Article by FisterRoboto of lefthandhorror.com

Directed by Jaume Balagueró, & Paco Plaza

Written by Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza

Starring: Jonathan D. Mellor, Manuela Velasco and Óscar Zafra

The action continues from [REC], with the medical officer and a SWAT team outfitted with video cameras are sent into the sealed off apartment to control the situation.

I was so surprised to see the original [REC] unfold into a stylish found footage nightmare. I always have misgivings about sequels and we all know why. I was convinced this film was going to follow the path of the original for about the first ten minutes or so.

It’s approximately 70 minutes after the end of the first film and a SWAT team is granted access into the quarantined building. Led by what the SWAT team thinks is a governmental official, the group and their cameras begin to investigate the bloodbath left behind.

Little Suzie remembers she’s under contract for REC3.

It’s confirmed very quickly that the “zombies” are actually demons, people possessed by the evil spirit of the first captured demon. It meanders through a lot of unimpressive Vatican cover-up type stuff to eventually fall flat on its face. There is a huge disconnect between the this and the first film. You have zero, and I mean, zero reason to feel terrible for this next wave of victims entering the fray. These people are nothing but potential victims, and I promise there is an exponential increase in kills.

Stop taking pictures and start shooting.

Also gone from the first film is the great continuously shot cameraman pov. Much of 2 is a jumbled mess that delivers a pov straight down the barrel of a machine gun. If in the clutches of demon-zombie terror, we would all like to think our years of horror movie watching would prepare us to peek around every corner with our guns ready to blaze. It amazes me to see a SWAT guy caught with his pants down. Just heading into this situation should make your blood go cold. I would be shooting the shit out of everything in sight.

The second act is completely worthless.

Towards the very end of the movie we’re finally delivered a cool twist and one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve ever had the (dis)pleasure of seeing. Call me a sucker for Satan movies, but there is about 30 minutes of decent footage in [REC] 2. I was curious to see the fallout left by the first film, so this seemed like a decent bet. Unless you’re just dying to see the rest of the origin story, just skip it. 90 minutes was just too much time for dark hallways and group screaming. I found it to be solid meh material. I really do wish I had better news for you.