![[REC] 3: Genesis](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/4FyxwxECzL-U1J8.png)
Sometimes it depends on who you watch it with. I saw it by myself at first and thought it was good, then I saw it again with my sister and her fiancé (neither of whom had seen it before) and it was even better. The wedding setting struck a chord with them.
With this film, series co-creator Paco Plaza did try to overcome the limitations the franchise had imposed on itself. He deliberately subverted the trend of the in-universe perspective movie (I will NOT call it "found footage", I hate that term now because it's so old) by not only making it of an event that would be rife with video cameras, but also making the movie boot-up as an unfinished wedding DVD project, giving unsuspecting viewers the impression the whole film will be that way.
Also, the movie is more tragic than scary. You can only drill the zombie tropes of your series into viewers so many times before it just doesn't work anymore, and Paco Plaza knew that. He wanted a new way to make them seem scary, and this time he turned to the characters themselves. Much of the horror depends on their emotional response to it, thus it ends up being more tragic than usual.
There's also a bit of comedy. Early in the movie we are introduced to the children's performer wearing a cheap SpongeBob ripoff costume; he explains it was supposed to be SpongeBob but he had to call it SpongeJohn. He then implicitly makes fun of the trademark issues by flatly denying that his new character has anything to do with the original.
There are other comedic moments too. I won't give them away here.
It might be a predictable plot progression for some people and not for others. For me, it was sort of in the middle - if I could anticipate where it would go, it would surprise me with how it got there, or sometimes it wouldn't go there at all.
I will admit I'm a very tolerant moviegoer, though. I'm the Trekkie whose favorite Star Trek movie of the original six is The Final Frontier. My favorite movie ever is Napoleon Dynamite. Sometimes, you just have to know something about them in advance so you don't expect so much out of them; that makes it so you aren't so let-down if it would otherwise underwhelm you. On the other hand, some movies get better over time; I didn't really like Napoleon Dynamite when I saw it for the first time, but it grew on me.
This is not a classic horror movie, and it was never intended to be (I loved the Shining reference in it though, you'll know it when you see it). There's more emphasis on character drama than camera assault, which is also perfect for the wedding setting (the same way the in-universe perspective might have also been perfect for it).
The bad news, at least for some people, is that REC 4: Apocalypse will carry the new format to its logical conclusion and have no in-universe perspective in it; the good news is that it will be straight-up horror again, unlike REC 3: Genesis.
Until then, enjoy this movie for what it is, and stop wishing it was something it's not.
With this film, series co-creator Paco Plaza did try to overcome the limitations the franchise had imposed on itself. He deliberately subverted the trend of the in-universe perspective movie (I will NOT call it "found footage", I hate that term now because it's so old) by not only making it of an event that would be rife with video cameras, but also making the movie boot-up as an unfinished wedding DVD project, giving unsuspecting viewers the impression the whole film will be that way.
Also, the movie is more tragic than scary. You can only drill the zombie tropes of your series into viewers so many times before it just doesn't work anymore, and Paco Plaza knew that. He wanted a new way to make them seem scary, and this time he turned to the characters themselves. Much of the horror depends on their emotional response to it, thus it ends up being more tragic than usual.
There's also a bit of comedy. Early in the movie we are introduced to the children's performer wearing a cheap SpongeBob ripoff costume; he explains it was supposed to be SpongeBob but he had to call it SpongeJohn. He then implicitly makes fun of the trademark issues by flatly denying that his new character has anything to do with the original.
There are other comedic moments too. I won't give them away here.
It might be a predictable plot progression for some people and not for others. For me, it was sort of in the middle - if I could anticipate where it would go, it would surprise me with how it got there, or sometimes it wouldn't go there at all.
I will admit I'm a very tolerant moviegoer, though. I'm the Trekkie whose favorite Star Trek movie of the original six is The Final Frontier. My favorite movie ever is Napoleon Dynamite. Sometimes, you just have to know something about them in advance so you don't expect so much out of them; that makes it so you aren't so let-down if it would otherwise underwhelm you. On the other hand, some movies get better over time; I didn't really like Napoleon Dynamite when I saw it for the first time, but it grew on me.
This is not a classic horror movie, and it was never intended to be (I loved the Shining reference in it though, you'll know it when you see it). There's more emphasis on character drama than camera assault, which is also perfect for the wedding setting (the same way the in-universe perspective might have also been perfect for it).
The bad news, at least for some people, is that REC 4: Apocalypse will carry the new format to its logical conclusion and have no in-universe perspective in it; the good news is that it will be straight-up horror again, unlike REC 3: Genesis.
Until then, enjoy this movie for what it is, and stop wishing it was something it's not.