4 out of 5

Director: Paco Plaza

Ah, sequels. Ah, horror sequels. Sometimes what a series needs is to go bigger and badder, and Rec 2 did that in a certain sense but tried to maintain the confined nature of the original, and thus came across, to me, as a mixed bag. Director / co-writer Paco Plaza – working without Rec 1 and 2 partner Jaume Balaguero – takes a similar tac but tosses in a feeling of “eff it” and almost literally casts the chains off of the storyline, after an appropriate found-footage introduction, making a point to switch to typical movie style and countering our questions of “Why are you filming this…?” While the film eventually boils down into some typical chase and gore elements, this crashing of a wedding by the Rec zombies benefits from its broad setting – we wander around an entire building where a wedding takes place, getting a nice feel for the setting, whereas in the first two flicks we were limited by samey-looking rooms – and also benefits from stepping away from being oh-so serious with its plot and getting some good horror smiles in. It also helps that there are no “I’ve got a secret” or “I’m going to freak out and yell” main characters, rather our two leads are likable and sensible and, when needed, badass. Even the cheesy premise of two lovers trying to find each other is drummed up with appropriate fluff and laughs and gore when needed. The movie does stumble in places, while searching for a balance between comedy and thrills, but this is sort of the violent, over-the-top flick Feast could’ve been if it wasn’t obsessed with bathroom humor.