Movie Review: [Rec] 2

Synopsis: The action continues from [Rec] (reviewed here), with the medical officer and a SWAT team outfitted with video cameras are sent into the sealed off apartment to control the situation.

Several years ago I loved a little low budget Spanish horror film called [Rec] that seemed to come out of nowhere to deliver some first rate shocks and scares. When I saw there would be a sequel I was prepared to be disappointed, but this is far from it. There are a lot of great shocks and plenty of ghastly fun in this one as well.

It's the same set-up, a quarantined apartment building full of infected zombie-like residents in Barcelona, and in fact it picks up immediately after the original so watch that one first for a refresher for maximum fun. Like the original, it's shot from the point-of-view of character's cameras, so you're right there in the action. At times it feels like a first-person shooter type video game as the SWAT team clears rooms. But it's not only the perspective of the SWAT team, as also in the 2nd act it's told from the point of view of some teens who find a way in. Eventually the 2 stories intersect of course and it sort of moves into a 3rd act and finale.

The pace is frenetic and right off the bat it throws you right in the middle of plenty of gore and creepy scares. It's much more story driven than character driven and it gives quite a twist when explaining some of the questions the first movie left out there hanging. Let's just say that where the first one dabbled at the end with a more supernatural element, this expands on that.

A solid horror film and worthy follow-up and I'll say the same thing I wrote in my review of that one... "a lot of great visuals, dreadful atmosphere, gripping tension and some really creepy moments".

8/10