Urban Legends: Final Cut

When the first "Urban Legends" came out it was riding the coat tails of "Scream" so it was guaranteed to be a hit. But as we all know, just because it is a hit does not mean it was any good. But the studios just don't understand this. If a film is a hit in the Horror genre, then we can be sure to get a sequel. Sometimes things turn out O.K. and a sequel can be a decent film. Think about it, though we all are sick of the sequel thing, most of us enjoy in some manner the flood of sequels we get. But did we really need another "Urban Legend" film?

The answer is a tougher to answer than I expected it to be. On one hand the answer is easy: Hell no! Why waste our time on a by the numbers sequel to a "Scream" rip-off when you, the studio, could be spending money and time on a smart Horror film?

But then, a smart Horror film never gets people into the theaters. These films do. They are the perfect films for guys to take their dates to on Friday nights. We all know that. So then yeah, we do need these films. They might help to finance the next "Dawn Of The Dead". Plus, I would rather have a studio dumping money into mediocre Horror films that we can all whine about than to have them spending money on the next installment of "Coyote Ugly"!

"Urban Legends: Final Cut" takes place on a film school campus. The students are all getting ready to make their film projects for the year end contest that awards the esteemed "Hitchcock Prize", the Oscar for film students, basically. Yet somebody is killing off the students. Not just random students, but a specific group of students. All of them sharing something in common, but what it is, we all have to wait for the end of the film to find out.

All of this is just crap. We don't go to these types of films for the plots, do we? We have learned by now that these films (the post "Scream" ones) are only after one thing, leaving us guessing for the whole thing as to who the killer is. The thing is, we don't really care. The number of red herrings that we are thrown is just crazy. I did enjoy that this was on a film school lot, full if art-phags, so the fact that the killer wears a long, black leather coat works for throwing us, since we know that all of these types of students wear, you got it, long, black leather coats!

There is a lot in this film to dislike, but there is enough to like also to at least recommend a rental. Some of the kills are good. The second kill, a decapitation, is nicely done. The staging is nice. The effect is standard, but the set-up and execution are very good. A few of the other also work well. There is also a decent death by beating. Those are always hard to watch just for the sheer violence. Some of the camera work is also decent. We are not talking about Bava, Argento or even Fulci here, but still decent enough to keep your eyes interested.

But on the down side to all of this is the dialogue. Really, this stuff is just silly. A few people asked what I thought of this thing, all I could do was say "silly, silly, silly movie". That really is it. The whole reason for the killings is just wacky. It is a plot twist you will never be able to guess. Just wacky stuff. The killing are also never a surprise. You see them coming from miles away. You know who is going to live and who is going to die. But on the way you get silly dialogue and silly plot twists. This thing even has a the twin brother of one of the murdered student's showing up! That is how silly this film is.

Our special features include a commentary track that I didn't listen to due to not having the time and not really caring to, a "gag reel" which is a bunch of really boring bloopers, deleted scenes that are missing because they are all really boring and add nothing at all, the standard trailers that I didn't watch because I saw the commercials on T.V. once and commercials are never a bonus (that is why I rent and buy my movies, no commercial interruption), and a bunch of other stuff.

The picture quality is, well, this is a new film and unless that used a print that was dragged through the mud for a few days, you know the picture will be really nice. Guess what, it looks great! Oh, and here is a surprise, the sound is really good also. So yeah, this is a nice looking and sounding disc. Here, let me make you anal retentive folk happy: no pixilization, no smears, no dirt, no dust, sharp edges, deep blacks, booming bass, yadda, yadda, yadda. Pretty picture.

Here is the end summary. If you are just jumping down to this section, shame on you. I have to watch these things, the least you can do is read this. No go back and read. I'll wait for you.

Suckers.

This is far from the wretched piece of crap that many have said. Though I do believe that some are a bit on the pompous side of life. I have seen worse. If you have yet to see this film though, please rent it first. Or watch it on cable. Do not just go and buy it. Unless you find it real cheap. This is a decent waste of time and if you are at your video store and are looking for a horror film, but have seen all of the ones that are there, check this out. I don't drink, but I imagine that this would be a great bit of fun after a few beers. If you have seen this and liked it, feel safe with the DVD. It is a great treatment for a film that really doesn't deserve it. A plain old bare-bones release would have been sufficient, but this is nice for the fans that are out there. The studios had better just remember the treatment that gave this when it comes to releasing quality films!

Review by Carl R Isonhart