Director: John Ottman
Writers: Scott Derrickson and Paul Harris Boardman
Starring: Joey Lawrence, Jenny Morrison, and Matthew Davis
Body Count: 8
Review: There comes a time every once in a while where you know that you shouldn't enjoy a movie, but you do. You sit there, and you know that what you're seeing is total crap, but you enjoy it anyway. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Urban Legends is that kind of movie. Don't get me wrong--It sucks. Hard. But there's so much little stuff to love about this movie, I can't help but desire to see it again soon.
Jenny Morrison plays Amy, a senior at Alpine University (a prestigeous film school) who's looking for a topic for her senior film. She happens upon Reese, the security guard from Pendelton University in the first film, who tells her the tale of what happened there and how she got fired. This inspires Amy to make her senior film based on the story, with a killer offing kids and basing the murders on urban legends.
Setting a movie in a film setting is tricky move. You've got industry people who are probably too sophisticated to enjoy much of the "dumbing down" that you're doing for the masses, and then there's the masses themselves, who probably aren't going to get what the hell you're talking about (I can fucking guarantee you that I was the only one in the theatre that knew what the hell cinema verite is--the butt of one of the film's many in-jokes). Nevertheless, when it's done right, it can work like a charm. There's moments like that in Urban Legends, but also moments of pure and utter bullshit that almost discredit any ground the film has broken in the clever category.
The good here is that director John Ottman knows how to hold a camera and make things look interesting. The bad is that the script, while having a promising first half, is terrible, and full of just plain dumb stuff. Come on, a twin brother? Gimme a break.
What I did find pleasantly surprising was the blood--like, there actually is some! Whereas most genre movies have been skimping on the blood in our post-Columbine society, there's ample amounts in Urban Legends, both in the "reel" world of Amy's film and in the "real" world. (DAMN! That kidney scene is cool!)
Whereas I came out of the first film feeling cheated and angry, I actually came out of this sequel with a smile on my face, and I think a lot of that had to do with the ending...no, not the killer's identity/chase scene/resolution (that sucked!), but rather the epilogue, which features a cameo from Rebecca Gayhart (the killer in the first movie) in a moment of pure cinematic brilliance that really makes me wish it had been placed in another, more deserving movie.
Still, all in all, I had a great time watching this. Apart from a few boring stretches of unneeded exposition (again, that terrible script), the movie moves along quickly and keeps you entertained, much more so, at least, than the first Urban Legend. The door could be open for another sequel, but let's face it, what urban legends haven't they used?