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
Starring	Manuela Velasco Jonathan Mellor Oscar Sánchez Zafra Ariel Casas Alejandro Casaseca Pablo Rosso Claudia Silva
Cinematography	Pablo Rosso
Editing by	Xavi Gimenez[1]
Studio	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	$18,469,680

REC 2 (stylized as [REC]²) is a 2009 Spanish horror film sequel to 2007's REC and the second installment of the REC 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 GEO team equipped with helmet-mounted video cameras are sent into a quarantined apartment building to control the situation. After encountering some of the infected, Owen uses religious mantra and rosary to fight them off. 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 and aid the other priest in charge of her.

When they get to the penthouse, they find out that the infected can travel all around the building through the air ducts. Tristana is nowhere to be found. Larra (Ariel Casas), one of the GEO officers, goes into the air duct and finds a sample of her blood – the only one that the original priest took from her. Owen then performs a religious rite, and the blood spontaneously combusts, confirming that it is the blood he's looking for; however, the rest of the blood also sets on fire and 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 (Pep Molina), 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. Moments before the building is quarantined, three teenagers named Tito (Pau Poch), Mire (Andrea Ros) and Ori are messing around on a roof. When the police seal off the building, they find them and escort them out to the street. The teenagers gain access to the building through the sewage system; however, police have seen them and seal their exit. Inside, the teenagers find Jennifer's father and the firefighter.

After some deaths from attacks by the possessed, the two groups find each other. Tito gets bitten by the infected, and they restrain him and lock Mire and Ori in a room. Then the group finds Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco), the reporter from REC, who still has her camera with her. Owen then 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 GEO team leader argues that they had already cleared that area and did not see anything. 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 Fernandez investigates it, Tristana leaps out of the water and drags him in. They turn the lights on only to witness that he and Tristana had disappeared. They turn the lights off again and try to remain silent not to alarm Tristana. After Owen's radio starts producing noises, Tristana attacks them and after some struggling, Ángela blows her head off with a shotgun. 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 left are Ángela, Owen, and Rosso (Pablo Rosso), a GEO officer. When Owen refuses to authorize their exit, Ángela starts to beat him to force him to do so. Rosso tells her to stop, but she shoots and kills him. Then it is revealed that Tristana has possessed Ángela, so she can leave the darkness she was trapped in, and consequently 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, using Owen's voice, says that the mission is over and that 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, who went into hiding as Owen and the GEO team broke into the penthouse earlier in the film.

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" 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 61 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."

Sequels

On 3 May 2010, Bloody Disgusting announced that "...Filmax will produce two new [REC] films in the next couple of years called [REC] Genesis and [REC] Apocalypse with the same directors as the first two films."^[23] Genesis was released on March 30, 2012, and centers on an outbreak in a distant location from the original apartment building, also having prequel elements.^[24][25] [REC] Apocalypse will end the saga with the infection spreading to unknown proportions. Jaume Balagueró confirmed the movie for a release date on October 14, 2014.^[26]

References

External links

• 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
• Interview with Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza about REC 2 at ion magazine