Rec 2

Alike the first [Rec] film, [Rec] 2's cinema verite approach gives the viewer a shambolic, frantic perspective to horror and action, propelling it forward with fiendish urgency and adrenal force. This sequel fits into the very small spate of films that are every bit as good as the original, and it may even bit a smidgen better due to directors/co-writers Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza offering both new perspectives and fleshing out the enigmatic backstory that occupied most of the first film (at least until its closing scene.)

[Rec] 2 starts out immediately after the events of the previous, with a swat team and a preacher (first thought to be with the department of health) investigating the events of the first film in search of a cure to the problem that is believed to be contained in the blood of the young girl that started it all.

The sequel uses the often effective first-person gimmick again, and instead of this POV feeling old after such films as Cloverfield and Diary Of The Dead, the filmmakers think of new ways to scare-- this time those infected acquire a knack for scaling up walls, while there is a new sacrilegious angle that gives the film a new disturbing connotation, especially in the last scene that admirably sets up another entry.

The film is pretty terrifying when it is playing. As in the first film, its sensory presentation may be forgettable when its is over, but during the hour and twenty minute runtime it feels like crack in the brain, as it is pure amphetamine stimulation. The limited camera-eye perspective is both jarring and brilliantly confrontational, and the directors really get the best use out of this format.

Even more than the first film, the viewer is catapulted right into the action sans setup. Plot development is lightening quick, and story development and character development are generalizations. Yet, when the film works in the events of the first film in this sequel, it seems their intention for a sequel is actually genuine, as if their was real justification for fleshing out both the backstory and the mythos of the creatures. Actually even when a character from the first film is reintroduced at first it seems like a clumsy copout that negates the first films last note of hopelessness, but in [Rec] 2's closing shot it actually makes sense.

Finally, despite the lack of the more artistic aspects, anyone can tell that layered development is not really the point of the film. The filmmakers simply ignore story and character as these are films all about fear. While one may not feel sympathetic when a character meets their ghastly end, the viewer surely can picture themselves in the center of the action. While [Rec] 2 may not linger in your mind much after the film is over, alike a literal rollercoaster ride it's surely a throttling experience.