Review of Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000) by James S — 22 Feb 2011

Although the first Urban Legends movie was nothing to write home about, it did at least contain a novelty value in having the killer base their slayings on well known urban myths which lent the film a nice edge, even if it ended up a bit blunt.

The sequel, very loosely following up on the first - one character returns, that's about it - doesn't even have the regard to dredge up a few further legends to base it's killings upon. Thus, the novelty value of the first is removed which renders this movie a little pointless.

Jennifer Morrison decides her film school thesis will be a movie based on the events of the first Urban Legends film until her cast and crew start getting picked off by a masked killer.

The usual array of teen TV show fodder make up the cast and no one is a particular stand out. Someone ought to really tell these Dawson's Creek rejects that just because you can star in a horror movie, it won't single you out for future stardom as you'll likely be dispatched via a horrible and unless you're lucky, unmemorable death. That said, a couple of the death scenes aren't bad in Final Cut. The scene inside an old ghost train is half way decent though probably should have been better.

The film is terribly put together as though great chunks of exposition ended up on the cutting room floor in order to trim the running time of the movie. Forget the story, just make sure the gore stays seems to have been the motto in the editing room.

The finale isn't dramatic and the reveal of the killer is a disappointment to say the least. There's a final scene which is supposed to make us all go "ooooo" but instead make us wonder what the point of putting it in at all was.

Urban Legends - Final Cut is not a total wreck but reeks of a rushed sequel to cash in the medium success of an original. If you're going to make a film based around urban myths, you might actually want to include some.