Review: (REC] 2 ***

(REC] 2 takes place almost immediately after the first film ended. (REC], created by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza followed the experiences of a TV reporter, Ángela Vidal, who, with her cameraman, travels with a Barcelona fire crew to a blazing building. Inside they discover unfortunate people stricken by a virus that turns humans into bloodthirsty killers.

What's more, as the authorities quarantine the building, Angela and her reluctant companions are pitched into a claustrophobic battle with legions of homicidal zombies.

(REC] 2 zooms straight into the fray as a Spanish SWAT unit storms the building and rapidly comes unstuck. A doctor, Owen, seems to have all the answers. Soon he and his wide-eyed police companions are blasting the possessed and demons in the guise of infants. And as they push further into the building, so the mood of fear and unease grows.

(REC] 2 is a fabulous, frenetic, pell-mell chase through a haunted house of horrors. There are zombies everywhere and nowhere to run.

The entire picture turns on the use of shaky-cam video from the point of view of various characters. It's a brilliant concept (as seen in the original) but here is much over-used.

With an energy and aesthetic culled from video games, (REC] 2 also borrows liberally from any number of established horror masters. Aficionados will spot nods to Sam (The Evil Dead) Raimi, William (The Exorcist) Friedkin, George (The Crazies/Dawn of the Dead) Romero and David (Rabid) Cronenberg.

That's not to say (REC] 2 isn't effective, because it is. The issue is whether that intense atmosphere of cloying dread can be maintained throughout.