[Rec] 2

Der erste Teil steigerte die Spannung allmählich, von Null bis zu einer hundertprozentigen Horror-Trance, bei der sich auch die abgestumpftesten Zuschauer*innen in die Hose gemacht haben. Der zweite Teil knüpft an den ersten so fließend an, dass man aus beiden Filmen einen machen könnte. Er beginnt ungefähr bei 60 und bleibt dort bis zu dem 80-Finale. Eine Identifizierung mit den Figuren ist nicht möglich, es ist ein unterhaltsamer Actiontrip – voll von 3D-Schießereien, herumlaufenden Dämonen, vom zynischen Humor; mit einer manchmal zu sehr zitternden Kamera und einem ab und zu sehr seltsamen Verhalten der Figuren, welche die Autoren selbst ein bisschen verarschen. Man spürt, dass der Film nur wegen dem Erfolg des ersten Teils entstanden ist. Gleichzeitig behält er aber die ausgezeichneten Trademarks der Autoren und arbeitet mit den vorigen Ereignissen so, dass er die Fans nicht verärgert und auch nicht enttäuscht. Sein Ziel ist es nur, eine gute Unterhaltung zu liefern. Eigentlich geht es um eine ähnliche Umwandlung von einem ernsten Horrorfilm in einen Actionmassaker wie in den ersten zwei Romeros of-the-Dead-Filmen oder Raimis Evil-Dead-Filmen. Plaza und Balagueró sind am richtigen Platz und es war eine gute Entscheidung, dass sie nicht versucht haben, den ersten Teil zu übertreffen. Vier Sterne gebe ich wegen den erwähnten Trademarks (in den Händen von neuen Regisseuren würde das Drehbuch keine vier Sterne erreichen) und freue mich schon auf die Apokalypse im dritten Teil. Hoffentlich mit Plaza und Balagueró. (10.02.2010)

When I heard a spoiler some time ago about the acrobatics the creators had performed on the story of my favourite horror film, I began to feel quite scared. Unnecessarily so. Firstly, that information cannot be considered a spoiler (that the zombies aren’t zombies is revealed in the first few minutes). Secondly, the twist doesn’t feel at all forced, the events develop smoothly and the script as a whole feels well put together and purposeful, to the point that I’d be willing to believe the creators were counting on this sequel, even before making the first part. The last fifteen minutes of the first part made me feel deeply scared, which didn’t happen in the sequel (the adrenaline ride label is very accurate), but it still won me over thanks to its pace, the bloodiness, the more interesting plot (and its supernatural moments in particular) and the ending, which moves the story in a completely different direction. Looking back at it (initial fears notwithstanding), I’m glad that the creators weren’t afraid to change the subgenre of the sequel. We already had perfect zombie horror, now we have perfect action (censored) horror. In short, I enjoyed returning to that house in Barcelona and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. (25.02.2010)

If it had been made in Hollywood, I think of how overseas scouts liquidate talent, but Balagueró and Plaza have clearly liquidated themselves. The main trump card of the first film, the nagging feeling that all it takes is a little religious insanity for a similar situation to arise, is demolished by a series of backward explanations that kick logic in the head and destroy all tension. This is helped by stereotypical police SWAT characters, an utterly moronic trio of teenagers, and one absolutely "WTF?!" resurrection. It wasn't boring (although the lack of longer "steady cams" hurts), but it pissed me off (after half an hour permanently), and that's worse. 1 ½ stars for the bloody details. The rest gets both middle fingers up! (25.02.2010)

Jaume Balagueró und Paco Plaza haben erneut nicht enttäuscht und einen Nonstop-Adrenalinschub mit gnadenloser Action und einem Augenzwinkern des schwarzen Humors gedreht. Rec 2 ist mehr als eine würdige Fortsetzung seines kleinen Bruders, sodass ich zufrieden bin und ihm verdiente 8/10 Punkte gebe. (09.02.2010)

Have you ever seen a baseball player during a baseball game? I mean the moment when he attentively watches the pitcher's movement, carefully prepares the bat, and calculates every fraction of a second of his decisive hit - to place the ball, zooming at a terrifying speed, right in your crotch. That's the feeling I had after a few shots of this horror spectacle, which film fans honored on FilmBooster. Not only that but in the following minutes, it seemed that the batter, frustrated by an unsuccessful hit, ran toward me with the bat in hand and delivered a series of painful blows to my most sensitive areas. I have no words for what happened on the television screen - well, no decent words. The expressions that come to mind are usually used when a hammer falls on my little finger or when my foot slides into dog excrement. The absence of any logic in the film characters. A screenplay that could have only been created as a joke or a cruel trick by filmmakers on the audience. A police commando, to be sent on an extremely important mission that reeks of a huge disaster, consists of members whose stupidity surpasses all limits, they must have been cast in a global casting call. The inhabitants of the house affected by the epidemic scream, wildly swing their arms, and without exception, do the last thing that would come to mind when facing a real threat. The constant instructions to use cameras to document what is seen here lack any logic, although this doesn't matter because practically everything lacks logic here. However, this dreadful experience raises the question of how sane I was when I gave the first film a rating of 3 stars. I must have been slightly affected by dementia or influenced by some chemical. Such a decline in quality is not possible between two parts and practically the same crew. Overall impression: triple underscore zero. (03.03.2015)

A bit weaker, though it goes at full throttle from the very beginning and immediately picks up the desperate and oppressive atmosphere from the end of the first part. The filmmakers obviously set out to kick the viewer's ass as much as possible, they made absolute morons of the main characters, driving them into bigger and bigger, more and more suspenseful and more and more disgusting shit, with blood splattering all over the place, one attack of bloodthirsty zombies followed by another, and heads blown off with shotguns being par for the course. Unfortunately, this spectacular and immensely entertaining ride is increasingly undermined by a stylistically mismanaged and nonsensical twist about Satan. If the directors had dropped it and stuck to the deadly virus and the zombies, I wouldn't hesitate to give it a full rating, because this film doesn't let up for a second and the spooky finale in the dark is once again perfect. It's a pity, but they just wanted to make the best possible starting point for the next sequel, the quality of which I already have big doubts about. (11.08.2011)

[REC] 2 fleshes out the reasons for the events of the first installment, and that's one of the reasons why the film might downright piss some people off. Personally, I didn't find a problem with it, and *POTENTIAL SPOILER* enriching the zombie horror with elements of exorcist horror didn't seem like a downright bad idea. What sinks the film, however, are the main characters and the hellish lack of logic. They make the film quite confusing at times. Of course, the characters are incredibly stupid, the band of kids with a camera got on my nerves like few things do. Until those three stupid people disappeared from the picture, I honestly suffered. So why the four stars? Incredibly great and unscrupulous gore and at times strong suspense. Fantastically masked creatures and legendary headshots (I had a good laugh at one). And the scene of the shotgun blasting the head off the little boy is awesome. That's why I’m rating the film the way I am. (12.04.2010)

On one hand, it's nice that it directly follows the first film, but on the other hand, it's nothing more than a repetition of what happened in the first film, except that we mostly see everything from the perspective of soldiers tasked with evacuating the building or, rather, figuring out what actually happened. It’s decent enough, but it's not something that blew me away. (27.08.2016)