Starring: Leticia Dolera, Diego Martín, Ismael Martínez
Directed by: Paco Plaza
Language: English
Rating: R
Running Time: 80 minutes
I didn't think I would be watching the third installment to this franchise, but here it is. Just to recap, I have done a comparison post for the first movie and its American remake, Quarantine, which I enjoyed both. I also have reviewed the unfortunate follow-up as well. After watching the second movie and being enraged and disappointed, I was planning on not moving forward, but...I guess I couldn't resist my curiosity.
On a beautiful sunny day, Clara and Koldo are preparing to get married in front of their loved ones. This location is far from the original apartment featured in the previous movies, so the setting seems almost perfect. The ceremony goes beautifully well and everyone is ready for the reception which is full of food, lively music, and plenty of love to display. Unfortunately, something unexpected occurs during the festivities and one of the guests has bitten the other causing a chain reaction among the attendees.
I didn't know what to expect from this third installment, but my expectations were pretty low since the second movie really disappointed me. I will admit that this one wasn't as frustrating, but still not as frightening or suspenseful as the first. I was curious how this story would play out outside of the apartment and I think the director did a pretty good job. There's still an infection going around, but somehow they still kept the possession bit from the second movie, which I still think is silly. I think you should have one or the other, not both, but they don't really focus too much on defining what these people have like the first two movies. The main focus is survival and reuniting the newlyweds that were separated during the first bite.
Let's start with some positives! The first movie was shot completely in first person by the cameraman of the news station. The second movie jumped around with its first person point of view depending on the group we were following. The third movie opens up with one of the relatives attending the wedding recording the ceremony and the reception until the groom destroys the camera and the remainder of the movie is shot in third person, like most movies. I actually liked this choice with the camera as the group first person shots in the second movie kinda annoyed me. I also enjoyed the characters in this movie. I was really rooting for Koldo to find his new wife in the chaos and I enjoyed how strong and fearless Clara was throughout the movie, especially with a chainsaw. Since the movie didn't focus too much on the infection, possession, whatever it is that's going around, I surprisingly enjoyed the character centric story. They did dabble a little bit in an explanation on what's going on, but I'll get to that in a bit. Even though the characters are quite simple, they were easy to attach to, especially the newlyweds. Despite this being a horror movie, I didn't find it as suspenseful as the first, but I found myself not caring whether I should be scared or not. It seemed more comical than anything and the gore factor was exaggerated like Ichi the Killer or any other Tokyo Shock film.
Even though I enjoyed this movie way more than Rec2, there are some flaws in this movie. As I mentioned before about the infection, possession thing, this movie briefly mentions what's going. In Rec 2, the infected are actually possessed by some sort of demons, so this movie has some more religious theories and references in it, but it's probably a little obvious due to the title. I guess the reason this is all happening is because the new world is starting...the beginning...the genesis. I don't know. The movie explains it slightly better than myself, but not by much. Yeah, the explanation for what's going on is kinda confusing and it's just best to ignore it (like the movie). Personally, I like the first movie's explanation the best and even this third installment references it at the beginning.
Despite my initial feelings of not moving forward with this franchise, I don't regret watching this third installment. It was more entertaining and less frustrating than Rec 2 which is always a plus. I enjoyed the characters, especially the newlyweds, a lot, the choice with the camera not being first person throughout the whole film, and the simplistic story. Although it doesn't share the same suspense and a bit of fearful tone as the first, I still found myself enjoying it and I wouldn't mind recommending it either. Perhaps, watch the first, skip the second, and prepare for some amusement and thrills with third.
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