Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005) Movie Review
Written By: JEH
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Mary Lambert
Producers: Aaron Merrell, Louis Phillips, Scott Messer
Writers: Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris
Date Released: July 19, 2005
Cast:
Kate Mara as Samantha “Sam” Owens
Robert Vito as David Owens
Tina Lifford as Grace Taylor
Ed Marinaro as Bill Owens
Michael Gregory Coe as Buck Jacoby
Lillith Fields as Mary Banner
Audra Lea Keener as Heather Thompson
Rating = 1/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Samantha “Sam” Owens (Kate Mara) and her friends are blacklisted on Homecoming night for writing an article critical of the school football players. The jocks decide to push their revenge further by abducting Sam and her friends, leaving them locked inside an old deserted mill. They return unharmed after a day, but Sam begins having hallucinations. One by one, the jocks die from horrible deaths. Is this another prank taken to gruesome extremes or is it the Bloody Mary?
Gore Factor
The movie has imaginative death scenes, including spiders, tanning beds, and electrocution. Unfortunately, both the visual and practical effects don’t do the scenes much justice. The visual effects look outdated and awkward, while the practical effects are barely acceptable. Despite this, the death scenes are still entertaining if you enjoy them for what they are.
For dog lovers, a fair warning: there is a scene of a dog mutilated with its guts hanging.
The Grave Review
Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005) is the third and final installment in the Urban Legend film series. For this straight-to-DVD installment, they added a supernatural spin. To make things more exciting, they got Mary Lambert, the director of Pet Sematary (1989), to direct the film.
The movie starts on homecoming night, 1969. Three high school footballers drug Mary Banner (Lillith Fields) and her two friends. However, their plan fails when Mary tries to escape only to hit her head and pass out. The football captain then hides her body, thinking that she died. Thirty-five years later, Samantha Owens and her friends jokingly summon Bloody Mary. Then, they suffer the same fate as Mary and her two friends, but Sam survives the abduction. She begins having hallucinations of Bloody Mary, and people start to die one by one.
Do not expect to learn the origin of the famous Bloody Mary from this movie. Some girl died wrongfully and she just happens to be named Mary. She’s not even bloody, she just looks sleep-deprived. How Sam and her friends summon her in the movie is also different from what we know. Aren’t mirrors the most vital part of the Bloody Mary legend? In this movie, apparently not.
Most of the scares are dull and uneventful. When the movie tries to deliver a jump scare, they add a negative film effect on the scenes, along with flashing lights. It’s supposed to frighten, but it only annoys. Every time someone is about to die, a song plays. The song is a blatant rip-off of “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” by Dusty Springfield. It is meant to haunt the audience, but it just makes them wonder, “Doesn’t this song sound familiar?”
The highlight of the movie is Heather’s (Audra Lea Keener) death scene. She pops a zit and a bunch of spiders start to come out of her body. It makes the movie worth a watch despite the horrible dialogues, awkward acting, and messy story.
Should you see this movie? If you want to see more of Mary Lambert’s work, you can give Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005) a try. If you’re a fan of the Urban Legend series, think twice. Looking for a movie to pass time? Consider other titles before this one.
Because of the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005) one grave out of five graves.
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