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	Jonathan Mellor Óscar Sánchez Zafra Ariel Casas Alejandro Casaseca Pablo Rosso Pep Molina Andrea Ros Ális Batllori Pau Poch Juli Fábregas Nico Baixas Javier Botet Carlos Olalla Manuela Velasco
Cinematography	Pablo Rosso
Editing by	Xavi Gimenez
Distributed by	Magnolia Pictures
Release date(s)	2 October 2009 (2009-10-02)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	spanish(english subtitles)
Box office	$18,469,680

REC 2 or [●REC]² is the 2009 horror film sequel to 2007's REC. 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, with producing company Filmax International describing it as having "the same claustrophobic concept" as REC but with "new means of transferring fear from the screen to the spectator through the recording lens."

Plot

Dr. Owen, an official from the Ministry of Health, and a Grupo Especial de Operaciones (GEO) team equipped with helmet-mounted video cameras are sent into a quarantined apartment building to control the situation. Amongst the team are Jefe (leader), Martos, Larra, and Rosso (cameraman). 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 the Medeiros girl and to 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. The Medeiros girl is nowhere to be found. Larra, 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 Jefe drops it, rendering it useless. They must then get a blood sample from the Medeiros girl herself.

Suddenly, a man holding a bag (later shown to be Jennifer's father) shows up and they fire on him and throw him on the floor, noticing some people down there. They try to catch them, but they lose Martos and Larra in attack of infected (Martos gets infected by Jennifer, and Larra commits suicide with a pistol). Then Rosso accidentally drops the camera while fighting and it's too damaged to record anymore. Then the camera flicks out.

Meanwhile, Jennifer's father, who was outside getting medicine for his daughter (the infected girl from REC), manages to convince a firefighter to take him into the building. Moments before the building is quarantined, three teenagers named Tito, Mire and Uri are messing around on a roof. When the police quarantine the building, they find them and escort them out to the street. The teenagers gain access to the sealed building through the sewage system by following the firefighter and Jennifer's father; 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 infected, the two groups find each other. Then the group find Angela Vidal, the reporter from REC. She has her camera with her. Tito gets bitten by the infected, and they restrain him. Owen then forces him to tell him where the Medeiros girl 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. Jefe, 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 Angela was asked how she saw the Medeiros girl, she said she saw it through the camera's night vision. Owen deduces that some things can only be seen in the dark. Before leaving, they lock Mire and Uri in a room for protection.

Finally, they go back to the penthouse. Using the camera's night vision as a guide, they enter a secret room leading to a pool of water similar to a well, into which the Medeiros girl pulls Jefe. After some struggling, Angela uses the shotgun and kills the Medeiros girl. Owen is enraged at her for the blood sample, but all Angela wants is to leave the building. She, Owen and Rosso see a helicopter to evacuate the building. Angela tells Owen to authorize the exit, but Owen refuses to do so and must accomplish his mission. Angela, enraged, starts to beat him with the shotgun to force him to do so. Rosso tries to calm her down, but Angela kills him. It is later revealed that the Medeiros had infected Angela. 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, Angela. When asked how the woman survived, Angela leans towards the camera and smiles.

The ending of the original film is shown. Angela is dragged by her feet into the dark but manages to crawl back into the camera's view. The Medeiros girl quickly gets on top of Angela and inserts a worm-like organism into Angela via the mouth. She then hears Owen and the GEO team, and goes into hiding, marking the beginning of the film.

Cast

• Jonathan Mellor as Dr. Owen
• Óscar Sanchez Zafra as "Jefe" (the Boss)
• Ariel Casas as Larra
• Alejandro Casaseca as Martos
• Pablo Rosso as Rosso
• Pep Molina as Jennifer's father
• Andrea Ros as Mire
• Àlex Batllori as Uri
• Pau Poch as Tito
• Juli Fábregas as Bullfighter
• Ferran Terraza as Manu
• Claudia Silva as Jennifer
• Martha Carbonell as Conchita Izquierdo
• Jorge-Yaman Serrano as young policeman
• Chen Min Kao as Japanese man
• Akemi Goto as Japanese woman
• David Vert as Álex
• Manuela Velasco as Ángela Vidal
• Oriol Maymó as truck driver (voice)
• Jesús Pérez Villar as Police pagers (voice)
• Elisa Sirvent as Speech Recognition (voice)
• Pep Sais as tape recorder (voice)

Production

Following the success of REC, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza signed on for a sequel. Principal photography began on 10 November 2008 and wrapped in December 2008. The film reunites the directors with many of the original cast and crew members of the previous film. It was shot in Barcelona over six weeks.

Release

The film premiered at the 66th Venice International Film Festival, out of competition. 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, 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.

REC 2 was released in New Zealand theatres by Vendetta Films on 13 November 2009. The marketing budget for the film, NZ$7500, was used to create a website, 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. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the film on DVD in October 2010. In March 2010 Magnolia Pictures acquired the rights for the US market and will screen the film in a theatrical release in July 2010. The distributor Magnolia pictures will screen the film on Video on Demand platforms on 4 June 2010 and released the film only on DVD. Magnolia has the film set with a release on 9 July 2010 and released on 30 March 2010 the UK trailer.

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.

Reception

REC 2 received generally positive reviews with a "fresh" 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 61 reviews. Some critics, however, have given the film very high praise: Little White Lies gave the film 4/5 and called it "The greatest zombie sequel since Dawn of the Dead." Empire magazine also awarded the film 4 stars. Simon Cook summarised the film as "A hectic, hellish sequel that blends daring new ideas with a primal zombie wallop." Not all critics were as positive; the Daily Mirror awarded the film 2 stars, with reviewer David Edwards stating it was "a bit of a W[rec]k."

Sequels

Main article: REC 3

On 3 May 2010, Bloody Disgusting announced that "...Filmax will produce two new [REC] films in the next couple of years called [REC]³ Génesis and [REC]⁴ Apocalypse from the same directors as the first two [REC] films." [REC]³ Génesis will be directed by returning director Paco Plaza. The third film will take place miles away from the setting of the first two installments after the infection has left the building. It will also contain prequel elements, documenting the original infection. The film will be released on 30 March 2012. REC 4: Apocalypse will be directed by returning director Jaume Balagueró; this film will end the saga with the infection spreading to unknown proportions. The film has an expected release date of fall of 2012 or 2013.

External links

• Official website (US)
• Official website (Spain)
• REC 2 at the Internet Movie Database
• REC 2 at AllRovi
• REC 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• REC 2 at Metacritic
• Facebook Page
• Interview with Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza about REC 2 at ion magazine