REC 2

REC 2 is a 2009 Spanish horror film sequel to 2007's REC. Written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, both of whom returned from the previous film, the story takes place immediately after the events of the first film, with producing company Filmax International describing it as having "the same claustrophobic concept" but with "new means of transferring fear from the screen to the spectator through the recording lens".

Plot
Dr. Owen (Jonathan Mellor), an official from the Ministry of Health, and a Grupo Especial de Operaciones (GEO) team equipped with helmet-mounted video cameras are sent into a quarantined apartment building to control the situation. After encountering some of the infected, Owen uses religious mantra and rosary to fight them off. It turns out that Owen is actually a priest sent by the church to get a blood sample from the Medeiros girl and aid the other priest in charge of her.

When they get to the penthouse, they find out that the infected can travel all around the building through the air ducts. The Medeiros girl is nowhere to be found. Larra (Ariel Casas), one of the GEO officers goes into the air duct and finds a sample of her blood – the only one that the original priest took from her. Owen then performs a religious rite, and the blood spontaneously combusts, confirming that it is the blood he's looking for; however, the rest of the blood also sets on fire and Larra drops it, rendering it useless. They must then get a blood sample from the Medeiros girl herself.

Jennifer's father (Pep Molina), who was outside getting medicine for his daughter (the infected girl from REC), manages to convince a firefighter to take him into the building. Moments before the building is quarantined, three teenagers named Tito (Pau Poch), Mire (Andrea Ros) and Ori are messing around on a roof. When the police quarantine the building, they find them and escort them out to the street. The teenagers gain access to the sealed building through the sewage system; however, police have seen them and seal their exit. Inside, the teenagers find Jennifer's father and the firefighter.

After some deaths from attacks by the infected, the two groups find each other. Then the group finds Angela Vidal (Manuela Velasco), the reporter from REC. She has her camera with her. Tito gets bitten by the infected, and they restrain him. Owen then forces him to tell him where the Medeiros girl is. The demon possessing Tito tells him that she is "in the highest." Owen figures out that this means that she is in the penthouse. The GEO team leader, argues that they had already cleared that area and did not see anything. The demon then gives a hint that the "light" blinds them from seeing the path. When Angela was asked how she saw the Medeiros girl, she said she saw it through the camera's night vision. Owen deduces that some things can only be seen in the dark. Before leaving, they lock Mire and Ori in a room for protection.

Finally, they go back to the penthouse. When they turn on the camera 's night vision, a door appears that leads them to a room. Inside that room and with the lights off, they finally find the Medeiros girl. After some struggling, Angela blows Medeiros' head off with a shotgun. Owen is enraged because he needed the blood sample, but all Angela wants to do is leave the building. At this point, the only survivors left are Angela, Owen, and Rosso (Pablo Rosso), a GEO officer. When Owen refuses to authorize their exit, Angela starts to beat him to force him to do so. Rosso tells her to stop, but she shoots and kills him. Then it is revealed that the Medeiros girl has possessed Angela, so she can left the darkness she was trapped in, and consequently the building. After telling Owen that she does not need him to get out as she can impersonate his voice, she kills him. She takes his radio and, using Owen's voice, says that the mission is over and that they can let them out. She also tells them that he is staying behind because he is infected and the only survivor is a woman, Angela. When asked how the woman survived, Angela leans towards the camera and smiles.

The ending of the original film is shown. Angela is dragged by her feet into the dark but manages to crawl back into the camera's view. The Medeiros girl quickly gets on top of her. Then she inserts a worm-like organism into Angela's mouth. Then she hears the GEO team and Owen, and she goes into hiding, marking the beginning of the film.

Production
Following the success of REC, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza signed on for a sequel.[3] Principal photography began on 10 November 2008 and wrapped in December 2008.[4] The film reunites the directors with many of the original cast and crew members of the previous film.[5] It was shot in Barcelona over six weeks. Even though some scenes were shot in the same building as the first scene, for Tristana Medeiros' penthouse was filmed mostly on a set, and art director Gemma Faulia had to recreate everything in the pentohouse, as well as make more new details about the house. When Angela shoots Tristana's head off, they filmed in front of a green screen, and the head exploding was entirely CGI. Some other things like fire were also CGI.

Release
The film premiered at the 66th Venice International Film Festival, out of competition.[7] It was also shown at the Midnight Madness portion of the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, as well as the 2009 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas,[8] and the 2009 Sitges Film Festival. It went on general release in Spain the first weekend of October, going to No. 1 in the Spanish box office and achieving the best opening weekend of the year for a Spanish film.[9]

REC 2 was released in New Zealand theaters by Vendetta Films on 13 November 2009.[10] The marketing budget for the film, NZ$7500, was used to create a website,[11] where the remaining $5000 marketing budget would be given away to the member of the public who was judged responsible for the most good publicity generated for the release of the film.[12] Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the film on DVD in October 2010.[13] In March 2010 Magnolia Pictures acquired the rights for the US market[14] and will screen the film in a theatrical release in July 2010.[15] The distributor Magnolia pictures will screen the film on Video on Demand platforms on 4 June 2010[16] and released the film only on DVD.[17] Magnolia has the film set with a release on 9 July 2010[18] and released on 30 March 2010 the UK trailer.[19]

The film was released on 28 May 2010 in the UK. It is part of the Terror in the Aisles 4 at the Portage Theater in Chicago, Illinois.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19">[20]

Reception
REC 2 received generally positive reviews with a "fresh" 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 61 reviews.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] Some critics have given the film a praise: Little White Lies gave the film 4/5 and called it "The greatest zombie sequel since Dawn of the Dead."<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] Empire also awarded the film 4 stars.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] However, the Daily Mirror awarded the film 2 stars,<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] and reviewer David Edwards stated it was "a bit of a W[rec]k."<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

Sequels
Main article: REC 3: GenesisOn 3 May 2010, Bloody Disgusting announced that "...Filmax will produce two new [REC] films in the next couple of years called [REC] Genesis and [REC] Apocalypse with the same directors as the first two films."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Bloody_Disgusting_Sequel_20-0">[21] The third film will take place miles away from the setting of the first two installments after the infection has left the building. It will also contain prequel elements, documenting the original infection. The film will be released on 30 March 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21">[22] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22">[23] <sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[dated info] [REC] Apocalypse will end the saga with the infection spreading to unknown proportions. The film has an expected release date of fall of 2012 or 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23"> thumb|NaNxNaNpx|link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REC_2#cite_note-23thumb|NaNxNaNpx|link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REC_2#cite_note-23thumb|NaNxNaNpx|link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REC_2#cite_note-23