Fear revisited.Director: Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza
Writer: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza & Manu Diez
Cast: Jonathan Mellor, Óscar Sánchez Zafra, Ariel Casas, Alejandro Casaseca, Andrea Ros, Pep Molina & Pablo Rosso
Studio: Magnet
Special Features: Deleted and Extended Scenes, Behind the Scenes, A Walkthrough of the Set, Sitages Festival Press Conference & [REC] 2 on Tour
I don’t think any horror film should be a “franchise.” So much of a horror film is in its mystery. When a sequel starts out, a lot of that mystery is lost because the audience knows what the “scary thing” is, whatever it is – a psychotic person, a haunted house, an evil doll, etc. The other problem is sequels are usually based on standalone films that aren’t a part of a larger story to tell, so a sequel, which the studio rushes into production in order to cash in on the success of the first, often re-tells the same story. [REC] 2 doesn’t avoid the first issue, and it suffers as a result, but the way its story builds off its first installment leaves it with at least an entertaining narrative.
An entire apartment complex is under quarantine hours after an infectious, viral outbreak. Because it’s unclear what exactly happened in the building, a SWAT team – equipped with helmet-mounted cameras – is tasked with escorting Dr. Owen (Mellor), an official from the Ministry of Health, into the building to record and document whatever they find. And what they find is a surprising source of infection – that doesn’t exactly surprise everyone – and a lot of infected people. Now they must finish their mission before they’ll be allowed back out of the building.
I’m not sure whether it was by deliberate intent or blind luck that Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, the duo responsible for the first film, left so many unanswered questions at the conclusion of their first installment: What is the source of the infection? What exactly is the infection? What happened to the building afterwards? And with these questions, they’ve certainly left themselves plenty of story to explore, which likely accounts for both the prequel and sequel currently in development. This helps when you set out to make a sequel because you have several different stories you can tell when you write the second film. [REC] 2 is successful as a sequel in that it takes place immediately following the events of the first film, and it expounds upon some of the allusions made in that film.
[REC] 2 also tries to break the mold set in place by the first film, and it does a lot right in this department. With an entire SWAT team in the building this time, there are multiple cameras that enable our perspective to jump throughout the building, as the team is slowly separated. Two additional cameras also make their way into the building and offer intersecting storylines that weave throughout the primary narrative. [REC] 2 simply feels bigger than its predecessor, which any sequel should, despite its overwhelming majority being set in the same little apartment building as the first.
Unfortunately, however, [REC] 2 doesn’t deliver as many scares. It has some well-crafted jump scares, and a couple of scenes that’ll give you the creeps – the infected children are a creepy lot – but it doesn’t build up the same atmosphere. And this is the problem inherent to any horror sequel. The terror of the first film was in the discovery of an infection that’s slowly permeating throughout the building and gradually overwhelming those uninfected. But with this film you already know the building is full of infected – the SWAT team is literally in danger the moment they step the building – and so the film starts out with an intensity to it. But it fizzles out. I found its narrative entertaining, though, so [REC] 2 is still a nice companion piece to the first installment. It offers some answers but not as many scares.