[REC] 4: Apocalypse (2014)

Picking up the action from the end of [REC] 2 - itself a continuation of the original [REC] - [REC] 4: Apocalypse opens with a small military unit entering the quarantined Barcelona tower block, with the aim of blowing it up.

However, they find the sole survivor, elfin TV news reporter Ángela Vidal (the absolutely gorgeous Manuela Velasco).

Ángela awakens in a medical facility, that is very quickly revealed to be (as we all knew anyway), a ship that has been commandeered by the authorities as a floating laboratory to try and find a cure for the virus.

As well as the two surviving soldiers from her rescue, Ángela also finds on board the last survivor of the wedding party seen in [REC] 3 - Genesis, a confused old lady (María Alfonsa Rosso) completely oblivious to what went down at the wedding.

Naturally, things very quickly fall apart as a viral test subject escapes (is set free?), food becomes infected and in no time at all everything goes to hell in a very bloody hand-basket and the uninfected find themselves trapped on the claustrophobic ship as it heads into a violent storm.

Rather than aping other zombie flicks, [REC] 4 takes its inspiration from the Aliens franchise (a comparison I also made in my review of [REC] 2) and is all the better for continuing to put a fresh spin on the zombie genre.

The found footage/POV camera gimmick from the earlier entries in this series has been abandoned, but that idea still plays a key part in the story, with Ángela's footage from the tower block providing an important clue as to what is going on and frequent references to the ship's internal security cameras illustrating the spread of the chaos and carnage.

As well as the evidence from Ángela's camera, the newspaper clippings seen in the first movie are also referenced, tying that sub-plot in nicely.

However, this is where the film rather falters, although lip service is paid to the "demonic" angle of the infection, nothing is really done with it as the explanation for the virus reverts to a more mainstream one as the scientists on the ship discover it is a host-hopping parasite.

While this is handled well, it was the supernatural twist in the first three movies that gave the [REC] zombies a special flavour.

Getting rid of this angle was a serious mistake as it reduces [REC] 4 to the level of "just another zombie flick" (with its primary uniqueness coming from its setting), which the previous movies most definitely weren't.

Although, [REC] 4: Apocalypse has been set up as the conclusion of the franchise - and it provides a decent enough wrap-up to the most consistently strong zombie film series to date - it does leave the door open for a new episode on a grander scale.

And I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing more of Manuela Velasco's Ángela Vidalin action...

[REC] 3: Genesis

Although sub-titled "Genesis", I got the impression that this latest Spanish zombie flick was supposedly taking place simultaneously with the first two found-footage [REC] movies, rather than being any sort of definite "origin story".

It is the wedding day of Koldo (Diego Martin) and Clara (Leticia Dolera) and the first twenty minutes or so of [REC] 3: Genesis is spliced together from footage shot at the their wedding and then the start of their reception at an out-of-town stately home.

Barring an innocuous comment from an uncle about being bitten by a dog before the wedding this first act could almost be the set-up for a rom-com or a drama, but then uncle takes a header off a balcony into the middle of the ball room while everyone's partying... and things start to go a bit mental.

The zombie virus spreads like wildfire as the survivors split up and try to make it to safety.

The found-footage format is quickly abandoned once [REC] 3 shows its true colours as a straight-up zombie film and while some people might say this is what made the [REC] movies special, I prefer to think of their USP as their treatment of zombies.

Flesh-eaters here are not the plague-creatures we are used to from The Walking Dead or George Romero movies, but supernatural entities unable to enter holy ground, burned by holy water and whose true demonic visages are revealed in mirrored surfaces.

It here that "Genesis" comes in to play, for its Biblical reference, and the suggestions that these are fallen angels/demons rather than typical Hollywood zombies.

"Found-footage" movies have had their day anyway, so I for one was quite pleased when [REC] 3 reverted to a more mainstream style.

It worked brilliantly for the first [REC] and quite well again in the second, but did people really want yet another rehash?

It was a brave step by writer/director Paco Plaza to take a franchise so integrally-attached to to one particular style of film-making and, in mid-stream, switch to a more traditional method of telling a horror story.

Around this point, [REC] 3 also takes a distinct Dungeons & Dragons twist with Koldo tooling up in a suit of armour found in the stately home's chapel to St George and wielding a wicked looking spiked mace (not that I remember him actually using it), while a priest finds he is able to hold the undead at bay through the power of prayer.

As well as a clever zombie survival tale, [REC] 3 also manages to be a brilliant love story - with Koldo and Clara forced apart at the start of the carnage and then forever driven to get back to each other, sensing that that soul mate is still alive and motivating them not to abandon the scene.

Also, unlike the earlier films in the franchise, there is a distinct vein of black humour running through what is ultimately a tragic tale, but without diminishing the splatter quotient for the gorehounds among us.

My exposure to Spanish cinema is, admittedly, limited so I don't know if it's common to all Spanish movies or simply the [REC] ones, but they do manage to secure the most amazing-looking female leads.

I didn't think it was possible for anyone to out-cute Manuela Velasco from the first films, but Leticia Dolera is simply stunning - and a fine action-actress to boot.

I could quite easily have watched just 77 minutes of Leticia, but as an added bonus she's thrown in to a superb zombie movie that also serves as an antidote to those who are less than keen about the staid formality of family weddings.

[REC] 2 (2009)

More a continuation (in a Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings way) than a sequel to the excellent [REC], [REC] 2 opens with the famous night-vision shot of Manuela Velasco being dragged off into the darkness and picks up the story moments later with the building being stormed by a SWAT team.

The armed police have been assigned to escort a sinister, scar-faced "government representative from the Ministry of Health", Dr Owen (Jonathan Mellor), into the quarantined housing block.

As with its predecessor, this Spanish-language horror is filmed in the shaky-cam style of hand-held cameras - whether carried by the SWAT team or a trio of juvenile delinquents who come into the story about half-way through.

Very quickly we are reminded that this is not your Uncle George's zombie film, but something a whole lot more supernatural, as it fills in some of the questions left hanging by [REC].

Imagine a tower block full of Regan MacNeils! This is the Aliens part of the story after the scene-setting Alien-ness of [REC].

The religious backstory makes for interesting meat, but the truly clever tricks come towards the end when the nature of the hand-held camera medium is used to brilliant effect.

[REC] 2 works on its own merits, although it may come across as a bit of a 'do-over' of [REC] when looked at like that.

However it's when you take the two halves as a single film you realise that this is an amazing, original horror movie that, in a market saturated with cookie-cutter zombie movies, has found a unique spin.

Quarantine (2008)

The chances are if you have similar tastes to mine you will have heard of the Spanish alt-zombie, shaky-cam, found footage, horror flick [REC] - well, Quarantine is the American remake for those who don't do subtitles.

While not a shot-for-shot remake, Quarantine is very, very similar to the original - even down to the look of the quarantined apartment building.

The lovely Jennifer Carpenter, from Dexter, replaces the elfin Manuela Velasco, as the TV journalist doing a "ride-along" piece with the Los Angeles fire brigade when they are called to a block where an elderly resident is apparently in trouble in her room.

When the police and fire brigade force their way in, the crazy old woman attacks them and things very rapidly go to Hell in an oversized handbasket.

The reporter, and her mostly-unseen cameraman, find themselves trapped inside the building with an assortment of residents - including Alan Harper's wife from Two And A Half Men (Marin Hinkle), the burnt guy from American Horror Story (Denis O'Hare) and Fish from Ally McBeal (Greg Germann) - some of whom are manifesting signs of a kind of super-rabies!

Quarantine, while sticking close to the visceral template established in [REC], appears to be playing down the supernatural left turn in the third act, yet remains uncertain as to which way it wants to take things as it heads towards the now infamous final shot (which is also, rather bizarrely, the DVD cover) that was so effective in [REC] that it has has become a cliché in lazy horror movie making.

So, yes, Quarantine is excellent fun, but mainly because [REC] was so good in the first place. I guess the makers of Quarantine should, at least, be applauded for not screwing up the material they were handed - which makes a change!

Both films, ultimately, are so similar that it really comes down to the mood you are in when choosing which to watch - Spanish or American?

[REC] (2007)

It must be a nightmare trying to conjure up an entirely new idea for a horror film these days, but the Spanish writer/directors of [REC], Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza, took a good stab at it.

A TV reporter (the amazingly cute Manuela Velasco) and her camerman are filming a "day in the life" documentary about a local fire crew, when the call comes in to rescue a woman trapped in her apartment.

Unfortunately this routine job turns out to be anything but when the old woman suddenly attacks and bites one of her saviours.

Things spiral out of control from there, when the people in the apartment block find they have been sealed in by the police and special forces - because of a "possible infectious outbreak".

As with Cloverfield, The Blair Witch Project, Man Bites Dog, Diary Of The Dead and probably several others I've missed, the film is entirely seen from the point-of-view of the unseen TV cameraman, making the audience very much a part of the action, limiting our knowledge of what's going on to what the reporter sees and hears.

It's superbly paced from the get-go, with events almost happening in 'real time', with thrills and spills snowballing as the 'outbreak' in the apartment block gets increasingly out of control.

Manuela Velasco

As TV journalist Ángela, Manuela Velasco is amazingly easy on the eye, and a convincing actress to boot, while the rest of the cast were clearly chosen for their 'non-film star' looks, which adds to the authenticity of the piece.

[REC] drip feeds the clues as to what's really going on, but it doesn't long for a savvy audience to grasp the fact that we're seeing a zombie outbreak up close and personal, which is why it's mystifying - and intriguing - when the plot takes a sudden and unexpected left turn into Exorcist territory towards the end.

I love films that let me figure out what's going on for myself, but this sudden shift from scientific reasoning to supernatural weirdness caught me totally off balance.

There had been mutterings from an elderly couple earlier, that hinted at there being more to this than meets the eye, but this was a major leap of faith by the film-makers that I wish had been developed slightly earlier.

Nevertheless, [REC] is a brilliant zombie flick, and a major change of pace from the usual Romero fare (not that there's anything wrong with that), so is well worth checking out if you're into zombie action horror... or just want to watch a really cute Spanish woman running around in a vest top for the better part of 75 minutes.

[REC] was remade in the States, for audiences who can't handle sub-titles, as Quarantine.