[Rec] 2

On one hand, it's nice that it directly follows the first film, but on the other hand, it's nothing more than a repetition of what happened in the first film, except that we mostly see everything from the perspective of soldiers tasked with evacuating the building or, rather, figuring out what actually happened. It’s decent enough, but it's not something that blew me away. (08/27/2016)

A bit weaker, though it goes at full throttle from the very beginning and immediately picks up the desperate and oppressive atmosphere from the end of the first part. The filmmakers obviously set out to kick the viewer's ass as much as possible, they made absolute morons of the main characters, driving them into bigger and bigger, more and more suspenseful and more and more disgusting shit, with blood splattering all over the place, one attack of bloodthirsty zombies followed by another, and heads blown off with shotguns being par for the course. Unfortunately, this spectacular and immensely entertaining ride is increasingly undermined by a stylistically mismanaged and nonsensical twist about Satan. If the directors had dropped it and stuck to the deadly virus and the zombies, I wouldn't hesitate to give it a full rating, because this film doesn't let up for a second and the spooky finale in the dark is once again perfect. It's a pity, but they just wanted to make the best possible starting point for the next sequel, the quality of which I already have big doubts about. (08/11/2011)

When I heard a spoiler some time ago about the acrobatics the creators had performed on the story of my favourite horror film, I began to feel quite scared. Unnecessarily so. Firstly, that information cannot be considered a spoiler (that the zombies aren’t zombies is revealed in the first few minutes). Secondly, the twist doesn’t feel at all forced, the events develop smoothly and the script as a whole feels well put together and purposeful, to the point that I’d be willing to believe the creators were counting on this sequel, even before making the first part. The last fifteen minutes of the first part made me feel deeply scared, which didn’t happen in the sequel (the adrenaline ride label is very accurate), but it still won me over thanks to its pace, the bloodiness, the more interesting plot (and its supernatural moments in particular) and the ending, which moves the story in a completely different direction. Looking back at it (initial fears notwithstanding), I’m glad that the creators weren’t afraid to change the subgenre of the sequel. We already had perfect zombie horror, now we have perfect action (censored) horror. In short, I enjoyed returning to that house in Barcelona and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. (02/25/2010)

[REC] 2 fleshes out the reasons for the events of the first installment, and that's one of the reasons why the film might downright piss some people off. Personally, I didn't find a problem with it, and *POTENTIAL SPOILER* enriching the zombie horror with elements of exorcist horror didn't seem like a downright bad idea. What sinks the film, however, are the main characters and the hellish lack of logic. They make the film quite confusing at times. Of course, the characters are incredibly stupid, the band of kids with a camera got on my nerves like few things do. Until those three stupid people disappeared from the picture, I honestly suffered. So why the four stars? Incredibly great and unscrupulous gore and at times strong suspense. Fantastically masked creatures and legendary headshots (I had a good laugh at one). And the scene of the shotgun blasting the head off the little boy is awesome. That's why I’m rating the film the way I am. (04/12/2010)

If it had been made in Hollywood, I think of how overseas scouts liquidate talent, but Balagueró and Plaza have clearly liquidated themselves. The main trump card of the first film, the nagging feeling that all it takes is a little religious insanity for a similar situation to arise, is demolished by a series of backward explanations that kick logic in the head and destroy all tension. This is helped by stereotypical police SWAT characters, an utterly moronic trio of teenagers, and one absolutely "WTF?!" resurrection. It wasn't boring (although the lack of longer "steady cams" hurts), but it pissed me off (after half an hour permanently), and that's worse. 1 ½ stars for the bloody details. The rest gets both middle fingers up! (02/25/2010)