feeling to this strange movie. As funny-awful as this movie is, there is a sense of carefree abandon about the experience. At the time, it was certainly the goriest picture I had ever seen in my then-sixteen years. My summers in the 80's were usually pretty fun and free-wheeling, what with no Internet and massive video games to keep me inside all the time. Time spent indoors was either with reading, watching baseball, or watching movies I rented or borrowed. I can remember friends of mine lending Hell of the Living Dead to me in 1984, recorded on VHS off of a movie channel which I couldn't get living in the woods. I recall thinking to myself that I was ever quizzed on what the plot was, I'd be stumped. But one could get extra credit in the "gratuitous cheesy gore" section of the test.
Ah, enough metaphors.
You want to know a clue that this movie is up to something? It's co-written and co-directed by Claudio Fragasso. You may remember him from my reviews of Troll 2 and Best Worst Movie as the director and co-writer of that vegetarian goblin cult classic. When you see Troll 2 and you listen to his rants in Best Worst Movie, then things fall into place about Hell of the Living Dead. It all makes sense. Well, sort of.
Rrrrgh - I want my ICE CREAM!
Hell of the Living Dead seemed doomed from the start. Like now, zombies were a hot commodity back in the 70's, with George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (released as Zombi in Italy under Dario Argento) and Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2 splattering screens in the latter part of that decade. Italy became a breeding ground for quick, inexpensive zombie flicks, and Hell of the Living Dead was barely given a budget. Not to mention, much of the footage shot by director Bruno Mattei (credited as Vincent Dawn) was apparently not up to snuff, so they pieced together a mish-mash of already-shot footage and clips from a documentary about native rituals. Then there's the issue with the music. When you pop in Hell of the Living Dead, you may see that the soundtrack is by none other than Goblin, the same group that provided the now-legendary score to the original Dawn of the Dead. After a few minutes, you'll soon realize that not only is Goblin doing the music...it's the exact same soundtrack as Dawn of the Dead. They didn't even bother to get new music. Hell, Goblin apparently didn't even allow it, but hey, what's a little legal trouble to a juggernaut like this movie?
Despite what I said before, there is a plot. An accident at a chemical plant in New Guinea lets loose a contagion that causes living things to become sadistic, flesh-eating automatons. It also causes their faces to take on a weird shade, but that's neither here nor there. After foiling a terrorist takeover of an embassy, a crack military unit is sent to New Guinea to find out why communications with the chemical plant have been lost. The unit is comprised of stock characters: the hunky hero guy, the almost-hunky guy, the crazy guy, and the goofy guy. They meet up in a seemingly-abandoned settlement with some people trying to escape the land: the half-tough/half-screamy woman reporter, her half-brave/half-nauseous cameraman, and a family of three with a sick child. The settlement is a wash, as the family is slaughtered by an infected priest and their now-bitey child. The other six take off further into the jungle, offering the reporter an excuse to suddenly remove her shirt and claim she can communicate with the indigenous people. The dead rise at the village, so the crew must bug out again, finally stopping at a plantation in the middle of nowhere.
Why, oh, why did I wander near a window?
The plantation offers very little in the way of answers, but a whole lot in the way of infected, gore-hungry former residents. The team's Goofy Guy is killed - wearing a dress, no less - and the team fights their way out, finally heading for the chemical plant. Once there, they discover that the chemical was meant to be used as Third World population control, but it got out of hand. Cameraman, Almost-Hunky Guy, and Crazy Guy are all killed before Reporter Girl and Hunky Guy meet their grisly fate in the bowels of the plant. The epilogue shows a young couple on the toothy end of some zombies in a metropolitan city. Dun-dun-DUUUN!
Wow, what a journey.
The expression that says, "Dude, I told you."
Let's see: the acting is fairly average to over-the-top, thanks to the Crazy Guy. The dubbing is tremendously awful, and the movie is such a scattershot affair that your brain will stop trying to figure it out after about ten minutes. Possibly sooner than that. There are plenty of chuckles and winces whenever you see the gore, and there is a lot of it. Lacking the gritty realism of Tom Savini's special effects work, it appears as though they effects team had a ton of raw meat and, by the power of Greyskull, they were going to use it. The ending gore is so blatantly insane, it's laughable yet memorable. Tongue! Eyes! Everything!
I also love the lack of basic reasoning that takes place in the film. Once the team figures out that to stop the creatures, they must be shot in the head, they continue to waste ammo by spraying them in every area below the head. "They just won't stop!"
Hell of the Living Dead is just not a good movie. And yet, somehow I've seen it four or five times. It's like I forget how painful it is, rent it, and say to myself, "oh, yeah, now I remember." A cult film? One could argue that it is. There are plenty of people who do like it. I'm nostalgic about how I first saw it - that lazy, sunny summer day back in '84 - but beyond that, I don't think I could ever own it, ever see it being the beloved center of attention like Troll 2.
If you don't mind a meandering film with plot holes the size of Florida sinkholes that's worthy of a Mystery Science Theater 3000 or RiffTrax treatment, this is your film. Don't take it seriously, and you may be able to have some fun with it. It will never go down as a serious classic of the genre, yet it somehow gets noticed. In a roundabout way, it did that one thing - getting noticed - right.
Until next time, dear readers, beware of chemical leaks. They might cause bad movies.
Honestly. Instead, I just kind of liked it. It built itself a nice little foundation. You know, like in baseball, a really good windup. Then the pitch just sailed in at a nice velocity, but was a little flat.
I miss baseball already.
Atrocious, the Spanish film written and directed by Fernando Berreda Luna, is a found-footage style film (an increasingly popular subgenre) set in the Spanish countryside concerning a family that has been found horribly murdered. When the viewer begins the film, it's as if they're part of the investigative team reviewing the evidence. A jarring sudden rewind flashes some telltale near-subliminal images until it starts at the beginning.
The Quintanilla family heads to their old country home for the first time in a very long time, and siblings Christian and July intend to film the entire thing for their online paranormal investigation webcast. They're specifically excited about a local urban legend about the ghost of a girl named Melinda. Christian insists on filming everything while July joins him in exploring the creepy labyrinth outside the house. Soon after opening a locked basement, where they find old family artifacts, including an old TV and tons of old VHS tapes (including some Dario Argento selections), things get spooky. Strange sounds at night seem only a little odd, but then the beloved family dog disappears. Events take a turn for the frightening when they find the poor thing dead at the bottom of a well in the labyrinth. The ol' family vacation ain't what it used to be. The climactic scene finds the youngest brother missing and a frantic mother desperate to find him...in the dark labyrinth. The father and the family friend are conspicuously absent, but the resulting stumble through the dark with Christian's camera is jarring and ultimately reveals an ending you might not see coming.
I wish the ending hadn't fallen short of what I was expecting (or rather, hoping for), but that's not to say it wasn't decent. Maybe you, loyal readers, will get more out of it. The tension leading up through the entire movie was very well played out, to where we didn't really know what would be in front of the camera at any given time. But I think the movie got caught up in the atmosphere and somewhat, I don't know, lost itself. I wasn't blown away by the ending, instead saying "oh" out loud.
But I will say this: the ratcheted-up tension built at a really good pace. You really do end up wringing your hands over what you think might happen, and that's good by me. I just wish I hadn't felt so "meh" as it came to a close. Anyway, judge for yourself.
It appears that found footage (or first-person, or cinema verite, whichever term you please) is a subgenre here to stay. I'm mostly good with it, although for every Trollhunter or [REC], there might be a Monster. Thankfully, Atrocious, for all its faults, isn't lumped in with the latter. Keep an eye out, fellow zombie apocalypse survivors, as I'll have more found footage film review on the way.
For now, have a gander at the trailer for Atrocious:
It's no secret I'm a gigantic fan of the masterful Spanish horror film [REC]. Go back and read my review of it to see just how lovingly I spoke of it. When I heard a sequel was in the works, I had one of those rare reactions to news of a continuing story: joy. It wasn't going to be just a sequel with different characters, same story as the first, but with a bigger budget and more "Hollywood-like" promotion. It had some of those traits, but it was more than those. It did have different characters, but in a logical way. The story is only the same because it's a continuation of the first movie. In fact, it starts about 15 minutes after [REC] finishes. It dives in and doesn't look back for one instant. Well...maybe one instant, but that's towards the end of the movie, and I'm not spoiling it here because it's a chiller.
I'll tell you now: this review won't be like most others. There won't be a detailed blow-by-blow here. The entire movie is pretty straightforward and full of spoilers that you really need to see for yourself. So let me give you some of the basics and we'll go from there...
Not long after the first movie ends, a special operations group prepares to enter the quarantined apartment building along with a member of the Ministry of Health in order to get some control of the situation. There's some nostalgia for the viewer upon entering that old building. There's that enormous bloodstain in the lobby along with empty handcuffs attached to the stairs. It's about then you remember something that the new characters don't know: not all of the infected died and you know they're just running around somewhere in this building. Revisiting (well, for us anyway) the penthouse, there's a little reminder of what the characters are dealing with through the pictures, the Evil Dead-like tape recording, and the murky atmosphere.
After some eerie music starts playing in an apartment, one of the special ops team runs afoul of some infected and quickly becomes one himself.
They lock him in a room and the dude from the Ministry of Health drives a knife into the door, then hangs a rosary from it. This actually stops the infected. Yeah, and that guy from the Ministry of Health? Owen is his name, and he's from a ministry, all right, but it's not the one of health. He's an agent of the Vatican with a license to exorcise, and he's kicking ass and taking rosary beads. The other officers aren't too happy about being deceived, and they're even more perturbed when they discover the real reason they entered this death trap: Owen needs to obtain the blood of the first possession victim, Niña Medeiros, kept somewhere in the darkened, ruined apartment that was home to a previous Vatican agent who experimented on Medeiros. Oh, and for a glimpse at the Medeiros girl, watch the ending of [REC]. Yeah, that's her. Shiver at your convenience now.
There are several attacks on Owen and the officers, and some by very recognizable faces from the first movie:
Around the confusion of one attack, a seemingly uninfected man is killed and thrown over the guardrail. The agents catch a glimpse of another party of uninfected people before another wave of attacks occur, splitting them up - which is never a good thing, face it. A frantic and revealing skirmish with the little girl from the first movie that ultimately ends the point of view from the agents' lone camera.
The film goes back a bit and starts down a different path as we meet three young pranksters who are high on adventure and daring-do. They think descending into the sewers and coming up into the quarantined building will be a hoot. Not exactly. They meet one of the firemen from the first movie who didn't go inside, and the father of the infected little girl, who are desperately trying to reach their friends and family inside. They find themselves locked - rather, welded - inside the apartment building. From there, it's a parallel story to that of the special operations team until they all meet up in an apartment. That pivotal scene leads to the final, white knuckle, screaming descent of the roller coaster as the ultimate push to either finish the mission (according to Owen) or simply survive begins.
I honestly can't get into the rest of the movie here. I could, and I could spoil everything for you, but I don't want to do that. I want you to go into this movie with the same blank slate I did, knowing what might happen, but feeling that thrill along the way as you discover what actually does happen. The ending is chilling not so much for what you see, but for what you could see if the film hadn't ended. And that's all I'll tell you. Even the lead-up to the ending includes clues and tip-offs that are better left uncovered by you as you watch.
[REC]2 is a brilliant sequel in my eyes not only because it's wild, intense ride, but because it's a logical progression from the first film. You see characters from the first one - logically - because they've been infected and weren't "killed" in the first movie. Scroll back and see that picture with the bald fireman to see what I mean. If you'd seen the first movie, you know who that is.
When you have entries in the "found footage" or "cinema verite" genre, there are inevitable comparisons to The Blair Witch Project, simply because that was the film that made the mainstream audience aware of the style. Makes some sense, but the films are worlds apart. There was one film that the [REC] series compares favorably to, and that's Demoni (Demons) from 1985, and a film that I gushed about in another review. I'm not the only one who saw that similarity, as my friend Jim from Movie Brain Rot mentioned it to me as well in a discussion. A dark setting and rapid infection from a nefarious source, nasty fluids and frantic escape plans - it's a nod and a wink, however intentional, to Lamberto Bava's Demoni.
Without spoiling anything for you, allow me to list a few indelible images and scenes that make [REC]2 so much of a trip
* Revisiting old settings: the lobby, the penthouse, the bloody landing, the fabric store. You definitely should see the first one again to fully appreciate it all.
* The building itself, a character in its own right. It's like a labyrinth, and seems larger on the inside than it does outside. The apartments seem to go on forever, especially in the dark.
* Ah, the dark. The darkness itself is not only a brilliant mood-setter, but much more important of an element than you think. Trust me, you'll see.
* The rocket. I'm sorry, but one scene involving some fireworks made me laugh out loud.
* The continuity. You'll find yourself saying, "ah, so that's where that came from." Not only that, but the camera manages to catch important establishing shots that allow you, the viewer, to figure certain things out. A film that makes you use your brain? *gasp*
* The "interference" that crops up here and there on the film. Watch when it occurs, and it only adds to the chilling air of what's happening.
* There's a scene involving a small pool of water that will give you shivers when you wrap your mind around what happens. See my reference to the "darkness" above.
* The ending. Yeah.
It's safe to say that I love this movie, and that's not just because I watched a pair of stinkers before it. [REC]2 has everything I love in a horror movie: thrills and chills, an enthusiastic air about it, clever use of atmosphere and setting, moments that let you figure out the details, a feeling that you can't control what's happening thanks to a better use of first person than most "found footage" films. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but from what I've seen, the tea table I'm sitting at is crowded.
Now, who wants biscuits?
Until next time, fellow survivors, the rules remain the same: don't get bitten. Now enjoy the trailer for this fine film, [REC]2:
Some spoilers may lace this entry. Taste with caution.
A linear story. A simple location. A loss of control. You can't turn away!
Three very basic ingredients mixed together by writers Jaume Belagaro and Luis Berdejo, and baked by Belagaro and Paco Plaza in the beautiful oven of Barcelona, Spain, to make the delicious dish known as [REC].
Yeah, you see what I did there. Food analogies. I'm going somewhere with this.
The average movie-goer or novice horror might believe - if just for a moment - that [REC] somehow copied an American film called Quarantine. I mean, it's easy to think that, really. Same plot. Nearly the same players. Filmed in the same first-person way. However, Quarantine is a fairly decent remake of our subject. I personally thought Quarantine was pretty good, and I expected [REC] to be slightly better. I felt - and quite happily - that [REC] was not only far superior, but one of the best horror films to grace my DVD player in quite some time. And I've seen some good ones lately.
So how does this horror equivalent of a fine dinner experience unfold? Well, tuck in your napkin and I'll tell you - without spoiling too much, if I can help it.
OK, throughout the entire movie, we see only what Pablo's (Pablo Rosso) camera sees, for this is a television taping. Angela Vidal (the cute-as-a-button Manuela Velasco) hosts a documentary series that covers what happens while the residents of Spain (well, those with normal daytime schedules) are sleeping. Hence the name of the show, "While You Sleep." We never see Pablo's face, but Angela guides us and Pablo through the terrifying events that occur inside the apartment building that provides one of two sets of the movie. The other set is a firehouse, where the movie begins. For this installment of her show, Angela is visiting a local firehouse to see how the firemen cope with overnight life. She visits the cafeteria, plays basketball in the gym, and quietly hopes - trying not to sound morbid - that the firehouse gets a call so they can show the firemen in action.
The call finally comes: a woman is screaming, trapped in her apartment. Angela and Pablo join two of the firemen and policemen in investigating the emergency, and along the way we meet many of the denizens of the old place, all complaining about the noise. They're a cross-section of average Spanish citizens from a variety of backgrounds. Many would say that here is your buffet of cannon fodder. They would not be wrong.
When they get into the apartment, they find the lady, cowering in the dark like a David Lynch character. Can't quite...see her properly. The obviously sick lady becomes Sick - with a capital "S" - when she bites down on one of the policemen and going after the others before she's shot. This routine call just went from tense to strange to downright bloody chaos in a matter of seconds, and it's all caught with Pablo's camera.
What follows is claustrophobic, frustrated terror as everyone inside is quarantined (yeah, see where they got the name for the remake?). The poor cannon fodder tenants are sealed inside with no explanation and faced with death by sniper if they try to escape. There must be some disease here, because people aren't taking the bites very well, and there was already a sick little girl to begin with - flu, they think. This is a movie about disease...what do you think it is? When a health inspector enters to assess the situation, he gets caught up in the bloody, bitey carnage.
It all comes together as to why the authorities are there, how they got there so quick, and the connection to one of the tenants inside. But it's all going to hell, and no one has time to sit around and think about the ins and outs and the whys and hows. People fall left and right, until it's just Angela and Pablo. That quick scene of the stairwell teeming with the infected, all growling and moaning as they sprint up the stairs, is utterly terrifying.
Like a great survival horror video game on speed, our newscasters must find a key to a door under the building. Finding the key was tough enough, but they are soon forced into a penthouse where a man from the Vatican lived. I'm not going to go into the details of this part of the movie. I can only tell you that the clues in the Vatican agent's pitch-dark apartment - think of it: why is someone from a religious powerhouse there? - lead to a chilling implication. Much more chilling than the remake, by far. And did you really think they'd be alone in this apartment?
Yeah.
It's safe to say that I absolutely dug this flick. Insane, fast-paced, and disturbing...all from a first-person perspective. You are there. You can't look away. And really, you shouldn't since this movie is an Awesome Sandwich.
There I go, back to the food analogies again. Those biters outside the safety fence are really carved on my subconscious, I suppose.
Let's see if I can be more consistent with this thing.
