Toronto After Dark, Day 3: [REC]³ Génesis I’ll start by admitting that I have not seen the previous two films in the [REC] series. As I understand it they are zombie flicks filmed in unapologetic handheld shaky-cam style, take place in a housing block, and are beloved by genre fans.  We were told before the screening that the third entry in the series is a departure from the formula, and that would certainly seem to be the case. Instead, we open on a upper class Spanish wedding.  True to form the event is being shown via the unsteady hand of a young member of the party.  However, he is soon informed that handicams are for amateurs, and that nobody could possibly understand what’s going on with everything bouncing around.  This is, of course, aimed directly at the fourth wall, and before long professional camera-work takes over. At this point we enter into what is fairly standard zombie fare.  An infected person starts biting people, chaos erupts, and groups of survivors desperately try to stay alive.  Brains are eaten, undead are slaughtered in all manner of blood-soaked style, and everything is punctuated by awkward comedy to break the tension.  Standard. What sets this film apart are production values somewhat above-average for the genre.  There are plenty of beautiful shots, the camera work is indeed pretty good, and most of the attempts at humour actually work.  I also appreciate the fact that the zombie affliction actually has some supernatural roots in this series, it’s a nice change from the usual just-an-infection route. Based on [REC]³ Génesis I doubt I’ll be rushing out to catch the fourth movie in the [REC] quadrilogy, but it’s certainly above-average for generic zombie fare.  2.5 out of 5 stars.
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Toronto After Dark, Day 3: [REC]³ Génesis

I’ll start by admitting that I have not seen the previous two films in the [REC] series. As I understand it they are zombie flicks filmed in unapologetic handheld shaky-cam style, take place in a housing block, and are beloved by genre fans.  We were told before the screening that the third entry in the series is a departure from the formula, and that would certainly seem to be the case.

Instead, we open on a upper class Spanish wedding.  True to form the event is being shown via the unsteady hand of a young member of the party.  However, he is soon informed that handicams are for amateurs, and that nobody could possibly understand what’s going on with everything bouncing around.  This is, of course, aimed directly at the fourth wall, and before long professional camera-work takes over.

At this point we enter into what is fairly standard zombie fare.  An infected person starts biting people, chaos erupts, and groups of survivors desperately try to stay alive.  Brains are eaten, undead are slaughtered in all manner of blood-soaked style, and everything is punctuated by awkward comedy to break the tension.  Standard.

What sets this film apart are production values somewhat above-average for the genre.  There are plenty of beautiful shots, the camera work is indeed pretty good, and most of the attempts at humour actually work.  I also appreciate the fact that the zombie affliction actually has some supernatural roots in this series, it’s a nice change from the usual just-an-infection route.

Based on [REC]³ Génesis I doubt I’ll be rushing out to catch the fourth movie in the [REC] quadrilogy, but it’s certainly above-average for generic zombie fare.  2.5 out of 5 stars.