In 2007, Spanish horror film REC got audiences up close and personal with a nasty virus running rampant in a quarantined apartment building. The virus turned its victims into flesh-hungry agents of infection and all while a local TV news reporter and her cameraman documented everything. The movie was intensely effective and incredibly unnerving. The 2009 sequel gave us a new, multi-angle perspective on the events in that same building on that same night. Now, Shock Till You Dropgives us our first glimpse at the teaser trailer for REC 3: Genesis.
Check it out--we promise Phil Collins is not involved in any way, but there is a woman in a bridal gown wielding a chainsaw.
Obviously the first thing fans of this franchise will note is that we are no longer stuck in that apartment building. The virus has apparently moved outside and is affecting the attendees of this adorable wedding. The use of photographs to slowly ease us from joy to terror is an inspired approach that echoes the cinema vérité tactics of the first two films. But what’s fascinating is that, once the photo gimmick ends, it looks like the rest of the film is shot in traditional narrative format and not through a camera lens. Will this be the first film in the series to reject the signature POV concept?
If you, like this writer, are a fan of the REC franchise, there is plenty to be excited about in this trailer. But the one thing that strikes me as odd, apart from the insinuated abdication of the first-person perspective, is the title. "Genesis" of course means beginning or origin. But we already know the origin of this virus and it has nothing to do with this happy little wedding. So to what genesis are they referring? Is there something even worse than what was found in that apartment penthouse? Goosebumps abound!
REC 3 opens in Spain next March; hopefully a stateside release will follow shortly thereafter.
