[REC] 3: GENESIS REVIEW

  So this is my first review of a [REC] movie.  While I enjoyed the original movie, my experience was somewhat ruined because I saw Quarantine first. It was a good thing Quarantine 2 and [REC] 2 are totally different movies so my experience wasn’t ruined a second time. With no Quarantine 3 in sight, I was excited to watch [REC] 3: Genesis.

  Family and friends gather at a church to take part in the wedding of Koldo (Diego Martin) and Clara (Leticia Dolera). The audience gets up close and personal with many of them, as one of the family members films the big day. Also, the audience gets to meet Koldo and Clara, and sees the connection to the previous films. Soon enough, the couple successfully gets married, and the party begins. However, this wedding is about to be crashed!

  One of the effective things they do in this movie is stir the audience’s emotions, and then squash them. The first 15 minutes or so is used to meet people at the wedding, go through parts of the wedding ceremony, and show the happy couple celebrating one of the most important moments of their lives. While the audience might not bond with many family members, they should have good feelings for the newlyweds by the time the reception begins.

  Enter the zombies, and all those good feelings are eaten away. They make a complete mess of the reception, as family and friends quickly become part of this growing zombie army. The chaos of this scene is good, but is hard to make out with the camera going in and out, and all over the place. There is a simple solution to that problem. They get rid of the camera, which leads to the first big change in the franchise. While the first two movies are seen strictly from video cameras of people involved in the story, from here on out, this movie is shot like any standard movie. It is very interesting that they decided to give the audience a taste of both worlds.

  The switch of how the movie is seen leads to the other big change in the franchise, which is the type of horror film this becomes. Besides obviously being about zombies, the first two movies are definitely filled with scares, while having its moments of gore. This movie is the opposite, as it is filled with gore, while having a scare or two. This might excite some fans, but also come as a disappointment to others who really enjoyed the scares of the previous films.

  Being a fan of gore, I embraced the change. After seeing Clara with a chainsaw in the movie poster, I was really looking forward to seeing how she would use it. She didn’t disappoint, as it’s definitely a memorable moment. The only complaint with that scene is how she suddenly can kick like a ninja!

  As the movie progresses, there comes a point where the “Genesis” in the title begins to play a role. Without giving it totally away, I’ll just say it has to do with the zombies. I was really mad about it at first, but after going back to the previous films, I realize that it does fit the story. However, it kind of ruins the whole zombie thing, and is a little ridiculous.

  They use this ridiculousness in the movie’s final scene. Watching in disappointment, I will give them credit for a nice little surprise. It is very creative, and I didn’t see it coming. It helps set up what eventually happens to Koldo and Clara. With the movie continually toying with the audience’s emotions over the couple, it is no surprise that they couldn’t just leave them be. There is an absolutely fabulous moment with the two, which I would have been extremely happy with as the ending. However, they just had to play with those emotions up to the last second.

  [REC] 3 starts off in a similar manner to the previous films, but eventually becomes its own movie. There is a shift from a POV film to standard one, along with a move to more blood than scares. While it might not be what some fans of the franchise want to see, they do a good job of pulling it off. There is certainly a point to get the audience emotionally involved, especially leading up to what eventually happens to the newlyweds. Besides for the “Genesis” aspect of [REC] 3, I enjoyed this gory version enough to give it 3 pools of blood!

  HorrO