[REC] 4 is on a boat! It’s the veteran captain’s last voyage before retirement. A big storm is brewing. Radio communication is out. There also is a zombie-virus-infected monkey onboard. What could possibly go wrong?
All of it, including the movie itself. [REC] 4: Apocalypse arrives as such a letdown, I’ve rechristened it [REC]tum.
For the Spanish horror series’ reportedly final installment, Jaume Balagueró returns to the director’s chair after sitting out [REC] 3: Genesis. This one combines story threads from that 2012 prequel, as well as the earlier chapters, and aims to tie them up once and for all. Primary among them is Chiclet-toothed broadcast news reporter Ángela (Manuela Velasco, reprising her role from the 2007 original and 2009 sequel), now rescued from the apartment building and quarantined on an oil tanker to ensure total isolation.
Also on the ship is a laboratory, where scientists are working on a retrovirus. To do so requires they have the virus, however, which accounts for the aforementioned monkey. Don’t worry, because they have that little beast locked down in restraints and … well, you know how those things go.
But [REC] 4’s first problem is that it takes a full half-hour to go anywhere beyond one small circle. Balagueró takes too much time introducing crew members, nearly all of whom cry expendable at first glance. Doing so causes something from which none of the previous chapters suffered: serious lag. “¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!,” you’ll want to scream.
Once the undead finally start to spread, something about the proceedings feel like a third-rate copycat than a third official sequel. Typically, tight quarters raise stakes in a horror film; here, Balagueró exerts no attempt toward spatial orientation, which could account for what little action exists playing out halfheartedly, save for one over-the-top bit involving an outboard motor. It is not nearly enough.
Apocalypse, no. —Rod Lott