Urban Legends: Bloody Mary [DVD]

There are many variations on the old Bloody Mary story, but it makes for classic urban legend fare. Look in the mirror, say Bloody Mary's name three times, and she appears - and then the fun begins. Apparently, a mirror isn't actually required after all, as young Samantha Owens (Kate Mara) apparently conjures the restless spirit without one after hearing the story of a local girl supposedly killed back in 1969. The next morning, she and her slumber party friends turn up missing. This is a real weak point in the story, as the whole missing episode is not handled well at all. Anyway, a connection seems to be established between Samantha and Mary Banner, the girl who was killed all those years ago. The only difference between the two girls is the fact that Samantha lived to tell about her disappearance (although, for unexplainable reasons, neither sets of girls ever told authorities who was responsible).

Those responsible for Samantha's disappearance start dying, in rather gruesome ways, which makes Sam and her brother David (whom some blame for the murders) exceedingly unpopular at school. By about the second murder, the whole urban legend m.o. is applied rather loosely, and the whole thing becomes basically a slasher film. Still, there's still the Bloody Mary connection, and Samantha comes to believe that the killer is the ghost of Mary and that she is killing the children of those responsible for her death.

There's no denying that Urban Legends - Bloody Mary is an exceedingly predictable little film. Mary's killer might as well have walked around with the words "I did it" on his forehead. There are some decent-sized holes in the plot, as well. As I mentioned, the disappearance of Samantha and her friends doesn't add up, and that gets the film off to a shaky start. Then there's the obvious question: why did neither of the sets of girls tell authorities who were responsible for their disappearances? That makes no sense at all. As for the climactic scene, the filmmakers decide to go crazy with visual effects for some reason, and that is another negative.

Still, I enjoyed this movie. The special effects for Bloody Mary herself are pretty good, and the deaths are reasonably gory (although we sometimes only see the aftermath of them) - if you hate spiders, I'm warning you right now that you do not want to watch this movie. You really have to judge this film on its own merits, as it really has next to nothing to do with the first two Urban Legends movies. Since the filmmakers sort of just ignore the whole urban legend m.o. for some of the later murders, it really doesn't belong in the series at all.