Runtime: 80 minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: September 7, 2012
Director: Paco Plaza
“Rec 3: Genesis” opens with the
traditional slideshow presentation that everyone secretly hates from
weddings. Through two cameras, we learn that Koldo and Clara are the
lucky young couple. After exchanging vows and doing a truly lame
rehearsed dance at the reception, Koldo's uncle Adrian interrupts
with what he claims is a dog bite. Naturally, the dog bite turns out
to be a bite from an infected person.
Once he bites a few people, everyone in
the party starts running for the hills. Koldo winds up with a group
that includes a little girl from the wedding party, his cousin, the
wedding videographer, and oddly enough, a man who shows up at wedding
receptions to see what songs the band plays so he can make sure
musicians get their royalties. Clara heads off with the priest and
eventually finds herself with the best man Rafa.
“Rec 3: Genesis” is essentially a
love story that takes place in the middle of a zombie attack. Clara
and Koldo basically do anything that it takes to find their way back
to each other, even if it means donning medieval garb like Koldo
does, or taking a chainsaw to her wedding dress like Clara does. The
film also has a nifty little ending that is just as bleak and unhappy
as the ending to the other films.
What I particularly liked about this
one is that it introduced some humorous elements. There's the
children's performer hired for the reception who goes by the name of
SpongeJohn because of his generic SpongeBob costume, and Rafa who is
more concerned about getting lucky than he is about the potential
outbreak. Clara has a few great moments too, like when she puts the
heel of her shoe through the eye of one zombie, and she later takes
out two more with a chainsaw through the head. Oh, and that outfit on
the poster? She actually makes it herself by sawing through her dress
with the same chainsaw.
What I didn't like about the film is
that it relies more on slick camera work than the handheld cameras
that permeated the earlier films. While some might applaud the fact
that “Rec 3: Genesis” uses better cameras, I have to say that I
miss the “found footage” elements from the other films. I
appreciate that it uses those elements early on, but when it jumps to
the newer cameras, it feels a little jarring.
The relationship between Klodo and
Clara is a little unbelievable at times too. They have their funny
moments, like when she announces over the loudspeaker that she's
pregnant, but then tells her family that it wasn't a shotgun wedding.
It seems like she's more willing to save him than he is to save her.
In one scene, she climbs a ladder from a tunnel under the building
because he's standing over a grate above her. He tells her to climb
back down, knowing that there are infected people there,
to retrieve a screwdriver that his group lost earlier in the movie.
Really Klodo, you couldn't find a butter knife or something in there
to unscrew the grate yourself?
I'm
also not a big fan of the religious aspects of the movie. If the
infected can be stopped by quoting the Bible, why did no one ever try
this before? Despite that, it gets two big thumbs up from me. The
kill scenes kept me entertained and the humor kept me laughing. As
one of my friends said after the credits rolled, “why can't we make
horror movies like that?”
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