REC 2 (2010) Review

"I have to complete the mission."

-Dr. Owen

Picking up immediately after the first film ends, REC 2 follows a SWAT team as they enter the quarantined apartment building, escorting Dr. Owen (Jonathan Mellor), an official from the Ministry of Health, to gain control of the situation.  As they deal with the infected inside the building, the team learns that the cause of the infection may actually be supernatural.  In addition, Dr. Owen is not who he pretends to be and a group of teenagers have broken into the building to find out what is happening for themselves.

What Works:

While it can't match the scares of the original, there is enough tension in REC 2 to keep you on the edge of your seat.  The zombie sequences are always intense and this time they upped the amount of zombie-children our characters have to fight off.  I've always said the scariest zombies are zombie-kids and this movie doesn't hold back on that.  Plus, we get a sequence with one of the SWAT officers climbing through air ducts with zombies-kids in them.  It's claustrophobic and basically my worst nightmare.  The 3rd act of the movie is really intense.  We have our characters wandering in the dark, having to be completely silent, while the original zombie wanders around near by.  It's intense, and the zombie itself is terrifying.

REC 2 has a much better protagonist than the 1st film, who was very annoying.  Dr. Owen is an interesting character because he is lying about being a government official.  He's a priest and is on a mission from the Vatican to collect a blood sample.  It's a strange blend of faith and science, but I like it.  Plus it gives us a good reason for none of the characters being able to leave the building.  No one is allowed to leave unless Dr. Owen gives the order.  He forces the other characters to stay and help and protect him.  He's far more interesting than the lead from the first film.

With Dr. Owen, we get an interesting additional sub-genre to this film.  This isn't just a zombie movie, it's a possession movie.  We learn that the zombies are all possessed by a demon who can spread his presence through bites.  We even get a scene that is reminiscent of exorcisms.  It's a cool blend of genres.  I don't think I've ever seen a zombie-possession movie before and this is one of the main reasons REC 2 works.  It takes what worked from the previous film and adds something to it.  This is what all sequels should strive to do.

Finally, the teenage characters in this movie absolutely suck, which I'll get into, but I love how the adults in the movie do not put up with their crap for a second.  The firefighter, for example, slaps one and yells at them non-stop for basically being idiots.  And then when Dr. Owen's team finds them they tie up the one who got bitten and lock the other 2 in a room and barricade them in leaving them there for the rest of the film.  We never find out if they made it and our main group never talks about them again.  It's very satisfying to see such a stupid group of characters treated as such.  They got what they deserved.

What Sucks:

To continue with these teenagers, they are just awful, annoying characters.  And while I enjoyed seeing them get their just desserts, their motivation for being in the apartment is just awful.  I know teenagers are stupid, but I refuse to believe any would be stupid enough to go into a quarantined building like this.  I simply can't suspend my disbelief that much.  It felt really lazy.  And their motivation isn't the only one I had a problem with.  Martos (Alejandro Casaseca), the first SWAT officer to die, is sent into one of the apartments alone and has a fight with a zombie.  I just don't believe the team would send him in alone and would wait that long to send backup in.  It doesn't jive with their behavior in the rest of the film.  Someone needed to go into this script and find some character motivation that actually makes sense.

Finally, there is some really repetitive dialogue amongst Dr. Owen and the SWAT team.  They keep saying the same things over and over about collecting the blood sample, completing the mission, and filming everything.  I get they needed to pad the runtime, but come on, be a little more creative than that.

Verdict:

Though not quite as good as the original, REC 2 is a solid sequel, with a much better protagonist, solid scares, stupid characters who are treated as such, and the addition of the possession sub-genre.  Though some character motivation doesn't make sense and the dialogue is repetitive, REC 2 is a fine example of what horror sequels should strive to be and it definitely has got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good