[REC] Genesis, review

18 cert, 80 min
Dir: Paco Plaza; starring: Leticia Dolera, Diego Martin

There is much that’s already familiar – to begin with at least – in [REC] Genesis, another zombie movie. But then it is the third instalment in the Spanish horror series.

[REC], released in 2007, was shot in the found-footage style of the previous Blair Witch Project.

A TV reporter and her one-man crew end up trapped in a dark, dingy Barcelona apartment building teeming with the undead, and everything we see is through the cameraman’s shaky viewfinder. [REC]₂ (2009) continued the story, this time featuring a SWAT team with cameras on their helmets.

[REC] Genesis, directed by Paco Plaza, co-director of the first two films, presents more ripped flesh and spilt guts but in a new, sunnier setting — a wedding reception at a sprawling country mansion.

Initially, everything we see is from the point of view of one of the camera-wielding guests or the official videographer. However, before long, Plaza simply abandons this method, and the whole point-of-view aesthetic – which had defined the [REC] series – is lost.

Still, there is plenty of gleeful, cartoonish ultra-violence to enjoy as the bride and groom (Leticia Dolera and Diego Martin) slash at the rotting sinews of their nearest and dearest, he armed with a large, gleaming sword, she – in a very sexily dishevelled state – with a chainsaw. “This is my day,” she snarls as she slices away.