The ‘Rec’ saga has many similarities to the ‘Evil Dead’ series and while it doesn’t span the decades that have kept Raimi’s masterpiece a classic, it sure as hell puts up a fight. The first Rec, released in 2007 and reignited the zombie genre with a fresh face of Spanish terror. Proving you can’t keep a good dog down, a sequel was destined and came with a semi remake/rehappening of events. Two great entries however only matched by the throwing away with the rulebook in it’s third chapter. Discarding the found footage trope for a more fun escapade that has more heart than any of the previous entries and does for the series what ‘Army of Darkness’ did for Ash and the deadites. It may have lost any sense of horror but it’s humour pierces its tongue firmly through its cheek.

 

8 years after the series began, we now return with the fourth installment and much like ‘Evil Dead’, ‘Rec 4’ sets to bring back the terror in a contained environment. Leaving were part two left off, the action is contained on a container ship with several survivors on board. Aided by a militant group, the survivors share the ship with a band of scientists isolated to locate the cure for the zombie outbreak that is now spreading across the world.

 

Separating itself from the found footage style that blessed the claustrophobia of the first two films, there is less tension about part four which is not to say his is not a worthy addition. Much like the fourth ‘Evil Dead’ there is little to mirror with its origins yet somehow shares a familiar theme and while it’s layered with nuggets to show its allegiance to the series, this stands tall on its own merits as a zombie film with bite.

 

While not completely removed, the humour is left to the sidelines for a more bloodthirsty feast. Manuela Velasco Díez is perfectly cast as TV presenter turned zombie killer Angela and accompanied by Paco Manzanedo they make a formidable team against the growing infection on board the ship.

 

With a penchant for blood, Jaume Balagueró is welcomed back with open arms to bring the series back to its terrifying best and in its darkest corners manages to continue the saga with the finesse that made the series such a staple in the horror scene back in 2007 and even spawned it’s US remake and sequel in ‘Quarantine’. Even by taking away the elements that caused so many jumped heartbeats in the first two installments, Balagueró manages to weave in enough drama and character twists to make this stand on it’s own undead feet in a genre drowning in poor imitations. Just when you think you’ve survived the apocalypse, a zombie flick like this arrives to replenish the faith that there may still be life yet.