By Keri O’Shea
The Rec franchise – for such it has become – must figure as one of the most successful Euro-horror exports of the past decade. In many ways very much of its time, what with the original film being one of the most famous/infamous [delete as applicable] ‘found footage’ style movies in the sub-genre, the films managed to boast a highly original element, too; not content with simply pitching its zombies as an undead horde probably driven onwards by the obligatory virus, Rec hinted tantalisingly at a possible religious or spiritual cause behind it all. It was an idea that was just genre-splicing enough to work.
What a shame, then, that Rec has lost its way so badly by the time we come to Rec 4. Whilst I don’t have anything approaching the ire for Rec 3: Genesis that many other film fans have (yes, it was a strange diversion from the first two films, but I found it fun nonetheless), it’s hard not to see the ‘final’ Rec film as something of a cop out; unable to tie up all of those interesting loose ends in a coherent or particularly enjoyable way, it rather seems not to resolve things at all – maybe even hedging bets enough to make you wonder whether this is, indeed, the last we’ll see of Rec. In lieu of clarity, originality or even a satisfactory zombie movie, Balagueró has taken the oddball decision to drown out the plot with ample shouting, poorly-written characters and gaping, maw-like plot holes. Considering what he can do, I’m baffled. Maybe other pressures were at work here, or maybe I’m just making excuses. The end result is, sadly, the same.
Rec 4 picks up at the end of the Rec plot proper, more or less ignoring the Rec 3 hiccup (though taking the decision to directly reference it as well – a somewhat clumsy please-all, which speaks volumes about the writing choices at play here). We’re back to that apartment block and that mysterious virus – and I’m not getting into a debate with myself or anyone else about whether or not its inmates are zombies or simply ‘infected’ – with a Raid style ascent through the floors by a group of armed guards, intent on setting explosive charges which will blow the place to Kingdom Come. That goes characteristically smoothly with ne’er an issue, but at least before the remaining men get out of there, they find reporter Angela (Manuela Velasco) who, traumatised but otherwise intact, accompanies them…
…onto a boat – not a well-equipped or a military boat, and via decision-making which isn’t exactly clear – where she is submitted to medical tests by a team of doctors, who are of course trying to ascertain whether or not she is carrying the ill-fated virus which offed the apartment residents. She doesn’t take too kindly to the situation and busts out of there, teaming up momentarily with some of the military personnel that rescued her. Gradually, they begin to piece together where they are and why (no one seems to remember getting there, though to be fair I’ve had voyages like that) just in time for all hell to break loose, when someone decides to release an infected monkey. As you do. Of course, had any of the high-security medical team bothered to talk to the captain and found out that it was, would you believe it, his ‘last voyage’, then they’d have read the signs and not commandeered this particular vessel, but perhaps medical personnel of this kind don’t have time for trope-spotting.
That’s the worst thing about Rec 4, really – it’s just all so bloody obvious. Sure, I was grateful that, alike with Rec 3, they have more or less disposed with the hand-held camera motif and instead made this as a straightforward, even nicely-shot film, even if the camera does whirl around a bit (more found footage stylings would have broken the camel’s back and felt derivative at this stage), but its other elements have all been done better elsewhere. It’s also hugely frustrating that there was adequate, even ample time here to do something truly engaging with the interesting plot lines, but they don’t. Instead, time is spent on filler scenes which seem only to scream, ‘I’m biding my time until someone gets bitten.’ A chef preparing a lamb dish, for what felt like minutes; several probably expensive, but needless external shots of the ship moving through the sea. However, what felt like the biggest injustice was the patchy writing for Velasco’s character: having established her as one of the most likeable and punchy heroines in modern horror during the first film, here she’s reduced to being borderline tangential in much of the film – a girl who scampers and yells – not much more, and sometimes less. Put her up against a sequence of zombies who, by nature of so many of them being military men of similar height, weight and outfit look more or less identical, and what you have here is a derivative-seeming video game.
If you’re particularly forgiving of the zombie genre and can happily sit through anything which can offer you fast action and gore, then Rec 4 may make it under your radar – as it certainly offers both of those things, and presents them reasonably stylishly. Look, given the right mood I think most of us will enjoy a mindless zombie horror, but when it has the Rec label slapped on it, then you might just expect better, especially given the way it’s been built up as The End. If it is – if it really is – then I think this is a damp squib for the franchise to go out on; Rec 4 sacrifices the mystery and intrigue which prior films built up so effectively, dancing through an array of minimal exposition prior to an oddball jokey ending, and giving us something which feels sadly rushed and scant.
Rec 4: Apocalypse is available on DVD and Blu-ray now.