Back by unpopular demand, the sequel to the 1998 semi-hit "Urban Legend" was obviously made to cash in on a built-in audience. But just because the filmmakers knew young adults would flock to this film regardless of its quality does not excuse them from producing such a ridiculous mess.
Loosely connected to the first film, "Urban Legends: Final Cut" takes place at a fictional film school where undergraduates are struggling to finish their film theses. The cut-throat competition and impending deadline drive student Amy Mayfield (Jennifer Morrison) to base her screenplay on a story related by a security guard (Loretta Devine, a holdover from the first film), that happens to recount the events from the first film.
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Sure enough, members of her cast and crew promptly start disappearing or turning up dead at the hands of a masked maniac. Strangely, only one character is killed in a way even remotely resembling an urban legend (she passes out at a bar and wakes up missing a kidney before getting killed) and she has nothing to do with the production of Amy's film. For a film with the title "Urban Legends," it certainly has a shortage of them.
"Final Cut" has no shortage of unpredictable plot twists, though. The film tosses the viewer through several mildly suspenseful ringers as motives get murky and it becomes increasingly difficult to guess who the killer is. Eventually, every cast member is a potential suspect and when the killer is finally revealed, it feels more inane than climactic because there is no way to have guessed his or her identity.
The killer wears a fencing mask, which looks fairly cool on its own. But when one considers that Jason's hockey mask has been a cultural icon since he first put it on to hide his face in "Friday the 13th 3-D," "Final Cut" looks highly derivative.
"Final Cut" has some of the most unbearable, cliched dialogue in years. It is downright painful to listen to the young cast's verbal interaction whenever the action slows down or the film tries to be remotely serious. Surprisingly, former teen idol Joey Lawrence proves to be the most effective actor in the minutely talented cast. He is highly convincing in his snobby, malicious role and steals a number of scenes from the lead performers.
It is amusing that the plot involves a group of film students because director John Ottman could use a few more semesters in film school himself. Maybe then he could learn how to hold the camera still or focus it on something without flashy editing in key sequences. Additionally, he makes several of the "victim-in-peril" scenes more absurd than suspenseful by drawing them out far too long and ending them with cheap "jump" scares.
If the film's numerous "jump" scares are not enough to wake the audience up, then the graphic violence should do the job nicely. Although most of the violence is off screen, there are some remarkably graphic touches involving impromptu surgery, head bashing and a combination of mutilated corpses and rats.
Shock value makes only minimal impact in a slasher film before logic sets in and the film's inconsistencies and shortcomings become glaringly apparent. So it also tries adding a spoonful of comedy to make the bloody medicine go down. It works. "Final Cut" can be knee-slapping, hilarious fun at times with clever and unexpected one-liners and sight gags. However, over half the jokes fall flat and important scenes end with a thud.
There are several in-joke cameos involving cast members from the original but the most unusual cameo is an unbilled one by a female cast member from MTV's "Real World Europe." She suffers a gruesome fate at the hands of the killer, as do most of the more interesting characters, but her death ends up being both the most horrifying and perhaps funniest scene in the film for a variety of unmentionable reasons.
Hopefully, this really is the "Final Cut," because the self-parodying slasher film genre has bled itself dry and desperately needs to be taken out back and shot. Despite a few crude laughs and twists, this is a waste of time and celluloid. If it has any positive value, it is that it can teach film students how not to make a horror movie.
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