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Released by: Entertainment One
Released on: September 3, 2012.
Director: Pazo Plaza
Cast: Leticia Delora, Diego Martin, Ismael Martinez, Emilio Mencheta
Year: 2012
The Movie:
[REC] 3: Genesis, directed by Paco Plaza (read our exclusive interview with him here!) - the man who co-directed the first two films in the series - starts off in a familiar fashion. We meet up with Clara (Leticia Delora) and Koldo (Diego Martin) on the day of their wedding. The two arrive at the church and get hitched without any issue and promptly bus themselves and the massive wedding party off to the reception hall for a night of drinking and dancing. Things get strange when Koldo's Uncle Pepe Victor (Emilio Mencheta) starts acting strange. Though it initially seems that he's just intoxicated, once he falls of the balcony and then gets up and chomps his wife on the neck, it's obvious that there's something very, very wrong with him which seems to stem from that bite he got on his hand from a sick dog he treated at his veterinary clinic.
From here, all bets are off - whatever it was that made Victor sick spreads insanely fast and before you know it, a good portion of the wedding party have turned into nasty zombies and are running amok. Clara and Koldo get separated from one another but once Clara gets on the PA and tells her husband and anyone else left alive that she's pregnant, he decides he's going to find her no matter what. She winds up running from some zombies with the best man, Rafa (Ismael Martinez), defending herself with a chainsaw in a tunnel under the hall - both are determined to find one another and live out their life as husband and wife, but with hordes of zombies in the area and some men in hazmat suits outside quarantining the area, it's definitely not going to be easy.
The first two moves in the series did a great job of putting you 'in the moment' by working that hole first person/found footage angle. This third film in the series spends the first twenty minutes mining that same vein but then shifts gears and takes on a more traditional cinematic look. Shot entirely on digital video, the film is noticeably more colorful and bright than the two that came before, but that's not the only difference - it's also got a fair bit of comedy in it, some bits more effective than others. Case in point? For the wedding a children's performer was hired to entertain the younger kids while their parents celebrate. Though he's dressed very much like a certain Nickeloden trademarked character, he insists he be called John Sponge to avoid any potential law suits.
This actually works better than it probably sounds like it should. The film has enough going on and moves at such a quick pace that it's never dull. Even the initial twenty minute set up that at first appears to be nothing more than amateur home movie footage reveals some interesting foreshadowing and clues as to what is to come. Not all of the comedy is effective, but most of it is and the movie does a good job of letting us get to like the bride and groom enough so that when it all hits the fan, we want them to make it out alive. You could even go so far as to call the movie sweet, the romantic angle is strong here.
At the same time, the film remains an effective horror picture. The attack sequences are gory and bloody and usually done without any CGI - things get gooey and splattery here, particularly once the chainsaw is involved. The makeup effects are solid through and through and while this one won't have you shrieking in terror, it will definitely entertain you. Is it as good as the first two movies? It doesn't try to be. It goes in a completely different direction and it's almost unfair to compare it to the other films in the series. It does manage to carve out its own fun little niche, however, and while the shift in tone might upset horror purists looking for serious scares, this turns out to be a pretty fun way to kill seventy five minutes.
Video/Audio/Extras:
NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS BASED OFF OF A TEST DISC THAT MAY OR MAY NOT REPRESENT FINISHED, RETAIL PRODUCT.
Entertainment One presents [REC] 3: Genesis on Region B locked Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1.78.1 widescreen 1080p high definition transfer that, after the twenty minute mark (where the found footage aspect is ditched) shifts to 2.35.1. All in all, the image is strong though of course the first twenty minutes intentionally look like consumer grade HD video. Once the shift occurs, detail increases but it's strong even in these earlier moments save for one sequence made to look like it was shot on a camera phone. Colors are reproduced very nicely and there's a lot of good texture here, you'll notice it in the bride's dress and in facial close up shots. Detail is as good as you'd want it to be given the intended look of the movie an black levels stay pretty solid. There are no issues with print damage, dirt or debris which should be obvious given that this is a digital to digital transfer, nor are there any issues with compression artifacts or nasty edge enhancement. Some mild shimmering occurs but other than that, the movie looks good.
The Spanish language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track on the disc is strong. The musical bits that occur during the wedding and reception sound fine for what they are but they're intended to sound like home movie clips, so don't expect them to pulsate through your home theater set up. Once the shift happens, the audio picks up and you'll notice some great surround usage during the attack sequences where the rear channels are used very effectively. Levels are balanced properly and there are no issues with hiss or distortion to complain about. All in all, [REC] 3: Genesis sounds solid on Blu-ray. Optional subtitles are provided in English only, and a Spanish language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track is also included.
Extras start off with a decent featurette entitled Preparing A Bloody Wedding that features interviews with various cast and crew including director Paco Plaza who talks about how and why they approached this movie the way they did and why it differs from the first two movies so much. Other topics addressed here include the effects work, the locations, the editing, the use of music in the film, how this third film ties into the first two movies, and how the theme of love and romance ties into the storyline. There's a lot of behind the scenes footage included here and a lot of great clips that show how the makeup effects were done, including some bits that explain and expand upon the uses of the chainsaw in the movie. At 1:52:56 this featurettes is considerably longer than the feature attraction itself and is quite in-depth.
Aside from that, there's 2:47 worth of outtakes that are worth skimming through once if you enjoy such things, and 22:59 worth of deleted scenes. Some of this excised material is kind of fun - look for more of the presentation shown at the wedding with the bride and groom as children, more footage of the two preparing for the big day, more footage from the ceremony, and more with Atun and a few of the other characters who seem to get a bit shortchanged in the finished version of the movie.
Animated menus and chapter stops are included and before the main menu loads a few skipable previews for other Entertainment One titles (including William Friedkin's Killer Joe) will play. Sadly, no trailer for the feature is included.
The Final Word:
[REC] 3: Genesis is a very different picture than the two that came before it and its drastic shifts in tone and style might not sit well with certain horror movie purists. With that said, if the movie lacks the tension and scares that the earlier movies handled so well, it still tells a cool story, offers up some great gore and some fun characters, and turns out to be a lot of good, screwy fun. Entertainment One's Blu-ray test disc offers very good audio and video quality and some decent supplements as well. Overall, this is a solid release of an enjoyably bizarre film.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
