Urban Legend: Bloody Mary

I saw URBAN LEGENDS: BLOODY MARY last weekend and I thought that it was a entertaining movie that was even better than other straight-to-video horror movies that always turns out to be very but very awful, but this one shows that you can do a good straight-to-video horror movie if you have a good script.

The deaths were awesome and very scarier, i think the best was the Spiders scene.

And the acting was very good.

Kate Mara was a very good lead, I think she has future and more to show.

Overall, I give this 7,5 out of 10 stars.

Mary Lambert, who brought us "Pet Sematary" and "Pet Sematary II" brings us this unrelated sequel into the "Urban Legend" series. The movie starts out on prom night, years ago. A prank-gone-wrong takes place in the attic of a high school involving a girl named Mary. The guys responsible for the prank assume her dead, and lock her body in a trunk. Cut to present day. A group of teenage girls are spending the night, having a slumber party, telling urban legends to pass the time, all leading up to the infamous "Bloody Mary" legend. On their third and final bloody Mary chant, the girls end up getting kidnapped by some jocks who are performing a revenge prank mainly on a girl named Samantha. They all return safely, a little shaken and confused after the bizarre event. But our main character, Samantha, begins having visions after the prank, mainly of Bloody Mary - and people start to die off. Is it all a joke, or is Bloody Mary back to take revenge? It's up to Samantha to uncover Mary's origins and stop the vengeful spirit.

When I heard about this sequel, I was thinking "Okay, okay - this might be decent". And for the most part, it was. I saw the DVD at a local retail store and decided to buy it because I was curious. This film has nothing to do with the other two films at all, this one is much more supernatural rather than a slasher mystery. The acting was decent, not perfect but it passed. I enjoyed Lambert's "Pet Sematary" and I (unlike most people) enjoyed the sequel as well. The script for this film is predictable, the audience pretty much knows what actions the characters will take before they actually do it. The camera-work/cinematography was alright for a straight-to-video release, and the special effects were just okay, they unfortunately come off as a little bit corny in some of the sequences (especially the sequence that took place between Mary and the teenage boy at the motel). But hey, I wasn't expecting this movie to be perfect. The spider scene was actually pretty creepy looking, if not a little cheesy too. The deaths were quite creative and original, I'll give it that.

To sum things up, "Urban Legends: Bloody Mary" is a mediocre but semi-fun horror sequel. It's not great, it's really not bad. It's just somewhere right in the middle. I suppose it could've been worse. If you enjoy supernatural revenge movies (along the lines of "Pet Sematary"), or if you like Lambert's previous work, you may want to check this out. It's flawed and predictable, but overall entertaining. There's no need to see the other two films though, because this one has nothing to do with them. 5/10.

Samantha Owens (Mara) is the editor of the high school newspaper and was blacklisted with her two friends, Gina (Haley McCormick) and Mindy (Olesya Rulin), by the football players after an article about them, so they do not go to a high school party. Samantha tells to the other girls an urban legend told by her mother: in 1969, in Salt Lake City, the two girlfriends of Mary Banner (Lilith Fields) are drugged by their dates in a prom, but she understands the situation and runs from her date, who kills her and hide her body in a trunk in the basement of the school. Like the Candyman, Samantha speaks "Bloody Mary" three times, evoking the evil spirit of Mary. Along the night, the three girls are drugged and kidnapped in a prank of the players, but Samantha has visions and premonitions about Mary. When her school mates are killed, Mary visits Grace Taylor (Tina Lifford), one of the girls abused in 1969, and finds that the victims are the descendants of the trio that killed Mary and harmed her friends, and that Mary spirit is seeking for revenge.

I bought this DVD full of good expectations, based on the name of director Mary Lambert, since "Pet Sematary" is one of my favorite horror movies ever. Unfortunately, the predictable and forgettable story of "Urban Legends: Bloody Mary" is very bad and full of clichés. Mary crawling from the bottom of the bed is a rip-off of Samara in "The Ring". It seems that there is only some care with the gore deaths, but the same does not happen with the characters. For example, Samantha's mother Pam (Nancy Everhard), who told the story of Mary to Samantha, vanishes and Samantha and David never ask for additional information about Mary to her. David is stupidly killed and Samantha in the end of the story with Grace does not miss or even mention him. The death of Heather Thompson, attacked by spiders, is the best moment of this disappointing flick. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Lendas Urbanas 3: A Vingança de Mary" ("Urban Legends 3: Mary's Revenge")

If you thought the second Urban Legend had little to do with the original ... wait til you see this here. The (Urban?) Legend of Bloody Mary is very well known in America. Through Horror movies I reckon it is very well known in the horror community around the world.

That being said, this direct to video "sequel" has a really commendable core story. A me too way before the me too movement. But is it enough to just rain praise on it? You'll be the ultimate judge for yourself. But really badly aged CGI and some odd story choices probably will not work in favor of the movie for most people.

Still it is nice to see some good acting in here, even if the choices and moral high ground it takes (excusing murder and death) are not always for the ... well best. Especially if you consider the very predictable (character) twist and the behavior that person displays ... completely ridiculous. Shame because some of the ideas for deaths are not really bad ... with make up effects even making up for the shoddy cgi (maybe)

Samantha Owens (Kate Mara) have her two girlfriends for a sleepover. They are interrupted by Sam's brother David. They are all outcasts after Sam published a school news story denouncing the football players. The girls recount a story about the murder of Mary Banner in 1969. She and two other girls were drugged by the football players. Sam also talk about the urban legend of Bloody Mary. Next day, the girls are gone and David accuses the football players of foul play. Sam and her friends reappear later that afternoon disheveled and suffering from the after-effects of a drugging. Soon, the jocks and the captain's girlfriend Heather Thompson are showing up dead in unusual circumstances. Sam and David track down one of the girls from the 1969 incident, Grace Taylor.

The biggest name here is Kate Mara. It's odd that Sam's two friends aren't actually main characters. It doesn't help that they are limited actors. David isn't much better but at least, he's functional. Quite frankly, his role is unnecessary and Kate Mara should have been the only protagonist. The story should follow Sam and her two friends from the drugging onwards. The only good kill is the spiders and the CGI is cheap anyways. It's still creepy good. The other kills are either boring or silly or both. There are other issues and this never had a chance to be better than a B-horror.