Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005)

On a prom-night dare, a trio of high school friends chant an incantation, unleashing an evil spirit from the past with deadly consequences.

Director:

Mary Lambert

Writers:

Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris

Stars:

Kate Mara, Robert Vito, Tina Lifford

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kate Mara	...	Samantha Owens
Robert Vito	...	David Owens
Tina Lifford	...	Grace Taylor
Ed Marinaro	...	Bill Owens
Michael Coe	...	Buck Jacoby
Lillith Fields	...	Young Mary Banner / 'Bloody Mary'
Nancy Everhard	...	Pam Owens
Audra Lea Keener	...	Heather Thompson
Don Shanks	...	Coach Jacoby
Jeff Olson	...	Sheriff McKenna
Nate Herd	...	Tom Higgins
Brandon Sacks	...	Roger Dalton
Hailey Evans	...	Martha - Samantha's Friend #1 (as Hailey Smith)
Olesya Rulin	...	Mindy - Samantha's Friend #2
Haley McCormick	...	Young Gina Lotnick

Storyline

On Homecoming night, Samantha, Gina, and Mindy are having a slumber party at Sam's house due to being black-listed by the sexy football players. Since the dance and game are out of the question, the trio stays up and entertains themselves with Urban Legends..all leading up to BLOODY MARY. With nothing better to do and a whole night to waste, Sam chants "Bloody Mary." Her friends laugh... "Bloody Mary." More laughter. On the third and final "Bloody Mary," the friends are kidnapped by three jocks and return soon thereafter, shaken but well. Sam begins having hallucinations and soon bodies turn up - is it all a high school prank taken to grisly extremes or is it Bloody Mary, who's youth was taken far too early?

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Plot Keywords:

bleed to death | bloody mary | prank | football player | newspaper | 

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Taglines:

Turn Off The Light And See What Happens.

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and gore, drug use and some language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 July 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Urban Legends 3: Bloody Mary

Filming Locations:

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

NPP Productions Inc.,Screen Gems

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In 2007 Sony sold the rights to the franchise and a fourth installment was planned, called Urban Legends: Goldfield Murders. However, after being impressed by the DVD sales of Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, Sony bought back the rights to the franchise. The film was later released under the title Ghosts of Goldfield.

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Goofs

Toward the end when she is driving the VW bus away from the school toward the graveyard, the time of day changes. It is dark at the school, then light outside on the road, then goes back and forth to dusk/nighttime when they get to the grave yard.

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Quotes

David Owens: Just because I have a dead, Mexican hooker in my room doesn't mean I went to Mexico.

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Connections

References Killer Workout (1987)

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Soundtracks

Dirty Water
Written by Ed Cobb
Performed by The Standells
Courtesy of Geffen Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Nice Effort But Not Good Enough

The "Urban Legend" franchise returned with this straight-to-DVD installment but this time a supernatural spin was added to the series. While it's a decent idea, unfortunately, it didn't work. The main problem was that you never really got the sense that anything supernatural was going on to begin with. In the "Final Destination" films all the deaths were made to look like freak accidents yet you always knew that they weren't just accidents but that something supernatural was at work. It was the complete opposite in this movie. Despite constant reminders that the ghoulish Mary might be lurking about, most of the deaths still seemed like they really were just freak accidents. As if they weren't the result of something eerie but instead the result of extreme stupidity on the characters' part. It didn't help that the majority of the victims were thin stereotypes (dumb jocks and their air-headed girlfriends). Basically, I never felt like Mary was much of a threat.

Storywise, the film left a lot to be desired. For one, there's no relation between this film and the previous two UL films which was disappointing. Even "Final Cut", which had a new story and a new set of characters was still somehow connected to the original "Urban Legend". Also, the script for "Bloody Mary" felt disjointed at times. It's like they were more concerned with getting from Point A to Point B without much consideration to story. For example, a subplot early in the film where the jocks suspect a character of seeking revenge because of a prank just went nowhere and was forgotten after a few minutes. And then there are a bunch of seemingly important characters introduced during the first half of the film only to be forgotten during the second half, as if they never existed. On the acting side, the cast was barely okay. In the grand tradition of B-films, the heroine (Kate Mara) was the only one who showed any signs of promise with the rest of the cast displaying community theater performances. Especially Ed Marinaro who apparently never learned to act after his buff body and good looks faded away.

This movie was an obvious attempt at trying to revive the UL films by adding elements from such thrillers as "The Ring" and "The Grudge". But taking ideas from other films shouldn't come as a surprise for this series since the first two "Urban Legends" were ripoffs of "Scream" and "Scream 2" (what's next? An Urban Legend set in a hostel?). That wasn't entirely a bad thing since out of the dozens of "Scream" ripoffs, the UL films were the only good ones. They were fun and they added their own unique spin. Sadly, the same can't be said for "Bloody Mary" which does nothing fun or unique with the premise. And it certainly never comes close to being eerie or creepy like "The Ring" or "The Grudge" for the reasons mentioned above, the supernatural element wasn't established well enough and Mary is nowhere near as scary or even interesting as Samara or Kayako. She comes across more like a angry Goth girl with bad make-up. The film could have worked if they had a director who could have made Mary's scenes more chilling and atmospheric but instead they're just dull, uneventful and predictable.

One of the film's biggest offenses is that it completely betrays the title. The film has nothing to do with the actual legend of Bloody Mary or what she supposedly does when summoned. Rather than base the film on true Bloody Mary legends they come up with a lame story of their own involving a prom from 1969.

I didn't hate the movie like I thought I would but I also didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. I will say that "Bloody Mary" is at least worth checking out for the spider scene alone. That was the film's one true highlight.