Jaume Balagueró | Through the Shattered Lens

Found footage horror films have always been hit or miss with me. When done well they’re quite effective horror films that really pulls an audience in. When done as a way to exploit the current craze for it then one just gets nauseous both intellectually and physically (I think Lisa Marie would agree).

The [REC] found footage horror franchise by Jaume Balagueró has been leading the way of late, but a decision to switch from found footage to traditional filming halfway into the third film in the series was a disappointment to fans. With the fourth film now set for a U.S. release such fans may find themselves yearning for the franchises found footage roots as the fourth and final installment will dump the found footage technique altogether and just go for straight out traditional style.

REC 4: Apocalypse also sees the return of the franchises heroine from the first two films, Manuela Velasco, as the trailer shows her being on a ship out to sea for testing. Anyone who has watched the first two films in the franchise knows that she may or may not be a carrier of the demonic plague accidentally cooked up by Vatican researchers who wanted to find the biological source for demonic possession.

REC: Apocalypse is set for an early January 2015 release at selected theaters in the US.

While the sequel to the so-called “one of the scariest horror films ever made” has already been out in Spain since 2009 and seen in other countries it still has to make its way over to the North American territories of the US and Canada. I know that many think this Spanish-made horror film is the scariest thing to be seen since ever I’m in the minority who just thought it was good horror that got lots of hype and praise due to its first-person camera narrative style.

The US remake of this film, Quarantine, only made people think the first [REC] truly was great due to the remake’s level of awful. This sequel follows the first film just minutes after it ended and looks to add more action to the mix. When I say action it looks like a live-action version of Doom 3 but minus the demons and sci-fi trappings. Instead we get SWAT team members and a secretive government official going in to handle the escalating crisis.

Some of those who have seen this sequel make an apt comparison to the Alien franchise. This sequel is this franchise’s Aliens.

Whether it make a theatrical release here in the US or just straight to video I will most likely end up watching it, but with a tempered sense of expectation. It takes a lot for a film to make my greatest horror list and this franchise just doesn’t cut it.