The rare sequel that's better than the last one: [REC] 4

[REC] 3 is generally, and rightly, considered a mess of a movie. It's not a bad zombie movie, per se, but it missed the point entirely of the first two movies, and feels like an entirely different zombie movie renamed to be a part of the franchise.

So imagine my surprise when Aimee and I decided to watch [REC] 4: Apocalypse the other night, and discovered that it was actually A) a legit sequel to the first two movies, and B) pretty decent.

The first two films, of course, are two of the better "found footage" films, as well as solid zombie movies*. They're set in a sealed apartment building, and deal with a zombie outbreak that seems to have potentially both religious and scientific origins.

The third films's just a mess of a parallel movie, detailing a supposedly related outbreak at a wedding that just doesn't fit in with the other movies.

This one follows the first two, picking up after [REC 2], with a group of government agents getting into the building and rescuing the one survivor -- Ángela -- who might or might not be the host for the strange parasite that spreads the zombie plague and which the Vatican thinks is the cause of demonic possession. After being rescued, she wakes up to find herself on a boat, along with various scientific and military personal studying her. The movie wisely abandons the first-person shakycam, but both security cameras and the footage from the first two movies play a role in the plot. There's one character who supposedly survived the massacre in the third film, but nothing about her story requires seeing that movie, thankfully.

Things go horribly awry whens someone on the boat manages to break into the scientific labs and release a monkey infected with the virus. You can probably guess the larger outline of what happens next, but it's the specifics of how the main characters (who, aside from Ángela, include a pair of soldiers, some scientists, and the ship's tech guru) deal with the outbreak that really makes the movie work. It takes the elements of the first two movies to a logical conclusion, has (as always) a number of interesting characters, and is thoroughly intense throughout. It's not as good as the first movie, but it does form a nice ending to the story, and is absolutely worth seeing if you're already invested in the series**.


*The entire series, for those who don't know, is from Spain, and stands with the original version of The Orphanage as its most notable horror success on this side of the pond in recent years, even as France and the Scandinavian countries have dominated the genre.

**Probably not the ideal starting point if you haven't seen the first two movies, mind you. See those first!

The rare sequel that's better than the last one: [REC] 4

[REC] 3 is generally, and rightly, considered a mess of a movie. It's not a bad zombie movie, per se, but it missed the point entirely of the first two movies, and feels like an entirely different zombie movie renamed to be a part of the franchise.

So imagine my surprise when Aimee and I decided to watch [REC] 4: Apocalypse the other night, and discovered that it was actually A) a legit sequel to the first two movies, and B) pretty decent.

The first two films, of course, are two of the better "found footage" films, as well as solid zombie movies*. They're set in a sealed apartment building, and deal with a zombie outbreak that seems to have potentially both religious and scientific origins.

The third films's just a mess of a parallel movie, detailing a supposedly related outbreak at a wedding that just doesn't fit in with the other movies.

This one follows the first two, picking up after [REC 2], with a group of government agents getting into the building and rescuing the one survivor -- Ángela -- who might or might not be the host for the strange parasite that spreads the zombie plague and which the Vatican thinks is the cause of demonic possession. After being rescued, she wakes up to find herself on a boat, along with various scientific and military personal studying her. The movie wisely abandons the first-person shakycam, but both security cameras and the footage from the first two movies play a role in the plot. There's one character who supposedly survived the massacre in the third film, but nothing about her story requires seeing that movie, thankfully.

Things go horribly awry whens someone on the boat manages to break into the scientific labs and release a monkey infected with the virus. You can probably guess the larger outline of what happens next, but it's the specifics of how the main characters (who, aside from Ángela, include a pair of soldiers, some scientists, and the ship's tech guru) deal with the outbreak that really makes the movie work. It takes the elements of the first two movies to a logical conclusion, has (as always) a number of interesting characters, and is thoroughly intense throughout. It's not as good as the first movie, but it does form a nice ending to the story, and is absolutely worth seeing if you're already invested in the series**.


*The entire series, for those who don't know, is from Spain, and stands with the original version of The Orphanage as its most notable horror success on this side of the pond in recent years, even as France and the Scandinavian countries have dominated the genre.

**Probably not the ideal starting point if you haven't seen the first two movies, mind you. See those first!