[REC] 2: Review

[REC] was easily one of the best and scariest horror films of 2007. I may even go as far to say that [REC] is one of the best horror films in the last decade. It sounded like an utterly nausea inducing idea, pitting a camera crew in a quarantined hotel with hell of a lot of zombies and no possible escape. But the film remained completely compelling from start to finish, with the 'shaky cam' adding to the dread and isolation, as the characters quickly become zombie chew one by one as they made their way around the darkened and claustrophobic corridors. I would of thought that hand held mockumentary style films would only suffice for one film as showing a piece of footage that aims to be 'real' only really works when its presented in a single package with an air of mystery surrounding it. So I was surprised when [REC] 2 was announced and I was cynical about it as I was with the first film. So I finally sat down to give [REC] 2 my undivided attention and I can say that I was pleasantly surprised.

The film picks up right where we left off and quickly cuts to a S.W.A.T. that is being sent to to the apartment block to escort some dude from the Ministry of Health in. We get a quick look at the team, learn their names and have a quick equipment check to show us that this time they have about 50 bazillion cameras mounted on each guy so we won't be able to miss any of the action. Rather then spending too much time on this, [REC] 2 quickly tosses this aside and gets right to heart of the story after the questionable ending of the first film. Things are quickly answered that throws the whole 'zombie' thing right out the window and replaces it with a nice dose of demons and possession (if you didn't guess from the ending of the first).

The film can be moderately scary throughout, throwing in some truly tense moments. You can't help rolling your eyes at some of the horrendous decisions some of the characters make, sending some off alone or watching others pump round after round of lead into some of the possessed, mouth foaming crazies when earlier on in the film we found a simple shot to the head would suffice. Despite following a team around that is armed to the teeth, the film manages to give off a strong atmosphere. With the buildings power off, everything groans and creaks and footsteps can be heard pattering and thumping around on the higher floors. I was enjoying the film a lot until things took a very strange turn.

Half way through the film the camera breaks and suddenly we switch to another group of characters that have found their way inside. A group of kids, defying all the quarantine sighs, police, choppers and the impenetrable bubble that the building has been coated in, decide to sneak in because it seems like such a good idea. I don't get what it is with kids and wanting to fuck everything up. Look at 28 Weeks Later. Two kids sneak out of the quarantine, bring the infection back and pretty much get everyone killed. People should just do the decent thing and keep their kids on a leash.

While this was a pretty ballsy and annoying move, it worked. We're thrown in with another group of survivors that have no weapons and no way to defend themselves but to continually record everything on their shitty camera. They cry, they scream and they beg to go home. Just as you start feeling a bit sorry for them, the film decides to rectify its mistake by having one of them die and scarring the other two for life leaving us again with the story driven S.W.A.T.

If you enjoyed [REC] you will certainly get a kick out of this sequel. Following a highly trained S.W.A.T. gives you a sense of safety, as the helmet mounted camera gives us a clear look at their trained and professional exteriors. It also manges to be scary by tearing this away from you when they find they're training is about a useful as slapping a possessed lunatic across the face. The separate camera's for each team member is used effectively, allowing us view to some horrific death scenes and its full of the blood and guts we've all become accustomed to in these sorts of horror films. The story takes some questionable turns and doesn't quite know what to do with itself but knows it wants to be something a little different from the usual zombie films that flood the market today. Overall [REC] 2 is a worthy but unnecessary sequel.

I Saw the Devil Review

Looking at American cinema, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Yanks take on revenge tend to involve the likes of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson angrily punching people and walking in slow motion towards the camera in a manner that can only suggest he’s about to whip his dick out at any moment. Korean cinema isn’t as bravado as that, focusing more on the emotional distress that all-consuming revenge has on the characters. With films like the emotionally gripping Oldboy to the cathartic violence of Bedevilled, it’s easy to see that Korean film makers do not wish to glamourize revenge but rather show it as a force that inevitably drives the characters into self-destruction. I Saw the Devil is no exception. While being overly long, this is once again, another gripping film from our Korean brothers which shows us things we simply wouldn’t get to see down at our local Odeon. 

Min-sik Choi as Kyung Chul

From director Jee-woon Kim (director of ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’, a film that donned a strap-on of confusion and skull fucked you), I Saw the Devil is a revenge thriller that sees Special Agent Kim Soo-hyeon (Byung-hun Lee) relentlessly pursuing psychopathic serial killer Kyung-chul (Mr ‘Oldboy’ himself, Min-Sik Choi) for the brutal murder of his pregnant wife. Pretty standard stuff, yes, but the deliverance of the film is pretty unique viewing in Korea’s quickly growing collection of revenge films. Not content with meting revenge out quickly, Soo-hyeon catches up with Kyung-chul, dishes out some pain and then lets him go but not before planting him with a GPS. It seems Soo-hyeon wants us to actually have a film to watch. So for most of the proceedings, we watch Kyung-chul act like one of the biggest bastards around, attempting to rape defenceless women and pick on old men only to have Soo-hyeon show up, beat seven shades of shit out of him and fuck off to wait for him to do something evil again.

Byung-hun Lee as Soo-hyeon

The two main characters both give a rock solid performance. Soo-hyeon is a stoic man, with his grief hidden under a mask of grim determination. We see this mask slip from time to time as his in-laws desperately beg him to end his pursuit of Kyung-chul. We watch his determination evolve into obsession as his pursuit for revenge consumes him until we finally see the wreck he becomes after he witnesses the consequences of his actions. However, Byung-hun Lee’s performance is over shadowed by Min-sik Choi’s embodiment of ruthless serial killer Kyung-chul. A character that completely lacks remorse or guilt that steals the spotlight as he scarily drags his battered and broken body from place to place, inflicting his pain on others. The scariest aspect is that Kyung-chul generally seems to be having fun despite some of the horrific things that are done to him. He’s bleeding, he’s limping and he’s rummaging through his own shit at one point, but all through it he cracks that smile we grew to love in Oldboy and his presence on screen is just something you cannot ignore. He is easily one of the most memorable and evil serial killers to grace screens since Se7en’s John Doe.

With two such opposite characters, you’d expect to be cheering on Soo-hyeon until the bitter end, hoping for a cathartic climax in which he will finish the evil bastard that murdered his wife. But the film does a wonderful job of taking the palette of black and white and mixing it into a great big dollop of grey. As the film progresses, you genuinely don’t know which character you feel more sympathy for. Maybe it’s because of Min-sik Choi’s electrical performance, but you can’t help but feel sorry for Kyung-chul and some of the things he has to endure throughout the film.  You feel bad when Soo-hyeon bursts him to ruin his fun when he was just getting his groove on, even though he was about to commit some atrocious act. Watching Soo-hyeon act like a man possessed also makes you wonder what kind of man he’s allowing himself to become and you will start making comparisons between the two as you realise they are becoming one and the same.

The violence in I Saw the Devil is what originally drew me to the film in the first place. Many reviewers claimed the film to be too violent; with one reviewer on IMDB claiming censors deemed it as ‘offensive to human dignity’. Instantly I had images in my head of people being beaten to death with their own arms, choked with their own intestines and raped with their own legs. The violence isn’t that gratuitous. The word I would use is unsettling. Look at violent films that plague American cinemas today like the Saw franchise. The reactions to these overly graphic death scenes is applause, or have the audience ‘ooing’ and ‘aahhing’ at some particularly gory, but creative, death scene. I Saw the Devil’s approach to violence is grim. It’s raw, gritty and can at times be over the top but some scenes will have you squirming in your seat at the general unpleasantness of what is happening on screen. This is also down Jee-woon Kim’s use of direction, occasionally letting us watch some of the squeamish moments and other times, cutting away and letting our imagination take over. Be warned though, the violence and general theme of the film treads into some very dark territory. Think of scenes from The Vengeance Trilogy and then crank up the violence to 11 and you get a good idea of what to expect.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Korean cinema, this is definitely worth your time. It is long, clocking in at 147 minutes, this sadly can make it feel a bit slow in places and can feel like the film has been padded out with some unnecessary scenes. It’s gripping and completely engaging but these scenes seem to diminish the film slightly as you occasionally find yourself checking how long is left, or looking at the clock. Despite this, I would definitely recommend this Korean revenge blood-fest.