REC 2

REC 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jaume Balagueró Paco Plaza
Produced by	Julio Fernández Carlos Fernández
Written by	Jaume Balagueró Paco Plaza Manu Díez
Based on	Characters by Jaume Balaguero Paco Plaza
Starring	Manuela Velasco Jonathan Mellor Oscar Sánchez Zafra Ariel Casas Alejandro Casaseca Pablo Rosso Claudia Silva
Cinematography	Pablo Rosso
Edited by	Xavi Gimenez[1]
Production company	Filmax International Castelao Productions
Distributed by	Magnolia Pictures
Release dates	2 October 2009 (2009-10-02)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	Spain
Language	Spanish
Box office	$18.4 million

REC 2 (stylized as [•REC]²) is a 2009 Spanish horror film sequel to 2007's REC and the second installment of the REC film series. The film was written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, both of whom returned from the previous film. The story takes place immediately after the events of the first film.^[2] The film was followed by REC 3: Genesis.

Plot

Dr. Owen (Jonathan Mellor), an official from the Ministry of Health, and a heavily armed GEO team equipped with video cameras are sent into a quarantined apartment building to control the situation. After Martos, a GEO operator, is killed and infected encountering some of the infected, Owen uses religious mantra and rosary to hold him off in a room. It turns out that Owen is actually a priest sent by the Vatican to get a blood sample from a possessed girl named Tristana Medeiros, the same attacker from the end of the previous film.

At the penthouse, Tristana is nowhere to be found. Larra, one of the GEO operators, finds a sample of her (Tristana's) blood – the only one that the original priest took from her. Owen performs a religious rite, and the blood combusts, confirming that it is the blood he's looking for; however, Fernandez, commanding officer of the GEO team drops it, rendering it useless. Owen tells them that they must get a blood sample from Tristana herself.

Jennifer's father, who was outside getting medicine for his daughter (the infected Jennifer from the first installment), manages to convince a firefighter to take him into the building. Three teenagers, Tito, Mire and Ori gain access to the building through the sewage system; however, police seal their exit. After the deaths of Larra, Jennifer's father, and the firefighter from attacks by the possessed, the two groups find each other. However, Tito has been bitten, and they restrain him and lock Mire and Ori in a room where their fates are left unknown. The group then finds Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco), the reporter from REC, who still has her camera with her. Owen forces Tito to tell him where Tristana Medeiros is. The demon possessing Tito tells him that she is "in the highest." Owen figures out that this means that she is in the penthouse. The demon then gives a hint that the "light" blinds them from seeing the path. When Ángela is asked how she saw Tristana, she says she saw her through the camera's night vision. Owen deduces that some things can only be seen in the dark.

They go back to the penthouse. When they turn on the camera's night vision, a door appears that leads them to a room. They find a tub filled with water that cannot be seen when the lights are on. While the GEO chief, Fernandez investigates it, Tristana leaps out and drags him in and then disappears as the light is turned on. When Tristana attacks them again, Ángela blows her head off with a shotgun, finally killing her. Owen is enraged because he needed the blood sample, but all Ángela wants to do is leave the building. At this point, the only survivors are Ángela, Owen, and Rosso, the GEO cameraman. When Owen refuses to authorize their exit, Ángela starts to beat him. Rosso tells her to stop, but she shoots and kills him. It is revealed that the demon possessing Tristana has now possessed Ángela so she can leave the building. After telling Owen that she does not need him to get out, as she can impersonate his voice, she kills him. She takes his radio and says that the mission is over and they can let them out. She also tells them that he is staying behind because he is infected and the only survivor is a woman, Ángela. When asked how the woman survived, the demonic Ángela looks at the camera and smiles.

The ending of the first film is shown, but extended to reveal how the demon possessed Ángela (by forcing her mouth open and transferring some type of large parasite into her mouth), and then as Ángela, went into hiding as Owen and the GEO team broke into the penthouse earlier in the film.

Cast

• Jonathan Mellor as Dr. Owen
• Manuela Velasco as Angela Vidal
• Javier Botet as Tristana Medeiros
• Oscar Sánchez Zafra as Chief Fernández
• Ariel Casas as Larra
• Alejandro Casaseca as Martos
• Pablo Rosso as Rosso
• Claudia Silva as Jennifer
• Andrea Ros as Mire
• Pep Molina as Jennifer's Father

Production

Following the success of REC, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza signed on for a sequel.^[3] Principal photography began on 10 November 2008 and wrapped in December 2008.^[4] The film reunites the directors with many of the original cast and crew members of the previous film.^[5] It was shot in Barcelona over six weeks.^[6]

Release

The film premiered at the 66th Venice International Film Festival, out of competition.^[7] It was also shown at the Midnight Madness portion of the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, as well as the 2009 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas,^[8] and the 2009 Sitges Film Festival. It went on general release in Spain the first weekend of October, going to No. 1 in the Spanish box office and achieving the best opening weekend of the year for a Spanish film.^[9]

REC 2 was released in New Zealand theaters by Vendetta Films on 13 November 2009.^[10] The marketing budget for the film, NZ$7500, was used to create a website,^[11] where the remaining $5000 marketing budget would be given away to the member of the public who was judged responsible for the most good publicity generated for the release of the film.^[12] Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the film on DVD in October 2010.^[13] In March 2010 Magnolia Pictures acquired the rights for the US market^[14] and will screen the film in a theatrical release in July 2010.^[15] The distributor Magnolia pictures will screen the film on Video on Demand platforms on 4 June 2010^[16] and released the film only on DVD.^[17] Magnolia has the film set with a release on 9 July 2010^[18] and released on 30 March 2010 the UK trailer.^[19]

The film was released on 28 May 2010 in the UK. It is part of the Terror in the Aisles 4 at the Portage Theater in Chicago, Illinois.^[20]

Reception

REC 2 received generally positive reviews with a "fresh" 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 68 reviews. Some critics have given the film praise: Little White Lies gave the film 4/5 and called it "The greatest zombie sequel since Dawn of the Dead".^[21] Empire also awarded the film 4 stars, saying: "Here’s a horror juddering with such in-your-face malevolent energy, it’s like being caught in a first-person shooter possessed by the devil".^[22] However, the Daily Mirror awarded the film 2 stars, and reviewer David Edwards stated it was "a bit of a W[rec]k."^[23]

Sequels

On 3 May 2010, Bloody Disgusting announced that "...Filmax will produce two new [REC] films in the next couple of years called [REC] 3: Genesis and [REC] 4 with the same directors as the first two films."^[24] Genesis was released on 30 March 2012, and centers on an outbreak in a distant location from the original apartment building, also having prequel elements.^[25][26] [REC] 4 ended the saga with the infection spreading on a ship. The movie was released 31 October 2014 .^[27]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: REC 2

• Official website (US)
• Official website (Spain)
• REC 2 at the Internet Movie Database
• REC 2 at AllMovie
• REC 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• REC 2 at Metacritic
• Facebook Page