Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

LEVIATHAN

DVD REVIEW: LEVIATHAN / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ANDREY ZVYAGINTSEV / SCREENPLAY: OLEG NEGIN, ANDREY ZVYAGINTSEV / STARRING: ALEKSEY SEREBRYAKOV, ELENA LYADOVA, VLADIMIR VDOVICHENKOV / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 9TH

Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan has caused quite the controversy recently; despite international acclaim including an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globes win, it’s not gone down well in its native Russia, with the cinema release subject to cuts and the Minister of Culture criticising its portrayal of the country. Watching the film now available on DVD, it’s not difficult to work out why.

A modern retelling of the biblical Job story, Leviathan follows Kolya (Serebryakov), a heavy-drinking, ill-tempered everyman whose property is being repossessed by the government. Despite strong evidence that the repossession is illegal, he’s up against a corrupt mayor who’ll use every trick in the book to get one over on him, and his case begins to crumble when his lawyer begins an affair with Kolya’s wife. Oh, and his son’s a bit of a delinquent.

Yes, if you’re tired of cinema that puts a smile on your face, you’ll enjoy Leviathan’s harrowingly downbeat realism. You’ll repeatedly think ‘well, at least it can’t get any worse for him now’ only to be proven magnificently wrong.

But in this relentless despair lies the power of Leviathan; it’s a strongly anti-government film, in which the cops and the mayor are equally self-serving, and there’s little the poor, oppressed citizen can do when faced with uncaring, inaccessible bureaucracy. The lawyer has a letter of complaint flat-out refused by the police, can’t leave a message for the off-sick prosecutor because his secretary doesn’t have authority to take it, and is turned down from a courthouse because ‘no-one’s in’. And that’s before they start playing the really dirty tricks…

Despite his anger management issues (or perhaps because of them – it makes him more human and relatable than his antagonists), it’s hard not to root for Kolya in his struggle against the leviathan that is the system, and it’s remarkable that this film got made at all in Putin’s Russia, a country that, it’s fair to say, isn’t renowned for its embracing of liberal media. Indeed, the corrupt mayor has a portrait of their President in his office, and its central placing on the wall can’t be an accident on the part of the filmmakers.

Leviathan may not sound like an easy watch, but once you get into it, it’s compelling, powerful viewing; a deep character study as well as an important exposé of corruption in the Russian establishment. Just make sure you have some cat videos on standby to cheer you up afterwards.

Extras: Trailer / BTS / Director Interview / Deleted Scenes

SHAUN THE SHEEP: PICTURE PERFECT

DVD REVIEW: SHAUN THE SHEEP: PICTURE PERFECT / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: JOHN SPARKES, JUSTIN FLETCHER, RICHARD WEBBER / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 30TH

The latest release from Aardman Animations to feature Shaun the Sheep: Picture Perfect consists of the last ten episodes of Series 4 that were originally broadcast on CBBC during December 2014, from Duck to The Intruder. As per usual with every episode, these ten mini-adventures are around seven minutes long each, and deal with Shaun and the flock getting into all manner of fun and activities with Bitzer the dog trying to keep them all out of trouble and prevent the Farmer from finding out. As is the standard with these episodes, the antics vary throughout, including Shaun and Bitzer trying to stop a hypnotising goat (The Stare), Shaun and the gang trying to reclaim their beds from a from a pair of ducks (Ducks) and each of the animals discovering their own secret hidden talent (Hidden Talents).

Just like with all the other Shaun the Sheep episodes, these ten episodes are consistently entertaining throughout, providing huge bundles of enjoyment that’ll make you feel happy on the inside, as well as the outside. Shaun the Sheep is arguably the best thing on children’s television today, and the fact that it’s all come from the accomplished geniuses at Aardman should be a good enough reason for anyone to accept. Yet, despite all the episodes being around seven minutes long, a lot of hard-working sweat, blood and tears has gone into making these episodes as fantastic as they clearly are with each one being wonderful and memorable in their own right.

Even after you’ve finished watching them, you still feel as though you can just watch them all over again, even if it’s just to marvel at the wonderfully handcrafted animation or for the wonderful slapstick humour that is laugh out loud funny, and Aardman clearly know how to time and perfect comedy in their animations. Even though there’s no dialogue at all, you can find huge pleasure in watching it, and you’ll never tire of it. It clearly doesn’t matter what age you are, you can never really be too old or too young to watch Shaun the Sheep, and this DVD will provide huge fun and delight for the whole family. Plus, with the equally entertaining movie currently in theatres delighting audiences everywhere, this will double your enjoyment. As the theme song suggests, life’s a treat with Shaun the Sheep.

Special Features: Morph episodes / Shaun the Sheep movie trailer.

THE AVENGERS – THE COMPLETE SERIES 4

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE AVENGERS – THE COMPLETE SERIES 4 / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING PATRICK MACNEE, DIANA RIGG / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Long before Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and co. popularised the name all over the world courtesy of Joss Whedon’s 2012 superhero blockbuster, The Avengers was more closely associated with the exploits of bowler-hatted, umbrella-brandishing John Steed and his succession of high-kicking, often leather-clad female assistants in the iconic ‘60s British adventure series. The series had already enjoyed three popular, if slightly stagey, series on British television but the fourth – débuting in October 1965 – saw The Avengers enjoying a massive budget increase and moving into a single-camera, all-film production. With some subtle retooling applied to the overall tone and style of the series, a gradual drift towards the more fantastical, surreal and occasionally utterly absurd storylines would come to define the series for the rest of the decade.

But Series Four got off to a faltering start. Actress Elizabeth Shepherd had been cast as Steed’s sophisticated, no-nonsense new assistant Emma Peel (replacing Honor Blackman’s Cathy Gale) but with the first episode of the series – The Town of No Return – in the can and production ramping up on the second, it quickly became evident that Shepherd wasn’t quite cutting the mustard and the anticipated chemistry between her and co-star Patrick Macnee wasn’t as fiery as hoped. Shepherd was released from her contract, Diana Rigg was drafted in as the ‘new’ Emma Peel, and the first episode was remounted. A TV legend was born…

Fifty years later, it’s extraordinary how slick, contemporary, and stylish The Avengers became almost overnight. Many of the episodes in this twenty-six episode boxset stick to a familiar, potentially mundane, story template of espionage, murder, and blackmail, and yet Steed and Mrs Peel clearly also inhabit a slightly larger-than-life world of mad scientists, killer robots and alien plants. Series Four is studded with recognised tentpole Avengers classics, such as the debut appearance of the robotic Cybernauts with their lethal ‘whooshing’ death-chop and The Man-Eater of Surrey Green (which inspired a 1976 Doctor Who serial) –a remarkably matter-of-fact encounter with a hostile alien life-form in which Emma Peel, pondering the origins of the titular voracious vegetable killer, remarks that it probably came from, “Mars – or the Moon. Recent photographs have shown whole areas of vegetation.” Then there’s the unforgettable A Touch of Brimstone in which Mrs Peel dons ersatz dominatrix gear to infiltrate the notorious and libidinous Hellfire Club. Even the more traditional stories are shot through with the show’s new tongue-in-cheek aesthetic, which might today be interpreted as high camp. Fortunately the show looks so pinpoint sharp – these new Blu-ray transfers are fantastically vibrant – that even the odd duff episode such as Silent Dust which fritters away its intriguing biological weapon blackmail plot doesn’t seem like a total waste of time.

The Avengers is a show that is very clearly a product of its time, a decade when TV was flexing its muscles and testing its boundaries, and yet it’s as richly rewarding a viewing experience now as it was back in the day when it was breaking all the rules and setting trends for a new type of British television. Escapist entertainment in its purest form, its episodic nature – no story arcs or subtle character development here – make it a delightful grab bag ideal for dipping in and out of. Steed and Mrs Peel are a warm and wonderful pairing, their partnership smoulderingly chaste and peppered with innuendo, and the show effortlessly crackles with wit and wacky invention. In its next series, it would move into colour and its storylines would become increasingly outlandish, but Series Four is where The Avengers starts to become the show it was always intended to be, but whose ambition was constantly outstripped by its restricted studio-bound production. Here the shackles are off and The Avengers really begins to fly. This is essential archive television immaculately presented.

Special features: Five commentaries, audio interview with Elizabeth Shepherd, Armchair Theatre episode ‘The Hothouse’ starring Diana Rigg, alternate end tags and titles, reconstructions, French and German opening credits, ITN newsreel footage, colourised test footage, galleries.

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) / DIRECTOR: JOHN FRANKENHEIMER / SCREENPLAY: GEORGE AXELROD / STARRING: FRANK SINATRA, LAURENCE HARVEY, ANGELA LANSBURY, JAMES GREGORY, JANET LEIGH, LESLIE PARRISH, JOHN MCGIVER, HENRY SILVA / RELEASED: OUT NOW

Now here is a film of its time. Yet, as sometimes happens, it’s also a film we might see in an entirely different light than when it was released at the height of the Cold War.

Based on Richard Condon’s 1959 novel of the same name, The Manchurian Candidate starts off with a US patrol being captured during the Korean War. The survivors return home and, based on their memories of events, Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Harvey) is awarded the Medal of Honor. The problem is that their memories, which also involve the somewhat surreal spectacle of them attending a middle-aged women’s lecture on the cultivation of hydrangeas, are all identical and almost certainly a load of old nonsense. Looks like some dastardly communists have brainwashed our boys and, worse still, the now-nationally-elevated Shaw is the son of a power-hungry domineering mother (Lansbury) who’s married a McCarthy-like senator with presidential ambitions (Gregory). There’s a communist-conspiracy afoot and only a fellow survivor’s suspicions (Sinatra) that their memories don’t actually make any sense stands in the way. Get ready for some paranoia, some ‘60s US politics and more weirdness than you might be expecting.

Make no mistake, even if the plot isn’t entirely watertight, The Manchurian Candidate is a bona fide classic and the passing of time has actually given it a little bit more edge. It’s not really a spoiler to mention it so we’ll tell you it involves a bit of Lee Harvey Oswald-style assassination shenanigans and yet this was a movie released a full year before JFK’s ill-advised grassy knoll drive-by. While James Gregory’s comedic turn as the senator (he can’t remember how many communists there are in the Department of Defence, so after a series of gaffes he settles on Heinz’s 57 varieties) is clearly based on Joseph McCarthy, his boozed-up fear-mongering couldn’t help but remind us of a certain present-day British MEP . And amongst the rather good performances on display, there’s a legendary piece of artistry from Angela Lansbury. Now, our Angela is a pretty good actress (this role got her a third Oscar nomination) but you really need to see this one to believe it. Apart from being utterly convincing as Laurence Harvey’s mother despite being only three years older than him (no make-up jobs here, that’s just acting), she gives us one of the best onscreen villainesses of all time. She delivers a monologue that will chill you to your soul, but it’s made all the more terrifying by the fact that, to us, she’s lovely old Jessica Fletcher; something the contemporary audience would have had no inkling of. Yep, our baggage just makes it all the more scary.

The Blu-ray transfer is good and there’s some rather interesting interviews on the disc with Lansbury and Sinatra so, in short, you’ll be needing this one.

Special Features: Audio commentary / Two documentaries / Interviews with Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury / Trailer

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EXISTS

DVD REVIEW: EXISTS / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: EDUARDO SANCHEZ / SCREENPLAY: JAMIE NASH / STARRING: SAMUEL DAVIS, DORA MADISON BURGE, ROGER EDWARDS, BRIAN STEELE / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 6TH

Revisiting old cinematic ground is an extremely risky undertaking. Past glories may prove impossible to recreate resulting in a film that pales in comparison with previous work. When the most significant entry in your filmography happens to be the genre defining Blair Witch Project, any new woods-based found footage horror is always going to suffer harsh comparison, but with Exists writer and director Eduardo Sanchez has almost succeeded. Almost, but not quite.

After setting out for a fun weekend filming stunts for YouTube while staying at a family member’s isolated cabin, things begin to go very wrong indeed for a group of friends when they strike an unidentified childlike creature with their car and incur the wrath of a thoroughly unimpressed parent Bigfoot.

That’s about all you really need to know, except to say that Exists is for the most part pretty good fun. There is a welcome sense of nostalgia to proceedings as Sanchez channels classic tropes from films such as King Kong and Frankenstein, giving the malevolent monster a relatable motive and implying the possibility of a thoughtful personality hidden somewhere beneath the angry, hairy exterior. The Bigfoot scenes are very well conceived, with extremely convincing effects and the fear emanating from the deeply annoying teens tangible.

Without doubt the best thing about Exists is that the action kicks off right from the opening scenes and keeps going at a frantic pace right through to the end. There are the usual “is there something there?” and “did he see us?” moments that populate these films but they prove not to be too annoying and quieter moments are kept to a minimum, restricting the times when the audience could question any of the on-screen action to the film’s detriment.

Where Exists does sadly, and perhaps surprisingly, fall down is in the found footage concept. The set-up of filming everything to post on social media is fine, and even when they suspect there might be something hiding in the woods, keeping the camera rolling is justifiable. When events do become a little more bloody and boisterous, though, the old complaint of “just put the camera down!” comes to the fore and there are even some occasional time-lapse external shots that could be from an entirely different cabin in the woods film altogether. Simply put, it just doesn’t quite hold together.

It is notable that Exists shares little with 2014’s surprisingly tense found footage release Willow Creek other than in the substantially endowed paws of the antagonist. Where Bobcat Goldthwait developed a foreboding, tightly suffocating atmosphere, Sanchez has virtually created a chase movie, with the terminal teens pursued from one set piece to the next. When approached with fairly low expectations, Exists delivers a fun 90 minutes that is likely best enjoyed as a post-pub viewing experience on a Friday evening. Just don’t expect to remember too much of it by Saturday morning.

Special Features: None

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EXTRATERRESTRIAL

DVD REVIEW: EXTRATERRESTRIAL / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: COLIN MINIHAN / SCREENPLAY: COLIN MINIHAN, STUART ORTIZ / STARRING: BRITTANY ALLEN, FREDDIE STROMA, MELANIE PAPALIA, JESSE MOSS, GIL BELLOWS, MICHAEL IRONSIDE / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 16TH

Send a group of youngsters to a cabin in the woods and assault them with aliens. That is Extraterrestrial in a nutshell. Yes, the kids are annoying but you’d think aliens, who have travelled goodness knows how many lightyears, would have better and more important things to do.

There is a backstory to these events. Sheriff Murphy’s (Bellows) girlfriend suddenly disappeared 10 years earlier, and he warns the young folk that there have been recent ‘disturbances’ in the area. One such disturbance is a mutilated pig, and later their neighbour, a cannabis farming, ex-Vietnam veteran, tells them that “I’ve seen some shit”. He’s called Travis (Ironside) – no doubt a nod to the famous abductee Travis Walton – and the shit he has seen includes secret aircraft operating in the vicinity, but could easily include this film.

Travis helpfully tells us that ever since the Roswell flying saucer crash in 1947, the government has had a treaty with the aliens that allows them to abduct people. Fair enough, but the aliens are blundering idiots. Their wonderful flying saucers can’t cope with our storms, and yet another bites the dust just near the youngsters’ cabin.

The aliens are particularly inept at abducting people in this film, even though they have got hundreds “up there”. They knock down trees, short-out electrical systems, mutilate animals, lurk in the shadows, attack at random, and unsystematically scare the crap out of people. As for what they do to you when they finally have the sense to turn their tractor beam in the right direction, you don’t want or care to know. I won’t mention the anal probe (damn…).

A disappointing mixture of spindly aliens and UFOs copied from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with a dash of grimy and sadistic imagery from Communion and Fire in the Sky. It also borrows greedily and indiscriminately from real-life UFO and alien abduction reports and resolutely underlines the concept that the government is in cahoots with THEM.

The final few minutes show a flicker of originality and refer back to an earlier scene when Kyle (Stroma) unsuccessfully proposes marriage to April (Allen). After all the trauma of abduction, her excuse not to accept him because “we are all alone in the universe” is convincingly proved wrong on the personal and universal level. So despite the alien abductions and animal mutilations (apparently conducted because the aliens want to know all about us – couldn’t they just ask?) love at least wins out.

A well made yet wasted opportunity to comment on, explore or even poke fun at the subject of alien abductions. What is left is a mildly horrifying flick.

Special Features: None

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WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

BLU-RAY REVIEW: WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: TAIKA WAITITI, JEMAINE CLEMENT / SCREENPLAY: TAIKA WAITITI, JEMAINE CLEMENT / STARRING: TAIKA WAITITI, JEMAINE CLEMENT, JONATHAN BRUGH, BEN FRANSHAM, CORI GONZALEZ-MACUER / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 13TH

What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary of sorts that looks at modern-day struggles of a group of vampires. Viago (Waititi), Vladislav (Clement), Deacon (Brugh) and Petyr (Fransham) have to deal with the day-to-day issues of being a bloodsucker, such as trying to get in to nightclubs, getting dressed without the assistance of a reflection, keeping on top of household chores, tensions with werewolves, and pulling the odd Lost Boys trick on potential victims. Being a vampire isn’t merely all pouting and Twilight, you know.

Just as you’re getting to grips with the foursome (albeit if Petyr’s moments are largely spent entombed in the basement), Nick (Gonzalez-Macuer), a would-be meal, is turned into a vampire himself and joins the group’s dynamic, even bringing human friend Stu (Stuart Rutherford) into the fold. The film stays with our core collection of characters as they go through the mundane living patterns of a vampire, although what we see is actually far from mundane.

This is a film that has a knowing, innocent charm to it, brimming with the subtle moments of brilliance and humour that are a staple of Taika Waititi’s films. Waititi is best known for helming the stunning duo of Eagle vs. Shark and Boy, and he splits writing and directing duties with Flight of the Conchords‘ equally brilliant Jemaine Clement, who also worked with Waititi on the aforementioned Eagle vs. Shark. What the two deliver here is again something of real beauty with a quirky edge that will have you belly laughing with its deft approach to the humour drizzled throughout its running time.

Despite being a vastly funny film, What We Do in the Shadows also has a wonderfully classic gothic feel to our initial group of vampires, with each ticking off a particular vampiric stereotype that we’ve seen a million times before although obviously not quite as comically drawn as they are here. Added to this, there are one or two moments of gore in there for those with a thirst for the red stuff, and we even get to see Viago struggling with the practicality of biting a victim in the household. Safe to say, it’s best to put newspaper down and it also pays to make sure you hit the right artery with the fateful bite.

What We Do in the Shadows is a film that has many different strokes in its approach and humour, and the performances from the central cast are perfectly played, not to mention a couple of cameos for long-time Waititi/Clement aficionados to keep their eyes peeled for. Make no mistake about it, this is a film that will appeal to near-enough everybody, regardless of whether they’re familiar with Waititi or Clement’s previous work or not. Simply put, a hugely enjoyable mockumentary that will get a smile out of the most coldest of hearts.

Special Features: Behind the Shadows feature / Original short film / Promo videos / Video extras / Deleted scenes

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AMERICAN GHOST STORY

DVD REVIEW: AMERICAN GHOST STORY / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JOSEPH O’BRIEN / SCREENPLAY: JOSEPH O’BRIEN / STARRING: DAVID HAYTER, MARIA DEL MAR, CASEY HUDECKI, FRANK MOORE / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 9TH

A tip for first-time filmmakers: if you want to find an audience, a strong idea, good acting and pretty pictures might not always be enough.

American Ghost Story (known as Devil’s Mile Stateside, much more appropriately) is a real mixed bag, taking its cues from all sorts of disparate sources and hoping they’ll add up rather than working to make something coherent of them. Essentially a kidnapping-cum-road movie (Wild at Heart meets Fargo), writer / producer / director Joseph O’Brien throws in a soupcon of Angel Heart, a pinch of Japanese horror, and a drop of timey-wimey – and it almost works. This is certainly a good looking film (in that washed-out fashion that helps cheap movies compete with more expensive ones), and the acting is almost enough to hitch you up for the ride. But O’Brien’s techniques are as scattershot as his ideas, and ultimately if this fails, then it’s because it’s as unsure of how to achieve its goals as it is uncertain of what those goals really are.

The film starts reasonably enough, with three kidnappers getting lost – literally and as it turns out metaphorically – on a side road to nowhere. But our principals are argumentative and short-fused, and the first fifteen minutes are more off-putting than engaging; an audience needs someone with whom to identify and connect, and although this happens later, it’s almost a case of too little too late. The second problem is with David Hayter’s character Toby, a man so ill-tempered he makes the rest of the cast look like pussycats. It’s impossible to suspend your disbelief enough to believe that he might have made any success in even the most illegitimate of trades, and that serves to undermine your confidence in the rest of what’s being presented. Finally the cross-cutting with arch-villain Mr Arkadi, in what might amount to a flash-forward or flashback depending on which road the film ultimately takes, causes the movie’s coherency to suffer. While unsettling the audience might be appropriate in horror films, American Ghost Story is – in spite of its title and much of its content – not really that at all; instead the already over-complicated plot is over-complicated even more by the use of the technique.

Having said all that, the basic premise is a good one, the dialogue is strong if somewhat clichéd, and the twist ending is enough to cause you to rethink how you got to that point. Just don’t think too hard, as very little of the story really adds up. This would have been much better stripped back to its basic concept and with a little more development of that – and if O’Brien had somehow managed to make it just a little more likeable.

Special Features: None

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MONOGATARI SERIES SECOND SEASON

DVD REVIEW: MONOGATARI SERIES SECOND SEASON / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: AKIYUKI SHINBO, TOMOYUKI ITAMURA / SCREENPLAY: AKIYUKI SHINBO, FUYASHI TOU / STARRING: HIROSHI KAMIYA, EMIRI KATOU, YUI HORIE, SHINICHIRO MIKI / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 16TH

This bite-sized collection gathers the four-part story arc Shinobu Time, which makes up episodes 17 to 20 of the second season of Monogatari. Based on the light novels of the same name by author and manga scribe Nisio Isin, the series follows Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who survived a vampire attack, and his subsequent misadventures with several young girls involved in all manner of apparitions, ghosts and gods.

Like its predecessors, there’s a frenetic array of dizzying flashcards, most of which make up Koyomi’s raddled inner thoughts. Given there’s no English dub, the multiple sets of subtitles will have you reaching for the pause button often. But part of its charm is the swarm of information you might only ever see on a subconscious level.

The second episode is the strongest of the four and sees Shinobu spinning her history and how she came to make her first minion. She narrates over strikingly beautiful art, playing out like a manga in motion. Once the 500 year old vampire Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade, Shinobu now exists as an 8 year old girl since losing her powers and makes for the most absorbing character of the series.

Despite the show’s many complexities and stunning aesthetic, there is a sting in the tale. Koyomi is seemingly sexually attracted to young girls, and given many of the main characters are preteens, it makes for some uncomfortable viewing, even with the odd sliver of satire that underpins it all.

This distinctly cinematic series is often dense and long-winded as its characters are largely sat around chatting, but it’s these interactions which often take compelling flights of philosophical fancy. Peppered with strange humour, an ambient soundtrack and gorgeous animation, Monogatari is one to get on board with, just watch out for that perverted quasi-vampire.

Special Features: TV spots / Trailer / Ending

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REC 4: APOCALYPSE

DVD REVIEW: REC 4: APOCALYPSE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JAUME BALAGUERÓ / SCREENPLAY: JAUME BALAGUERÓ, MANU DÍEZ/ STARRING: MANUELA VELASCO, PACO MANZANEDO, ISMAEL FRITSCHI, HÉCTOR COLOMÉ/ RELEASE DATE: MARCH 2ND

In 2007 (or 2008 in our parts), a little Spanish found footage Horror called 3: Genésis, which abandoned the integral story, the handheld presentation and the scares for a more gory comedy route – the results being muddled and ill-fitting. So here we are at Rec 4: Apocalypse and thankfully proceedings have improved again, even if the latter stages of this franchise remain severely lacking compared to the earlier films.

This film sees long suffering reporter Àngela (Velasco) rescued from the overrun apartment and wake up at sea aboard a freighter alongside some other people. Not knowing the motives of the medical crew in charge, all soon becomes clear, as the virus finds it’s way on-board, meaning the crew must band together to try and fend off the infected or, failing that, try and survive. Unlike Genésis (although fans of that film don’t despair, it is tied into this plot somewhat), Apocalypse goes for the brutal, dark, approach of the first films instead of the comic overtones. That being said, the handheld approach has been fully abandoned now, in this cinematically presented journey (though the odd moments of camera footage refer to the series roots). This is good and bad;good because it allows for the make-up work to stand out and for intense chase sequences to be more easily digested (pardon the pun), but bad because it means the title of the series is now irrelevant and the overall claustrophobic vibe largely lost.

Still, Apocalypse has some great moments and at least feels like it is determined to tie-up the overall narrative mythos, which has now become less a zombie film and more Jason Goes to Hell meets 28 Days Later. Which may make or break the film for some viewers. In fact, when speaking of influences, the biggest influence here is F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, with the whole fear of the foreigner angle and scenes of plague-like outbreak echoing Murnau’s infamous film and it’s boat-set sequences. Heck, one of the characters is even wearing a shirt as direct reference to this, for all you cinebuffs out there. Yet despite the film’s rather anti-climatic finale, which seems to work too hard to outdo what came before as opposed to neatly concluding, there is a lot to admire here. The film features some entertaining pandemic jolts of energy and (despite the odd iffy animated monkey) shows the series advancement in terms of presentation. For instance, the make-up is grossly great and the Blake Neely-esque score, by Arnau Bataller, effective (even if you do keep expecting Oliver Queen- from TV series Arrow to turn up at points!)

In short, Rec 4: Apocalypse is not as scary as the first and second films, nor as originally constructed, but it is more sure of itself than the muddled third movie, and while the handheld aspect would have actually improved the tone and scares, if this is to be the closing chapter in the franchise it at least goes out on a relatively fun and furiously bloody note. Still, we can’t help but think that years in the future, Genésis and Apocalypse will remain more like forgotten or vaguely recalled sequels to two foreign horror landmarks rather than meaty and memorable follow-ups in their own right.

Special Features: Making of Rec 4

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