[REC]: Genesis REVIEW

Release Date: 3 September 2012
2012 | 18 | 77 minutes | £15.99 (DVD)/£19.99 (Blu-ray)
Distributor: Entertainment One
Director: Paco Plaza
Cast: Leticia Dolera, Diego Martin, Alex Monner, Claire Baschet

Found-footage horror [REC] remains one of the scariest films ever made. We defy anyone not to break out in a cold sweat at the mere sight of that film’s anorexic, nappy-clad nasty. This third [REC] film isn’t scary. It’s a wedding-gone-wrong horror-comedy that owes a debt to the Evil Dead sequels, and it’s debatable whether Genesis should even be considered a [REC] film in this respect. But it is funny, magnificently gory and utterly off its trolley.

It’s also no longer a found-footage film, at least for the final hour after the film’s finest, fourth-wall-breaking moment, in which a character metaphorically takes a boot to the entire genre by literally kicking in the camera recording their every move. As far as series reinventions go we can think of few quite this radical (Halloween III… that’s about it) and if you go in expecting a very different beast to the first two films there’s an incredible amount to enjoy.

Quirky characters, a dark sense of humour, a sky-high body count and some deliciously grisly kills are the film’s biggest selling points, but it also has a surprisingly sweet core, as the ill-fated newlyweds go to surprising lengths (variously involving a chainsaw and a suit of armour) to be together again. Fans of the series will want to watch this sequel-come-parallel-prequel for the insights it gives into how the infection/possession began, but anyone after bowel-bothering frights should look elsewhere.

Extras:

Deleted scenes, out-takes, and behind-the-scenes featurette “Preparing A Bloody Wedding”.