REC 3: Genesis

Fans of the REC series love each and every movie that's been released and with good cause. What could have been a simple zombie story has added touches of mystery that make you wonder just what causes these events and how far they might spread. The original film was a masterpiece of claustrophobia where a supposed virus may have infected those inside an apartment building whose inhabitants are forced to ride out the attacks of the night with no hope of escape. The latest entry into this series takes a different approach. The film opens with a wedding and reception. Clara and Nina are a couple in love and both their families represent quite a large gathering. Included in this group is Nina's uncle. His uncle is a veterinarian whose hand is wrapped that day due to a dog bite. This simple bite will change the entire day. The usual festivities go on and everyone is dancing and singing when they suddenly notice this uncle balancing on the balcony with a strange look on his face. He falls and the first person to respond he reaches up and bites, pulling away flesh and frothing at the mouth. From there things progress with the discovery that he's infected others there and those who are infected begin attacking those who are not. Soon blood sprays and bites become frequent, Clara and Nina become separated and each group they are with attempts to find a way to survive. These zombies are not the standard slow moving sort but the run as fast as you can and grab anything moving kind. And each person who falls then gets up to join the carnage. With no hope of anyone coming to their rescue, Nina tells those in his group he refuses to leave until he finds Clara. He says they have a connection and he knows she's still alive. When her voice comes over the PA system his statement is proven true and he now heads out to find her. The film offers something different from the previous entries. First off is the fact that while its contained in a huge reception hall and grounds, its no longer that enclosed feeling found in an apartment complex wrapped in plastic to contain the disease. The disease is loose on the world now. Secondly this one adds small touches of humor now and then to ease the fear you feel while watching. One character walks around in a foam knock off brand Spongebob outfit (he was there to entertain the children) with a shotgun in his hand. Nina dons a suit of armor found in the chapel to protect himself while searching for Clara. Touches like these shuffle the emotions felt while watching. The film should keep gore hounds happy with the amount of blood that splatters and shoots across the screen. Limbs are severed, guts are yanked out and bites offer up plenty of chewed flesh that spurts plenty of fluid. Some people have criticized the film for straying away from familiar territory. One criticism has been that the priest in the film stops the zombies from moving about by reading Biblical passages. Those who know the cause of this plague will understand, those who thought it was simply a virus will not. Suffice to say that it is possible in the world this story takes place in that that would help. Another thing that upset some fans was the change of locale, the difference between the confined space and this spacious reception hall and grounds. But that only makes sense when you consider the subject at hand, the spread of a disease of sorts that will infect the world. Eventually you must leave that confined space and move on. REC 3 does just that, taking the disease outside of that small space and moving it forward. Should another sequel come up my guess is it will be spread even further, infecting an entire city rather than a small space. It's the natural progression of things. If you like zombie films, you'll love this. If you like the REC films, you should love this. If you love horror movies or gore films this one should be right up your alley. If you enjoy none of the above be prepared for something different than you normally watch. A solid foreign horror film that hits all the right notes.

Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

A big fan of this series (my name even gets a fan credit in #1!), I thought the trailer for PA4 was awful. And the "viral campaign" never took off like it did for #2 and #3. It was as if even those involved simply weren't very committed/interested in the film they were making. The reviews were ALL tepid--even those that sort of praised it--and word of mouth was dismal. The "actual people watching the film" TV ad was so over-the-top, it became a joke. And then the film itself was a mess. Why have the wink-wink "in jokes" of the kid riding the bike like THE SHINING? It takes us "out" of the movie we're watching...and ads zero to the film. Same with the first fake" drag scene of the girl. Again, why remind us that we're watching a movie, why take us out of the experience? And NOTHING happens for so long into this movie, it's just people talking and talking and talking. The few little scares are already shown in the trailer, which they have done before...but those are the ONLY scares! So we are not surprised. And it's clear that the writers/directors had no real ideas of what Toby was to do this time. In other words, WHY does he levitate the girl? If the goal is to kill everyone, that just do it. The levitation scene is simply to impress US, the viewers. But we've seen that before, in a dozen films...and in the trailer! So there is no shock or surprise. And why bounce the ball down the stairs? And why is there scene after scene in the dark with the xBox? Toby is "better" than moving some dots around but they feature that xBox feature into the ground. Finally, the ending (no spoiler, if you've seen PA3)...is the SAME ending as PA3. We learn nothing. In fact, you can remove PA4 and you've learned NOTHING. When PA5 comes out, hopefully the filmmakers have learned from the dismal box office, word of mouth and reviews for PA4 to PUT THE SCARES BACK IN. And have a REASON for the film. All the above being said, I WILL buy PA4 and here's why: I wasn't that impressed with PA3 in the theater but the extra footage--not much, just a few scenes of Toby messing with the girls more--made for a MUCH more "sinister" film. Not sure why they were cut from the film, but they really add to PA3. Same with PA2--and maybe these movies are just better seen at home. So, here's hoping that PA5 will really deliver. They know what a mess PA4 was, so let's hope they have learned their lessons.

The Devil Inside (2012)

My boyfriend and I loved this movie, while everyone around us hated this movie. I stand up for what I say, I cannot wait to buy this DVD and watch it again. I'm so intrigued by exorcisms and murders and horror, it was like a documentary for me with exorcisms with a great story line. I thought they did an EXCELLENT job with Maria's exorcism, I've never seen a movie with that intense of an exorcism. I loved how the demon passed onto it's next victims, that's something I haven't really seen in a lot of those kinds of movies. I know everyone is disappointed by the ending, but really, HOW ELSE IS IT GOING TO END? There is no other way it could have ended. I absolutely loved it. I also know that everyone is complaining about the way it was shot, but you also have to be the kind of person that loves that kind of filming, like The Blair Witch Project, The Zombie Diaries, Cloverfield (even though that movie was horrible), and the Paranormal Activity movies. I think this movie is just for a certain type of person, someone that loves documentaries, loves horror, and doesn't mind a dialogue every once in awhile. And not everyone is going to like that stuff, they were all hoping for a fun, scary movie, but this isn't for everyone. So if you're a person that is intrigued with exorcisms and loves bloody scenes, this is the movie for you.

Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

The film opens up with all the excitement of watching your neighbor's vacation films...which is what we are doing. Two couples are touring Eurasia. Chris (Jesse McCartney) the sensible one, and Paul (Jonathan Sadowski) the wild man are brothers. There are two lovely young ladies with them, Amanda (Devin Kelley) and Natalie (Olivia Dudley). Paul hooks up with the proverbial Russian named Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko) who offers him a backdoor tour of the abandoned city of Chernobyl (Pripyat). Another couple joins them because seven people make for a better horror film than five...except in this case. While I was waiting for a scene out of "Hostel" or something interesting to happen, it didn't happen. Instead the van breaks down (it would be a quick movie if it didn't) and our group of tourists are stuck in a restricted area with no communication. The movie has that jittery hand held camera action to it, which I have grown to hate. To make the thrills cheaper, they turn out the lights and have everyone scream in terror. Oh, Chris has a boo-boo on his leg.

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

With geek god Joss Whedon (creator of TV's Buffy and Firefly among other fan favorites) on board, it's fair to say that the expectations for "The Cabin in the Woods" were quite high for enthusiasts of the horror genre. Here he shares a writing credit with the film's director Drew Goddard and the result is one of the year's more entertaining experiments. I truly think that this is a film that will suffer due to those that are willing to discuss too many of the plot points in advance, so I'll be brief in my actual descriptions. I will say this, though, the less you know about the movie--the more fun you can have. In my opinion, even the advertising campaign and trailers hint at too much. You know from the start that this isn't your typical fright fest. Instead, what is served plays up and skewers every horror movie cliche imaginable. It is both hip and witty, as well as smarter than it has any right to be. It twists movie conventions around in clever new ways and makes something that seems remarkably fresh and different. And if you're a fan of horror movies, this is simply fun, fun, fun. Of course, we all know the genre of movies that involve a cabin in the woods (or other appropriately desolate place). Let's get a car full of kids, strand them, and then start picking them off in increasingly creative ways. At the start, that's exactly the scenario that "The Cabin in the Woods" sets up. We meet five standard character archetypes for these type of films: the jock (Chris Hemsworth), the stoner (Fran Kranz), the good girl (Kristen Connolly), the vixen (Anna Hutchison) , and the scholar (Jesse Williams). After a brief bit of character introduction, we're off to the woods. As they settle in, each rises to their individual stereotype. First there's drunken revelry, then there's the discovery of a very spooky basement, and then mayhem ensues. What's going on and can anyone survive? If you've seen the trailers, however, (and if not, this is also included as the first scenes in the movie) you know that there is something more complex at work behind the scenes. But that's all you get from me. Let's just say that the film turns into a post-modern game as much as a traditional horror endeavor.

Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011)

I thought the first movie was lousy. I watched this one with extreme prejudice. The movie starts building the characters of 2 stewardesses. Then as they help and greet passengers we get a glimpse of the passenger backgrounds. We already know there is going to be an infection, but who? The co-pilot is sick. He thinks he got it from his dog. There is a woman on board from an apartment building. Her cat is with her. The cat had left the building which she claims is very unusual. There is a man with some hamsters. Another man helps him with the hamsters and gets bit. There is an elderly man who is sick along with his wife, and a woman who has just returned from overseas, and a few others. A man is watching the events unfold from outside the apartment building from the first picture on his laptop. This one picks up where the other leaves off except the action is in an airplane. Once a passenger gets infected and isolated in the restroom, the plane is told to land. It hooks up to a terminal where they are quarantined. Now it is just a matter of who lives and who dies. The first thing I noticed is they got rid of the hand held camera nonsense and had enough money to make this into a regular movie. They still jerked the camera around when an infected human attacked to give you that terror feel. The animal sounds made by the infected humans didn't seem to be real or coming from the people making them. There is room for improvement as they kept the door open for an infinite amount of sequels. Acting was a lot better than the first one. Better story line. Quick and effective introduction of characters before the action starts.

Exorcismus (2010)

Exorcismus, not surprisingly, starts off fairly predictable, following in the footsteps of pretty much every other possession film out there, but toward about the midway point things suddenly change course, leading you in an original and disturbing direction. While most films seem only interested in patterning themselves on Friedkin's The Exorcist, Carballo introduces us to a "not-so-innocent" young girl with dark secrets, constantly locking horns with her progressive parents. Instead of jumping right into the possession, the director leads us to wonder whether Emma's malady is nothing more than the calculated tantrum tactics of a conniving teenager. This, of course, keeps us guessing while tension slowly builds and the signs of possession become evident. The film occasionally has a documentary feel, thanks to the cinematography of Javier (Romasanta) Salmones, successfully bringing you closer to the characters without forcing you to participate, like The Possession of David O'Reilly. Naturally that only works when you're given genuine characters to connect with and in my opinion the actors all did a wonderful job, with 19-year-old Sophie (Resident Evil: Apocalypse) Vavasseur turning in the most impressive, and probably physically exhausting, performance as Emma. Bottom line, when you watch a possession film you want to see some actual demonic possession, whether that's bending backwards, walking on walls, vomiting pea soup or using foul language. In the case of this film, the director could have kept things ambiguous without ever showing us anything supernatural but, thankfully, he didn't go that route. Exorcismus doesn't depend on wild CGI possession gags but they are used and when they are its to great effect as they're never over-the-top.