THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

Taking place only minutes after the first film ended, in an attempt to ascertain just what is happening inside the ill-fated apartment building and, hopefully, bring a conclusion to the matter, a GEO team (basically the Spanish version of a SWAT team) and a medical officer head inside the quarantined building. However, not everything is as it seems as the true scope of the plague is realised.

MY VERDICT:

This sequel to the found-footage style Spanish Zombie horror film Rec, is - like the original - definitely to be recommended. It's a joy to see that, once again, the developers are adhering to strict rules of authenticity such as filming in the same building as the first movie, re-hiring the original movie's actors to reprise their roles (mostly to play the now infected versions of their characters) and painstakingly recreating cluttered locations from the first film that would be seen again in this sequel despite most of the props having been thrown away in the two years since the first Rec was shot. This believability that you are watching something that could actually be only seconds after the events of Rec is really cool and does the film credit - your mind will be racing to say 'I remember that bit' or 'I know that guy'. I also adore the heavier focus on the religious and demonic nature of the plague. Having learned that the Zombies are actually demon Zombies at the end of the first film, it is awesome, if a little strange, to see ravenous Zombies stopped by crucifixes and rosaries. The demon-dead also speak this time around, in deep The Exorcist style voices - they only do so when they absolutely must or to chide people in the way only beings of pure evil can, maintaining the realism. There are some truly gruesome effects used too, ensuring the Zombies look the part. My favourite accolade from the 'behind the scenes' look at the movie is that the actor who played the priest kept forgetting his lines during his biblical interrogation with one of the demon Zombies because the demon Zombie looked so damn scary up-close. Another amazing detail is that the helmet-mounted cameras worn by the GEO team members actually worked as fully-functioning cameras and that the footage cuts seen in the movie of what their characters were seeing and hearing is actually what the actors were seeing and hearing - again making everything more impactful and believable. In fact, Rec 2 is so high-quality, giving more of the original's thrills while ironing out the flaws, there is only one part I do not like. Towards the end of the movie, there is the concept of the 'main enemy' - the cursed demon-corrupted character who caused the plague - is trapped in a prison of darkness. Now, I have no problem with this as it fits with the religious setting of the film but when the physical geometry of the apartment building changes as the remaining survivors turn their lights off, the movie goes too far for me; with the previous thorough focus on authenticity and realism, this physics-bending shift is too much for my brain to handle.