THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

A couple's wedding day turns horrific as demonic Zombies show up; the same strange disease that ravaged a downtown apartment building in the first two Rec films has, carried on the backs of unsuspecting guests, spread into the wedding venue of Clara and Koldo. Carnage and chaos unfolding around them, the newly-weds make a desperate bid to survive... will it be happily ever after or a marriage made in Hell?

MY VERDICT:

This third instalment in the Rec franchise is hands-down terrible; a truly disastrous attempt to take the amazing formula created by the first two movies and turn it into a more 'regular' movie; abandoning the found-footage style. In a nutshell, that is what Rec 3: Genesis gets so earth-shatteringly wrong; it takes more-or-less everything that made the first movies so great and throws it in the bin. The film does open with some found-footage action of the wedding and it maintains a slow-burn build up - you already know things are going to go, literally, to Hell, and this part of the movie is definitely watchable. However, when the demonic Zombies show up, the camera changes from found-footage to conventional cinema filming angles and all sense of in-your-face authenticity vanishes. It is still watchable, still somewhat entertaining as the Zombies still sprint about madly, devouring revellers and there are some unique, gory kills but aside from that, it's bog-standard Zombie survival in the slightly comical venue of a wedding. This comedy is central to the movie with tones of good versus evil which is a welcome play on the religious, demonic nature of the Rec films but, sadly, frustratingly often, the film just takes things too far, ending up with completely unbelievable silliness, especially the absurd ending which sees the living walk right past the dead, stunned into idleness by prayer. There is one aspect of the film I do like however in that, when the Zombies are seen in a reflection, it is their true demon form which is shown, not their physical possessed human appearance. In summary, Rec 3 should be avoided by all but the most devout fans of the Rec franchise, and even then, do not go in expecting anything like the quality of the sublime, first two movies.