Review of Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000) by Filipeneto — 24 Jun 2018

After seeing the first "Urban Legends" movie, I wondered if it would be possible to do better, or even repeat the dose, without the second film being invariably disastrous. The answer is no.

In this film, Amy Mayfield, a young film student, has to make a short film as an end-of-course work. She decides to make a film in which a murderer kills his victims by recreating famous urban legends. Everything is going well until people really start to die, at the hands of a mysterious murderer.

Well, what we have here is the same recipe used in the first film. The difference is that, as we have already seen it, it does not surprise us. It's just another horror movie for teenagers, with a plot so weak that it's not even worth talking about it. It will shatter at the first pull as if it were a rotten rag. The cast is very weak, almost amateur. Jennifer Morrison, the lead actress, does nothing particularly good. She just does what has to be done. There are, however, some moments where it seems that the film makes some little veiled criticisms, but quickly leaves that aside. The ending is perhaps the best part of the film.

Despite being, in general, a frankly bad and forgettable film, it was a step forward in the career of many of those involved. Actresses like Eva Mendes, Matthew Davis or Jennifer Morrison had, shortly after, the opportunity to do more serious work: Mendes, for example, will have the opportunity to appear in "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" and Davis will cost to establish himself but, after years of small appearances, he will finally did it with "Vampire Diaries". Even the director, John Ottman, will discover that he is a terrible director but has a knack for other things in cinema, as music. So, I think this film fulfilled an objective and served a purpose, although perhaps many of those involved hide it on the bottom shelf of their filmography.