Rent [REC] 3: Genesis (2012)

[REC] 3: Genesis review by Alyse Garner - Cinema Paradiso

The third film by Spanish horror film maker Paco Plaza in his series of first person zombie movies REC Genesis takes us back to where it all began, an albeit unpleasant but seemingly harmless dog bite marks the start of the degradation of man kind when, at a wedding of all places, the couple’s nearest and dearest start turning into brain-hungry zombies.

The movie starts with the same first person “Found Footage” that has been used in the two previous movies but this trope is quickly abandoned as the groom (Diego Martin) kicks the videographer's camera equipment to pieces as the zombie hoard begins its attack. From here things appear in a far sleeker fashion, as, alongside his pregnant bride (Leticia Dolera) the groom starts kicking some zombie ass.

Though some have called this change of visual state a mistake I felt it was in fact a clever turn on the part of writer/director Plaza, who in an attempt to acknowledge the cliché that his own style of camera work has become turns things on their – rather rotten and zombified – head.

From here you can imagine the direction the narrative takes, there’s lots of zombies, lots of running and lots of blood, including a chainsaw wielding bride, and it doesn’t really take a great deal of imagination to guess how it all ends – this being a prequel and all – but the ideas the movie explores, both those of the genre cliché and the surprising sociological issues it nods toward give REC Genesis enough depth to hold your attention throughout. Though not the most ingenious or imaginative horror movie I’ve seen this year it is definitely one of the better ones.