Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Rec 2

     Rec 2 picks up about 15 minutes after part one ended. And I must say that you have to have seen part one to have any clue whatsoever as to what the hell is happening in part two. 

      A SWAT team of four and a chief in charge enters the building to assess what has happened. They know there was a contagion that is not spread through the air but through the blood and saliva. They search for survivors but only come across the infected. Part one lets us know that the infection is actually a viral form of demonic possession. The mission is to find the original possessed girl that was brought to the building for testing, more or less to find a cure or an antidote. Many characters from the first film are seen (albeit for 30 seconds or less, including Jennifer, her mother Mari, Senora Izquidero, and Manu the Fireman). 

      This film seems to be all about explanation. The chief in charge seems to know a bit more than he's letting on and has a rather religious way of dealing with the situation. Turns out he's a priest sent by the Vatican to rectify the damage already done by the first doctor that was to experiment on the original possessed girl (Tristana Medeiros). Apparently, only her blood holds the key to the antidote, not the people she infects. 

      Upon searching the doctor's penthouse, a sample of her blood is found. The chief is now revealed as a priest as he tests her blood by holding a crucifix over it. The blood soon sizzles and bursts into flames, unfortunately, so does the test tube containing the rest of the sample, held by one of the SWAT team members. He of course drops it, destroying the entire sample, rendering the entire mission a failure. 

      In the first film, it is revealed that there is a drain cover in the basement that connects with the sewers that lead to a way out of the building. Three kids decide to pull a prank by attaching bottle rockets to the back of an inflatable "fuck doll" and send it sailing over the crowd that has gathered around the building. The prank fails and calls police attention to these dumbass teens. They duck into a sewer drain which happens to be the same sewer drain that connects to the building. The movie bogs down here when the SWAT team and the teens fight a lot. Too occupied with fighting, they are attacked by the infected and most are killed. 

      As the remaining SWAT team members and the priest make their way back to the penthouse where the infection occurred, they come across Angela Vidal, the beautiful TV reporter who first entered the building with the firemen in part one. At the end of part one, Angela is dragged away by the possessed Tristana (the end). Assuming that she is now possessed.  But how could she have escaped?  She shows no sign of being infected. 

      Meanwhile, a SWAT team member that was bitten and infected, is locked in a room with a rosary attached to the door to keep him in. Later, we hear Jennifer's voice coming from the room, pleading for her father. Like idiots, they open the door only to find the same infected SWAT team member, letting us know that the infected can disguise their voices, for they are merely Tristana's puppets. 

      The priest, Angela, and the remaining SWAT team make it back up to the penthouse to try one last time to get a blood sample from Tristana. This proves impossible and everyone dies except for Angela and the priest. The priest has a walkie-talkie that he uses to talk to the police outside. Throughout the film, The SWAT tries to get him to call off the mission and get everyone out of the building, but he refuses to call off the mission until the mission is complete (get a blood sample from Tristana). The walkie is voice specific and can only be used by the priest, anyone who tries to use it gets turned down for a non-recognized voice. 

      In the end, when it's only Angela and the priest, Angela begins to act extremely violent toward him, demanding that he give the order to evacuate. After thoroughly kicking his ass, she tells him that he is not needed. Her voice then changes, she grabs his talkie and gives the order to evacuate using the priest's voice. The voice is recognized and she tells them that everyone is dead or infected, even the priest whom she is imitating. She also adds that a female has escaped unharmed and must be evacuated at once. Permission is granted, leaving a huge cliffhanger that the infection could reach the outside (can't wait for part 3).

      The very end shows what happened to Angela after she is dragged away at the end of part one. After dragging her into the darkness, the possessed girl forces Angela's mouth open and pukes some kind of worm into it. She gets a glazed look and there you have it, the extended ending to part one and the beginning of part two. I can't say that this sequel is better than the original, but it sure packed a hell of a punch in the scare department and explained a few questions remaining from part one. 

      I've heard a rumor that part one impressed the producers so much upon the first view that a plan was made to finance a total of four movies, the original plus three sequels. And though part two did not disappoint, part three was a total farce, ruined by unnecessary comedy and not having much at all to do with the original storyline.  It was critically panned and when it came time to make the fourth and final entry, the writers and producers made sure that it picked up exactly where part two left off.  Completely ignoring the missed opportunity for part three to have potentially been an awesome prequel, showing us how the original possessed girl, Tristana Medeiros, was brought to the building in the first place.  We knew that she was kidnapped and that a scientist brought her to the penthouse apartment to experiment on her by orders from the Vatican because she was declared officially possessed would have made a really great tie-in to the full storyline.

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