Tuesday, 4 September 2012

DVD: [REC] 3 - Genesis (dir: Paco Plaza, 2012)

"This is MY day!"

The opening fifteen minutes - a regular family wedding - works well in the signature shaky-cam style (if a little long-winded), and then the splatter really hits the fan as the film turns into a stylistic 'anti-[REC]' (a deliberate decision revealed in the extras).  In an about-turn for the series, this third instalment then becomes a very deliberately-lit, conventionally-edited 80s European horror throwback with a deliriously melodramatic music score, which offers some deliciously daft moments but offers little that is new in the genre.  The leads are enjoyable to watch, and this is an effectively-made film, but tonally it really is hard to tell at times if this is an affectionate homage or a nicely-knowing spoof.  At a scant 75 minutes, [REC] 3 packs in a lot of narrative manoeuvres and is an enjoyable watch for horror fans, but the subtle parallel links with the action of the first two movies merely serve as a reminder of the power of its predecessors.

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