Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (88 Films) Blu-ray Review + Trilogy Box Set Review

Many consider this 2005 straight-to-video horror sequel the worst of Urban Legend film, but I think that it is the best. The film is pretty fun and has some really effective scenes.

Studio: 88 Films
Release Date: July 19th, 2005 (video premiere)

March 29th, 2021 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 33 minutes 5 seconds
Region Code: B (locked)
Picture: 1080p (1.85:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Subtitles: English
Slipcover: Yes (Hard Box)
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Kate Mara, Robert Vito, Tina Lifford, Ed Marinaro, Michael Coe, Lillith Fields, and Nancy Everhard

Written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris

Directed by Mary Lambert
Rating: BBFC 15 (contains strong bloody violence)

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Poster

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What's It About?

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, whose youth was taken far too early?

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Film Review

I like the fact that the film focuses on actual urban legends and doesn't pigeonhole them into a slasher movie like the previous two films. It makes the film more interesting. And it is for the first half of the film. When the whole investigation thing starts up is where the film loses me. The characters figure out way too quickly what is going on and there really isn't much suspense after that. In fact, you can pretty much tell what is going to happen for the rest of the film from the opening scene. That being said, the film is well acted and well shot. I always thought that Mary Lambert was a better director than what her filmography would lead you to believe. There are also some effective scenes in the film like the spider sequence. All in all, this is a better film than URBAN LEGENDS: FINAL CUT.

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Video/Audio

URBAN LEGENDS: BLOODY MARY has the best looking transfer of the trilogy. This film is the newest of the bunch so one does expect it to look the best, but the other two films are not that much older than this one, so there shouldn't be too much of a difference, but there is. There is a nice level of grain throughout that gives us some nice detail, especially in the closeups. Skin tones look natural and colors look and feel accurate. Everything seems to balanced very nicely here.

The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio track is nice. Dialogue is clean and clear and the film's score sounds great. The surrounds don't get as much of a workout here as they did in the last two films, but this is a much smaller film than the previous two, so it's expected.

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Extras/Packaging

Audio Commentary with director Mary Lambert and film journalists Dave Wain and Matty Budrewicz
"Making Of" Featurette (17m 26s, SD, 1.85:1, 4x3)
Original Trailer (1m 21s, SD, 1.85:1)

The blu-ray comes in a 14mm, non-eco-friendly blu-ray case. The artwork is the same for the initial DVD release (the re-release DVD has some very laughable artwork) while the disc features the same artwork.

Let's talk about the entire box set for a moment. The outer box is the very same one used for the I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER trilogy set that 88 Films put out in 2020. The newly commissioned artwork is very striking. This set looks beautiful on its own but put it next to the IKWYDLS set and it's even better.

Inside each of the cases, there is some extra. Inside the URBAN LEGEND case is a set of six postcards with each film getting two cards. Inside the URBAN LEGENDS: FINAL CUT case is a double-sided poster with one side featuring the first film's original theatrical poster art while the other side features the full commissioned artwork used on the outer box. The URBAN LEGENDS: BLOODY MARY case features a 44-page booklet with an essay on each film (not like what they did with the IKWYDLS set where there was nothing about the third film) along with a very touching essay from URBAN LEGEND director Jamie Blanks.

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Overall

At the end of the day, URBAN LEGENDS: BLOODY MARY is an ok film. It's certainly much better than I thought it would be. There are some nice horror scenes here and the whole film is well made. There are also zero snarky heroes here which is always something I like in my horror films. The blu-ray is nice with great picture and sound and a nice new commentary along with some legacy features. The box set as a whole is beautiful and a wonderful addition to the 88 Films horror line. I hope that they do more sets like this.

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Extras/Menus