REC 2

                                                       http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1245112/

I know what you're possibly thinking. It may seem a bit weird that for my first review I've decided to go for a sequel, but I thought as it's quite a recent film on this much loved subject I'd go for it as I don't want to jump in at the deep end and review a classic straight away for I might upset people with my opinions. I think I'll leave that until I've acquired a few comments and found out what people really think of me.

So. Anyway. REC 2. If you haven't seen REC then please go watch it before reading any of this or watching the sequel. If you have seen it and have yet to see the sequel then you are in for a pleasant surprise. As far as sequels go from my years of experience in lethargic movie watching, they can be hit or miss. I could list my opinions on what sequels are "hit" and which ones are "miss" but that would probably bore the face off of you. I'm pleased to announce that this particular film falls under the "hit" category.

The movie begins with a small group of SWAT team members making sure their on-helmet cameras are working as they prepare for their mission which is to enter the apartment building which is the large but claustrophobic feeling set from the original title. Before entering the quarantined site they are introduced to a medical officer who is to accompany them on their experience and call all the shots. His character quickly becomes the boss of the operation and at this point in the film you strangely, delightfully realise that the SWAT members have as much lack of knowledge about the mission ahead as you do watching the film. With no way out of the building but the medical officers say so over his voice recognition walkie talkie, they are well and truly trapped inside a world of horror that awaits around a few scary corners.
Over the years there have been a lot of ways thought up for how a zombie outbreak can commence, whether it's a plague of rabies, a science experiment gone wrong, a genetically modified virus for military use or acid rain, there is one particular idea that is quite rare and possibly first brought to life in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, the paranormal. After hints from the discovered notes and newspaper articles left pinned up against the penthouse wall in this films predecessor (I know it's all in Spanish and these writings didn't have the desired English subtitles, but upon it's release I was one sad enough to google translate said articles, either that or you might have learned the translations from watching the American re-make "Quarantine".)this comes up as a nice follow-up sparing no detail. I'll stop myself in my tracks as the more I'm thinking about the film whilst writing this the more I'm reliving it and I'm bloody enjoying it and could end up spoiling the whole film for anyone who might stumble upon this review.

The only minor gripe I had with this film was at about the half way point when the story starts from another angle, from the view of three rebellious teenagers who follow a fireman and a man who claims his wife and child were trapped in the building into the house of horrors via the sewers. This story line wasn't my gripe as it is imperative to the films flow, but more the fact that every group that enters the building just happens to have a video camera of some description. I guess it had to be done somehow.

Overall I was very pleased with the film as, to be honest, I wasn't expecting that much from it. After watching the trailers for it I made a decision that there was no way it could be better than the first one. I couldn't have been more wrong. What really did it for me was the full blown dive into the paranormal with imaginative ways of using the hand-held camera style to an advantage but without allowing the film to lack in gallons of blood and guts. And there's nothing I like more than a film's plot being completely unraveled by it's sequel. Bravo.

Verdict: 4 out of 5 fast running, old, fat lady zombies.

The Note

Entry #3

Sunday June 11th 2006

Gurnard Hunting Elite Irregular Meeting

Location: Donny’s house / Bar & Grill

I woke up at roughly 0930 knelt on Donny’s living room floor with my face nuzzled on the seating panel of an armchair. I had a heavy hangover and a nasty feeling of irresponsibility. Chuck was sprawled across a sofa and Harrison snoozing whist sat bolt upright on the other armchair. I’m guessing Donny managed to crawl up the stairs to his bedroom. Fifteen minutes later the three of us “stop-outs” were awake and silently sipping cups of tea that I made as I was the first one to stand up. From the bleak morning mood I could tell the other two were feeling just as bad, if not worse than me. I took a tea up to Donny’s room only to discover he wasn’t in his bed. There was only one other place he could be.
We walked up the garden to the Bar & Grill to find Donny lying on his back under the bar with the peak of his trucker cap shielding his eyes from morning light and puffing on a roll-up. When he picked himself up I realised how right I was to feel irresponsible, the floor was littered with empty beer cans, spirit bottles, drinking receptacles e.g. beer bongs and yard glasses, but worst of all, cash, everywhere.
As we all enjoyed another cuppa (this time made by Chuck) and a roll-up we discussed the previous nights events, starting with the hilarity of what we could remember from the latter parts of the evening and then onto the seriousness of the phone call we had received and the briefcase of money that was now blemishing the floors of this once classy establishment.
We decided it would be wise to seek the envelope the man on the phone had said he’d placed under the cash inside the briefcase. After taking a look at the floor and realising where the cash now resided our faces looked like what I can only describe as that internet smiley with an “S” for a mouth. Luckily enough it wasn’t too difficult to locate as we discovered it was taped to the bottom of the briefcase that was spread eagle in one corner of the shed. We didn’t hesitate to open the envelope, I think was about due time we read it after the previous nights shenanigans. I pulled out the note and read it aloud for the others. It Read:
“If you are reading this note then you have been selected for a top secret mission.
As I should have already explained to you via telecommunication, no more can be said at this point in time as it would prove to be too dangerous.
I urge you to meet me at the Gurnard Testing Facility at 1800 hours on Wednesday 14th June. I know you’ve never heard of this before and it is imperative that you keep its existence and whereabouts absolutely classified. You will find directions on the reverse of this note.
Enjoy your cash, for now, but if you carry out these orders correctly you shall soon be enjoying far more. “

An Unexpected Opportunity

Entry #2

Saturday June 10th 2006

Gurnard Hunting Elite Meeting

Location: Donny’s Bar & Grill

It’s roughly 19:45 and Donny, Chuck, Harrison and I have been playing poker for an hour and a half already. If any of us had anything better to do we’d probably be doing it. There was no damn way that phone was ever gonna ring, that was the general consensus. This time it was mine and Harrison’s turns to bring the regular two bottles. The JD was already dry and we had about half of my bottle of Mount Gay Rum still going, I always make sure the booze I bring isn’t a popular choice with anyone but me so I get the heartier portion. Harrison was chip leader in this game. Damn him.
What we needed was some fun, some excitement, some laughs. It wasn’t like it used to be, to start with we just enjoyed each others company and I don’t think in the beginning we even took the whole bounty hunter thing seriously. Maybe that’s where it all went wrong. Maybe we just needed to forget about it.
“Fuck it!” I yelled as I handed over my last chips to Harrison after being beaten by a pair of Jacks (If a poker hand could be my arch-enemy, this would be it) but I intended this aberrant yammer to mean something other than the frustrated bark the three of them were expecting.
“That’s it! I think we should forget the whole bounty hunter thing.”
“Are you serious?” Chuck said with surprisingly wide eyes for somebody who was half-cut and an unnerving grin. “We’re glad you’re finally on board.”
I was confused.
Donny and Harrison started laughing closely followed by Chuck.
“Dude! We gave up on it a long time ago! We’ve just not said much about it because we didn’t want to upset you!” Donny announced through a smile and a chortle whilst twisting his trucker cap from frontwards to backwards. It was as if my comment had finally let these guys relax.
We sat there and let the dust and laughter settle as I came to terms with the fact that my friends had been pulling one over on me.
Then as if somebody had been listening in to the whole conversation/banter as Harrison said “Well at least we can just go back to......” It happened. The red phone rang.
We all paused and looked at it ringing for about two and a half seconds before it was unanimously decided that it was probably just another market research call and a few more giggles escaped our mouths. In fact I was half chuckling when I finally picked it up after the sixth ring.
“Hu-hello?”
“Hello. Is this headquarters for Gurnard Hunting Elite?” Said the voice at the other end. It was a slightly posh sounding voice with hints of somebody who might wear a scientist's spectacles.
My face dropped. “Shhhh, shhhh.” I demanded of the others as I held the receiver against my chest. “Yes, yes it is, er... I mean, erm NO. Er this is the receptionist, I’ll just get somebody.” I chaotically fibbed before I held the receiver back to my chest and pulled a face that made me look like my own tongue was made from salt and lemons.
“Why the hell did you say that?” Chuck asked. “I don’t flipping know! More professional I guess? Just let me do the talking.” You couldn’t tell I was at all nervous.
With a cough and a drop in tone I thrusted the receiver back to my face.
Mike: “May I help you?”
Caller: “Yes, yes, hello. This is a very important call.”
M: “What can we do for you?”
C: “I would like to hire your services but will need to meet you all to discuss the situation in person.”
M: “Sounds good but how do I know you’re not just some crazy guy? OR AN ENEMY?” (We didn’t have any enemies.)
C: “Check behind your headquarters door on the outside and you’ll see how serious I am.”
Because the air had gone completely silent I knew the other guys could hear everything the caller was saying so I urged them to do so. Donny pulled a small brown briefcase into the shed and proceeded to unlock it. The case was opened and it was full of cash. Wads of £20 notes in fact.
C: “£20,000 cash, and there’s plenty more where that came from if you decide to hold your questions for when we meet.
M: “Just one question if you’d be courteous enough to answer it.”
C: “Shoot.”
M: “Why us? Why a bunch of twenty-something’s with a lack of experience?”
He fell silent for a few seconds. It may sound like it was a question said out of fear to almost change the callers mind but that wasn’t the case. This bounty hunter doesn’t scare that easily.
C: “Never mind that for now, let’s say you boys may be my only hope. Now, the address and time of where you need to meet me are in an envelope under the cash. You must also understand that this must be kept entirely confidential. If any of this information is leaked to anybody other than you four, then there might be a little ‘accident’ if you get my drift. I have to go now. I hope you now understand the importance of this call and look forward to meeting you very soon.”
The receiver went silent.
The rest of the night comes as a bit of a blur as me and the boys managed to get to the local corner shop before closing and acquire enough booze for a full blown, four person celebration party.

Michael Rann: Zombie Hunter aka. Memoirs of a Wishful Thinker

Entry #1

Wednesday June 7th 2006

Gurnard Hunting Elite Meeting

Location: Donny’s Bar & Grill

I turned up to the Bar & Grill at roughly 18:15, Donny & Chuck had already started on the Jim Beam. I ‘m starting to think our lack of call outs has started to make them stop believing that we can do this.
“On the booze already?” I asked.
“Yep” Chuck replied.
“We’ve been doing this same exact thing for the past six months now” Donny added “I just can’t see much opportunity on the Isle of Wight for bounty hunters!”
I was right. “C’mon guys, what would Boba Fett have to say if he heard you right now? And if Dog the Bounty Hunter can get that much work, then so can we!”
Before the guys got a chance to argue with my fictional character and crappy TV show response my earache was saved by the arrival of Harrison.

“’Sup guys!” That northern tone was like music to my ears, not to mention the casual two thumbs up as he side stepped into the shed. If anyone, Harrison would stick with me.

These twice a week meetings (Wednesdays and Saturdays) always wound up the exact same way. The meet-ups started at 18:00 (or at least in a half hour vicinity) at Donny’s Bar & Grill aka. Donny’s shed at the top of his semi-long garden. This was our headquarters. The inside of the shed was heated, with a makeshift bar with plenty of whiskey, rum and homemade beer, a rolled out poker matt working as a drip tray and the only real object in the place that made us the elite we so wished to be... The red telephone. For the first half hour of most meetings would be an enthusiastic brainstorm of nonsense ideas of how we could be the most famous squad of bounty hunters on the planet. After the ideas started to cool down is when we’d start hitting the bottle and getting pissed off, mainly with the fact that around a year ago Dog the Bounty Hunter hit the screens in the UK (although if truth be told that’s probably where we got the idea from).
This meeting wasn’t the first that was slightly different. The guys were all getting annoyed that the last time the red phone rang was about two months ago and even then it was just some asshole market researcher.

Tonight it was only about 20 minutes before we all started taking shots and dealing poker.
“Maybe we just need better ad posters?” I piped up, only to get shot down by three half drunken stares that lasted about four seconds before gazing back at their cards. “Maybe not”.
Somehow I still knew we’d all be meeting again on Saturday...

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! And YES! You've guessed it! It's all about zombies.

Basically this is my way of putting pressure on myself to do something I've always enjoyed doing (writing) without it becoming another one of those projects I start and never finish. What better way than publishing it online as I go along?

Coming up over what I hope will be a long period of time will be a whole bunch of zombie reviews for movies, games and books with plenty of recommendations for zombie enthusiasts, but also entries from my diary which I kept in my zombie hunting heyday for you all to enjoy.

So look out for my first review and diary entry coming up in the next week.... Enjoy!