Plot:
Young newlyweds Koldo and Clara are getting married. This should be the greatest day in their lives, but then someone at the reception gets sick, and then people start getting eaten. Their happy day is about to get really, really messy…
Review:
In 2007, the zombie genre was turned on its collective head by the modern Spanish masterpiece REC. A rare success in the “found footage†gimmick of filmmaking, It was lean, taut, chilling, and a complete kick to the nuts. It quickly became a must-see.
The sequel, 2009’s REC 2, was almost, but not quite as good as the original. Taking place about an hour after the first one ended, it followed a similar blueprint with the “You are there†style of gimmickry that was so effective in the first one. Still a decent movie in its own right, both movies serve as a decent one-two punch.
So, along comes REC 3:Genesis, the dreaded third entry into a franchise that didn’t really need a third movie. Can it live up to the high standards set up by the first two?
Well, yes and no.
Instead of taking place at the Barcelona apartment building that was the location for the first two REC movies, GENESIS tosses us a curveball. We see the home movie footage of a wedding between Koldo (Diego Martin) and Clara (Leticia Dolera). It is the type of wedding that most couples would dream about. Lots of family members. Grand church. Huge reception, the works. For the first part of the movie, we are swept up in the new couple’s happiness as they get married and head to their reception. No mention is made of the events of the first two movies. The only clue given is the bandaged hand and odd behavior of one of the wedding guests.
GENESIS’ strongest part comes at the reception, once the infected guest snaps and throws the whole thing into chaos. Director Paco Plaza has a neat visual eye, and his use of light and sound during the wedding assault was top notch. The Found Footage idea works best here, as you feel like you are right in the middle of complete mayhem. There is a bit of maniacal glee at play here. As the carnage builds, and the survivors struggle to find a way out, the movie is at its best.
At this point, something odd happens. The whole Found Footage idea is tossed out, and the movie shifts into a rather straightforward narrative as the separated couple struggles to reunite. Aside from a sequence where Clara goes on the offensive with nothing but a chainsaw (seeing a blood-spattered bride go to work on a zombie with a chainsaw almost as big as she is qualifies as something I can cross off my bucket list), the third act of the movie feels like it was brought in from a completely different movie. What was another potential classic gets lost in a generic and rather cheesy ending.
Acting wise, there really isn’t anything to write home about. Diego Martin was convincing enough as the determined groom, and cutie Leticia Dolera did what she had to do, hitting all the right notes. Her transformation from glowing bride to chainsaw-wielding zombie killer was effective and realistic. Everyone else in the movie could have been relatives of the filmmakers for all I know.
I really wanted to like REC 3, and I did, up until that inexplicable shift in the third act. I really did not care that it didn’t try to tie itself into the events of the first two movies (if you look carefully, you can see news footage from the apartment building from the first two movies playing on a TV in the background). I wanted the ending that the first part of the movie promised us, and not the warmed over crap we got.
It’s not that REC 3 is a bad movie, but it could have been so much more. All in all, it’s still better than most of the nonsense that passes for zombie movies nowadays though.
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