[REC]²

Picking up directly where the original film left off, [REC]² follows a small team of soldiers as they, along with a mysterious health department official, enter the original film’s quarantined building hoping to contain the outbreak before it spreads any further. It doesn’t take long for [REC]² to establish itself as an equal to its impressively enthralling predecessor, as directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza instantly draw the viewer into the proceedings by offering up a series of jaw-droppingly visceral and appreciatively violent action set-pieces. The movie’s blistering pace ensures that some of the admittedly ludicrous elements within the storyline (eg the reveal of the virus’ true origins) are easy enough to overlook, and although the narrative does hit a minor lull as the point-of-view changes midway through, the viewer is quickly lured back into the proceedings with a hilariously inventive sequence in which a firecracker is creatively used to dispatch an antagonist. The action-packed atmosphere is only heightened by the increasingly sinister nature of the threat, which certainly explains why certain early reviewers have been calling [REC]² the Aliens to [REC]‘s Alien (ie one couldn’t envision a more apt comparison). And while it occasionally does seem as though some of the film’s revelations ensure that the original film won’t quite hold up to scrutiny on subsequent viewings, [REC]² is otherwise (and undoubtedly) one of the most successful horror sequels in cinematic history and it’s certainly impossible not to expect great things for the inevitable third installment.

***1/2 out of ****