Horror Movie Review: Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005)

The third (and currently) final Urban Legends movie is a far departure from the slasher style of the first two choosing to go for a supernatural element instead. It’s a welcome change as the early first two films were hardly classics.

Opening in 1969 we see a group of high school jocks drug & attempt to kidnap their dates on the night of prom. One of them, Mary Banner doesn’t finish her drugged drink & after witnessing what is happening to her friends, runs away. Chased by one of the jocks she runs to the school storage area where she is caught. He attempts to calm her down but ends up punching her & knocking her down. Believing her to be dead he locks her body in an old trunk & hides it away.

Jumping forward in time, 35 years later we hear the famous tale of Bloody Mary…say her name 3 times in a mirror & she’ll appear. The movie Candyman was inspired by this folklore tale. Samantha & her 2 friends, as a joke, call Bloody Mary…the next morning all 3 are gone.

It turns out they all woke up in a local abandoned mill, not knowing how they got there. Samantha & her brother David suspect some local college boys were responsible after Samantha wrote a critical article about their exploits in the school newspaper.

Samantha becomes haunted by visons of a dead girl & soon members of the group suspected to have been involved in the girl’s abduction start to turn up dead. Their deaths resemble famous Urban Legends and this is where things get fun.

One dies by being burned alive in a sunbed, another is electrocuted while pissing on an electrical fence (ring finger bitten/cut off) while another, in an amazing scene has spiders erupt from a spot on her face. That one there in particular is pretty awesome to watch & only let down by the poor CGI spiders.

Samantha & her brother David find out about the events that occurred in 1969 & that Mary Banner’s body was never found. Samantha becomes convinced that Mary is the one responsible so they seek out the last of the surviving 3 girls who were drugged & abducted in 1969, Grace who is now a stoner recluse.

Grace handily explains that Mary’s life-force is getting revenge on the five people involved in her death by going after their children but is reluctant to reveal the names of those involved. This is meant to add some drama & suspense to a big reveal, just who was responsible for locking Mary in the chest (she wasn’t dead at the time).

It becomes painfully obvious who that person is early on but the actual reveal is dragged out until final 10 minutes where exasperation replaces wonder. Samantha is pursed through the school by a man in a very noticeable coat, later when a person wearing this exact same coat arrives to help her she doesn’t even notice.

The final third of the movie makes no sense…Mary’s killer is in no danger really at the end of having his cover blown yet seems happy to suddenly go on a rampage to cover his tracks. Like all terrible killers his deadliness drops immensely when dealing with a girl who is half his size.

The poor CGI really hampers the movie as well…the afore-mentioned spiders are one thing but the scenes involving Mary are laughable, she isn’t scary or creepy & the further the film progresses the more of her you see diminishing her effect even more.

Bloody Mary is the best of the 3 Urban Legends movies. That isn’t high praise really but as it manages to be the most entertaining it deserves to watched. No links to the previous movies make it an easy to enjoy, stand-alone movie.