"If all of your friends and family started killing each other the first thing you'd do is document it on your hand-held camera, right?"

The title [Rec] is, of course, a shortening for the word 'record' and the design of the title is to represent that of the symbol on a camera to indicate when you are filming. So, it's pretty obvious that the [Rec] franchise's unique selling point is found footage. However, in the third and penultimate instalment of the series, [Rec] 3 Genesis - director Paco Plaza has surprisingly decided to ditch the found footage element for third person cinematic view, defeating the whole point to the title somewhat.

We do begin with hand-held camera footage however, as we witness the glorious wedding day between young lovers Clara (Leticia Dolera) and Koldo (Diego Martín) - as friends and family together unite for the same cause. That is, however, until the groom’s uncle falls ill with a mysterious disease, plunging from a balcony, shocking the stunned guests, although the bigger surprise is when he then stands straight up and starts eating people alive.

Having now switched to third person perspective, the infection spreads at an alarming rate and soon the majority of those at the wedding are zombies, apart from a small collective desperately seeking a way out. However as the police have the area circled in a vein attempt not to let this strange illness spread any further, an escape route seems impossible - yet whilst those still alive continue to search for an exit, Clara and Koldo are more concerned about finding one another.

Initially, [Rec] 3 Genesis holds much promise, especially given how terrifying the first of the franchise proved to be. There is an intriguing emotional conflict as we go from the joyous, rapturous atmosphere of a wedding, to the sudden horror of friends and family being eaten alive. There is also something more unnerving about a horror movie in Spanish, perhaps it's the mystery behind the words, avoiding the clichéd Hollywood melodramatic one-liners that often clog up these films. Having said that, this particular offering isn't at all scary, not in the slightest. Then again, I don't believe it's actively trying to be...

In fact, [Rec] 3 Genesis isn't much of a horror movie at all, but a bloody good romantic comedy. It's so overstated and ridiculous that it loses any sense of horror and becomes really good fun. When watching in the right frame of mind, this is highly enjoyable. Far more playful and animated than the previous two films in the [Rec[ franchise, the gore is almost spoof-like, with some brilliantly exaggerated deaths - including a memorable one involving an electronic whisk...

As a result you really grow into this film as it goes along, as it takes a while to realise Plaza's intentions. As it begins with found footage we are expecting a typical [Rec] movie, but it soon transforms into absolute carnage and as Plaza drops the found footage angle, he seems to drop any sense of narrative also, as it simply becomes a fight for survival. Plaza is evidently going for cult status with this one - especially apparent in how Dolera spends much of the film walking around with a chainsaw in a blood-stained wedding dress.

I do have a problem, however, with the combining of both found footage and third person cinema. It really should be one or the other, not both. The two styles merely devalue the other, as by dropping found footage altogether, the beginning it then deemed entirely worthless as the whole point to it is that we're supposed to imagine it's discovered footage that actually existed and it's this realism which is the main source of horror. 

As for the found footage, although only being present for the opening 20 minutes or so, there is enough contrived and forced attempts at implementing it in there to aggravate me for the rest of the picture. Of course if all of your friends and family started killing each other the first thing you'd do is document it on your hand-held camera, right? There is a terrible blasé under-reaction to the fact that EVERYONE TURNS INTO A ZOMBIE.

Released on the very same day as our own zombie flick Cockneys vs Zombies, there really is only one worth seeing and unfortunately for Plaza and co., it isn't this one. However by seeing the pair of them you can make some interesting comparisons between Spanish zombies and English ones - and I can tell you now, the former are far more intimidating and a hell of a lot faster too. Sounds a bit like their football team.