Horror Challenge #4: "REC 3: Genesis"

If you know me, you probably know that I love the first two movies in this series from the bottom of my little black heart.  They're gritty and nasty and gory with a sense of mystery and hints of evil of biblical proportions without being overly preachy or letting the plot detract from the action, so I really dig them and I was really excited to see the third installment.  People had mentioned that they didn't enjoy this one as much, and while I plugged my ears and ran away any time someone wanted to complain about these movies, so they wouldn't spoil the movies for me, I was a little worried that I might not like this movie, either.  I didn't want to see the series run into the ground.  A friend of mine told me that the biggest issue people had was that this movie abandons the "found footage" aspect of the first to films, and he says that at least a reason is given as to why, so I decided to give it a chance.

Right from the beginning, this movie is a "found footage" type movie, so I was a little confused as to what everyone was talking about, but I figured they'd abandon that at some point later in the movie.  There are no opening credits, and the movie is a wedding video shot at a young couple's wedding and reception, and it's sweet to see them so in love, though we know bad things are going to happen to them.  The way the "sickness" is introduced, which causes all the nastiness in these movies, is subtle as well, and it's also believable, which I really appreciated.  Once the bad things start happening, a small group of people escape to a temporarily safer location, and one of them is holding a camera and filming everything, and then I won't reveal what happens next, but suffice it to say that I understand why they decided to go this route.  It made sense for there to be someone filming in the first movie, and even the second, but by the third, the premise was wearing thin.  Found footage movies can be creepier because of the way they keep us on our toes with their first-person narrative perspective, but I like the way they nixed that in this movie and THEN showed the opening credits, indicating that this was going to be a different kind of REC movie.  It worked for me.

There is plenty of gore in this movie, and it really did keep me on my toes, because I wasn't sure who would die next.  It seemed to kill people off at an alarming rate.  It also introduced some more biblical/apocalypse-y type stuff that added some depth to the proceedings, and I enjoyed that.  The gore was pretty disgusting, and even when I knew some things were going to happen, they were presented in such a way that they still made me cringe, so I appreciate the level of skill there.  I cared about the characters, and I really liked the ending of the movie and how it wrapped everything together.  This movie may not have had Jaume Balagueró (who I love unconditionally) in the director's chair, and it may not be my favorite of the series, but it's definitely worth a watch and even a purchase.