REC 4 - Apocalypse

I am not fan of horror movies because I really hate to be scared. I don't like roller coasters or other such rides for the same reason. However, when REC first came out I was intrigued by the very idea of a European zombie movie. European cinema is not exactly the first place you would think of when you think 'zombie'. Spain doesn't seem like the place where a classic of the genre would come from either. All of these factors just make REC a better film than it has any right to be. You think you have seen everything a zombie movie can give you but you are wrong if you haven't seen REC.

Unlike most movie series, the subsequent sequels have been equally good. REC 3 was particularly effective by having a zombie outbreak ruin the best day of a woman's life. Hard to kill the zombies when they are the friends and family you were celebrating with when your wedding began a few hours earlier.

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I knew I commented on the first REC film. Here is my review from 2009.

I made a weird choice in watching this zombie movie from Spain. After reading a review in Entertainment Weekly and consulting Rotten Tomatoes (95%) I downloaded the movie and had a choice to watch it in its original Spanish with subtitles or the dubbed English version. The dubbing was atrocious with what sounded like the same person doing multiple male voices. It reminded me of the worse of the dubbed kung fu dramas they play on satellite on Monday nights.

The story is a simple one. A very cute young reporter, doing a show called 'Up All Night' is reporting on the goings on at a big city fire department. The POV style and shaking hand-held camera work sets the mood and tone as we follow the reporter, her cameramen and two firefighters on a call to assist some apartment dwellers. They break into an apartment to investigate some screaming that was heard by other tenants. What they find is an infected old woman making weird noises. Then all hell breaks loose.

The POV style creates some genuinely creepy moments as we only see what the camera is pointing at the time. This limitation forces you to react only to what you know immediately around you and that is disturbing especially in this type of subject matter. For reasons unknown at the time the building is quarantined and thus is a similar to the English language movie coincidentally called Quarantine. I plan to see the American version after finishing this Spanish original. I can see why they remade it in English. Its a different take on the zombie genre. The building is a confusing labyrinth of staircases and dark twisty hallways - just the kind of environment you want for a claustrophobic zombie thriller. I set the 'pucker factor' of this movie at about an 11. Today seems to be my day for seeing gruesome death scenes and this movie really works the special effects department. Not for young eyes I assure you. And one more thing I would like to say to the character in this and every other zombie movie. If you get bit AFTER TAKING YOUR EYES OFF OF THE ZOMBIE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, then you deserved it. I have no sympathy for you.