[REC] 4: Apocalypse just hit all major VOD and streaming outlets on January 2, 2015. I was debating on whether or not I should wait until more reviews are posted, but ya know what? The [REC] 3: Genesis DVD didn’t hit shelves in America until November 2012 and I’ve been dying to see this movie ever since. Although I don’t talk about it much, I’m low-key a huge fan of this Spanish horror franchise and its Quarantine remakes. With that said, I got home from work tonight, barred myself away from the 16 degree temperature outside, and fastened my seatbelt as I started to watch the final entry in the series, [REC] 4, on Amazon Instant Video. Here’s my thoughts.
[REC] 4 is written and directed by [REC] and [REC] 2 creator Jaume Balagueró with Manu Díez. Cast members include Manuela Velasco (Angela in [REC] and [REC] 2), Paco Manzanedo, Héctor Colomé, Ismael Fritschi, Críspulo Cabezas, Mariano Venancio, María Alfonsa Rosso, Carlos Zabala, and Cristian Aquino.
I’d like to start by saying I’m so happy the original crew members and central character returned for the last film. I thoroughly enjoyed the previous installment which was void of all signs of them, but still… The send off had to be familiar. It had to be done by the people who started it and nurtured the franchise into the worldwide phenomenon that it is now. In some regards, I feel like Balagueró and Velasco have grown together in the last eight years and have brought that growth to the new movie. It’s for that reason, at least to me, that [REC] 4 felt more like a low-level Hollywood feature than an independent, homey foreign horror film. It is to be expected that the production would receive a higher budget after all this time, but part of what made the first feature so great was that gritty feel. That’s missing here. It’s kind of a give and take really.
[REC] 4 started off promising enough, almost like it could also fit into the 28 Days/Weeks Later franchise. **WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!** You get to see another swat team invade the apartment complex from the first two films, killing the infected on the way until they find the lone survivor, Angela. She is taken to a huge oil tanker thousands of mile out at sea where a laboratory, military, and medical base is set up all in hopes of finding a cure to the virus. Though she didn’t actually appear in [REC] 3, Rosso plays the supporting part of “Little Old Lady,” a character who managed to survive the previous film by falling asleep in her hotel room. It was cool to see that, which tied in all four films together. Anyway… It turns out the laboratory facility built into the tanker has an agenda it haven’t been too forthcoming about, namely how the workers have been injecting monkeys with the virus to use as test subjects. When one of the monkeys is let loose during a black out, it infects the cook, who infects the food, and the shit pretty much hits the fan from there. I think this go around this entry in the franchise was more action oriented than horror.
I enjoyed the extra depth that the writers gave to the characters. [REC] 4 has a lot of character development, degradation, and redemption in it that occurs in some shape or form with everyone you meet. There’s a lot of “DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!” moments that keep you guessing until the very end, but you’re really going to route for the core four hopeful-survivors this time. A lot of things that happen are extremely realistic, especially for such a dire, panicked situation, that it’s hard to hold anything against anyone. Nick (Fritschi) was my favorite and I loved to see Angela back in action. She goes through another transformation by the end of this film yet she stills remains the Angela we briefly met before the first outbreak. Some of the death scenes are pretty interesting, too. I know this is a random spot to add that, but my conclusion is coming up and I had to sneak this in somewhere. Tasers, propeller blades, harpoon guns, and lots of head bashing – they were not fucking around this time. Lots of gore to keep the hounds satisfied.
My biggest problem with this movie is that it doesn’t feel like a concluding entry, the film to end the franchise. It is fantastic as a stand alone entry in the series, much in the same way [REC] 3 was, but other than that it doesn’t have the big climax that the fans were hoping for. I know I was waiting to get more insight into the virus and its origins, more insight into the religious aspect of the contamination which was expanded upon in the previous film. Instead, what I got was more questions, more unanswered questions. Literally nothing was resolved, nothing was even made the slightest bit clearly, and we were left with a definitive ending for Angela as well as the chance for future outbreaks. This was not the way fans wanted [REC] to go out. I can tell that by the comments I’ve seen. And I have to agree. I’m a little let down. I expected so much more.
I’m kind of bummed that this is the last [REC] movie to be made…at least for now. I could actually give this one two different ratings. I could give it an 8.5 out of 10 for overall quality, or I could give it a 7 out of 10 for being great but not being a good wrap up at all. Maybe I’ll just go right up the middle. My final rating for the final [REC] will be a 7.7.
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