The third outing in the excellent Rec series is by far the weakest of the three. Set at a wedding and utilising the hand held format for the first third of the movie and then moving to traditional film making techniques, this chapter is a fun ride but lacks the bite of the first two films.
Directed by Paco Plaza, who was also responsible for writing and directing [Rec] and [Rec] 2, fails to engage the audience the way he did so brilliantly in the first 2.
Starring Leticia Dolera as Clara and Diego Martin as Koldo, the bride and groom at possibly the most drama filled weddings in story land, it’s up there with the Red Wedding as one of the most fucked up weddings…….ever. There are plenty of weddings that end up with a bit of violence at the reception but this chomps the biscuit.
Dolera takes the scream queen duties seriously and commits but suffers from a touch of the over-actings (over commitment?) and a dash of the Kill Bills. Martin just isn’t a strong enough actor for you to care. Miguel Angel Gonzalez provides some nice comedic moments as John Sponge, a Spongebob Squarepants imitator who is determined to let everyone know that he is John Sponge and not the one who cannot be named due to copyright issues.
There is a strong religious theme that runs throughout the picture, as there was in {Rec} 2 and this, while incredibly effective in 2, doesn’t work as well here.
Plaza is inventive with the deaths; a chainsaw gets involved and there is a death by hand-held food blender. Gruesome and silly.
The first two films were scary, especially [Rec} 2, which was terrifying. The idea that the zombies are controlled by a higher evil was what lifted this series above the usual zomb-fare. This idea is kind of used here but not nearly enough.
Let’s hope that [Rec} 4- Apocalypse runs with the idea.
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A generous 3/5
the movie musings 