Movies
Exclusive! ‘[REC 4]: Apocalypse’ Will Not Be Found Footage!
Magnet Releasing has scheduled [REC] 3: Genesis for release next week and I spoke with director Paco Plaza today about that film. While Plaza and Jaume Balagueró co-directed the first two installments, they decided to split up parts 3 and 4, with Plaza taking Genesis and Balagueró tackling [REC] 4: Apocalypse.
While the bulk of our interview (which will hit next week in its entirety) concerned the super-fun Genesis, Plaza was able to talk a bit about the fourth installment. There’s a moment in [REC] 3, which is a prequel to the first two films, where the camera gets put down and it switches into a more traditional film. Apparently Balagueró’s [REC] 4 takes it a step further by not being found footage at all – even though it picks up moments after [REC] 2 ends.
Per Plaza, “It’s true that it takes place after ‘[REC] 2’. And it is going to be shot [differently]. It is not going back to found footage, it is going to be a cinematic narrative. A conventional film. I don’t want to say much more, I can’t say too much. I don’t want to get in trouble!”
For you found footage fans, don’t worry. When Plaza puts the POV-cam down in [REC] 3, he’s not dissing the genre. “It’s not that I wanted to make a statement. There are still excellent found footage films like ‘Paranormal Activity 3’. It’s not saying ‘found footage is over’ or anything. I just wanted to surprise the audience and deliver something different [after the first two films].”
Get more on the official Facebook. [REC] 3: Genesis hits VOD on Friday, August 3 and select theaters on Friday, September 7. You can check out the trailer inside. Look for our full interview with Plaza before the film’s release next week!
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
You must be logged in to post a comment.