A student filmmaker named Amy Mayfield (Jennifer Morrison) wants to do a film who struggles to complete her thesis film on urban legends.
Some of her cast members do a terrible job in their performances but a killer in a fencing mask slays them off one by one and filming their deaths in which she must put the pieces together before she becomes the next prey to this killer.
The beginning looks fairly corny as we spot a dweeby fellow sitting next to a beautiful woman in which they have a discussion on the hazards of flying which seemed cheesily written in almost seeming to be a bit comedic here. Also we spot some scene's trying to look suspenseful in the plane which seems to fall flat here. However we do spot the plane taking a nose dive which looked well shot as well as some people discovering some people dead in the passenger seats with the killer on their trail as well as the airplane controllers dead as well as this boggles you big time and giving you a creepy feel to it only to discover that all of this was a set and someone trying to make a movie which works out cleverly while watching a movie and works every time.
We spot a mysterious situation with someone at a dance party and then a mysterious hand putting drugs in her drink without her noticing and it looked well done when she acted drugged and there was a surprise attack with a bag wrapped over her head in a similar fashion to Black Christmas but again the jumping moment failed here. However things looked well set when she wakes up in a tub full of ice cubes with guts and other inner body parts surrounding her in which this scene looked like an inspiration for the makers of Saw to use similar elements here. This time things do look terrifying with the killer grabbing at her and what he's doing to her as well as a dog involved and what this maniac feeds to his pet too which is truly shocking to spot all of this.
There's another shocking situation when someone walks on set and suddenly a spotlight accidentally drops and we think that it hits someone as this has a total feel to everything like you're in the picture and wondering if this is a set up or not. It was pretty well done by keeping you in suspense and terror here.
We spot a situation with the killer taking a camera and filming a bad actress that he is about to kill which looked perfectly dark as well as adding some decent black humor here too. Some of this looked pretty suspenseful to watch. Also we have the filmmakers watching the footage of this actress which was supposed to make you laugh to spot on how awful this actress was performing in her screams but this falls flat big time as it looked overly silly and trying too hard to be funny. It does look terrifying after we spot her really getting killed later on as well as a good caera shot on everyone looking shocked as well as one of the characters named Graham Manning looking fairly amused here drawing in a mysterious moment wondering if he's behind all of this. Of course it would be too obvious in a mysterious horror flick such as this to have him as the actual killer. Yet it looked cleverly put in on him as a suspect.
There's a discussion with Graham towards Amy Mayfield on a situation as he comes across as truly intimidating with his idle threats and anger leaving more mysterious moments to the story as this makes you cringe big time while watching this scene since it looked strongly done here.
We have a perfect moment when a bunch of cast members are recording their screaming with nice camera shots on them doing this while there's terrific shots on a victim being slayed to death by the killer outside in the dark. Great horror timing here. Often this works in well having something deadly happening while another event people are having fun.
A good touching discussion between Amy and Travis Stark on what is happening in which the romantic moments between them seemed to work not too shabbily but yet this has been done so many times in a story like this one. Yet there's a great camera shot on Travis holding a knife during a sex scene between them ready to plunge into her as you wonder if this is a dream or reality while spotting this since it's way too soon to know who the killer is just yet. Looked well done nevertheless.
Good shots on people struggling away from a killer in a studio built as a mine as well as Amy trying to struggle away and getting sneaky on how to escape from this maniac in which these moments almost looked like a paying tribute to My Bloody Valentine.
Things looked pretty powerful when the killer is discovered as well as struggling situations when the survivors like Amy running through some studios to find some way on defending themselves wondering what is a prop or what is real while using a weapon. However it was getting a little too trite while the moments are happening here.
Bottom line is that the story seemed to carry through okay in some spots and lacked in others making it just an average flick. It was both exciting and stale going hand in hand within all of this. The story was very different compared to the original flick which may disappoint fans of the original. Basically this was a forgettable one.
The acting is still average like in the original. Lead actress Jennifer Morrison (Amy Mayfield) however seemed to pull off her role pretty well having a sharp attitude and coming across as a wise type. She does well with her speaking and characteristics too all of this looking very strong. Does a nice job acting scared or anxious as well as bringing her energy to the extreme big time when she tries to struggle from the killer and getting into this big time. Made her role very believeable and I found her to be one of the best out of the whole cast here.
Matthew Davis (Travis Stark / Trevor Stark) for sure draws in as a mysterious type by showing a good calmness and expressionless behavior in his first approach to his role here. Does well by having a discussion with his speaking and seemed to concentrate well within all of this here. Shows alot of good energy when the terror starts to strike and seemed to know his stuff pretty well here.
Hart Bochner (Professor Soloman) shows a perfect seriousness to his part in the film as he seemed truly innocent like with whatever he does in the film. Plus had the right looks for the part too. Also shows off a great negative energy into what he does later on in his performance coming acorss as menacingly powerful into what he did as well as great forceful blocking too which looked realistic as well. He was one of the best actors in the film as well.
Loretta Devine (Reese Wilson) is back in her role as she still proves off to be quite a ham in her performance not taking her job seriously. There's a moment when she talks about an incident with what might happen having a warning attitude but yet she seemed to act a little too over the top when she does this but isn't terrible at all. Does a good job with her hyped up behavior as well as getting anxious when the terror happens along with acting tough which this shines off nicely here.
Joseph Lawrence (Graham Manning) surprisingly does well in his part since his hey day as a child star and teen idol in the 80's and 90's. He shows a good mysterious presence in his role making him a perfect suspect in what he does. He also shows a perfect harsh and aggressive attitude in a certain scene coming across as truly intimidating and unpleasant too. Shows off some good energy when the action starts to happen as well as reacting nicely to a painful situation too. He proves that he can pull off a characater here pretty well.
Bloodied bodies are revealed
Guts are piled on a floor in a room
Skin is sliced open revealing insides
Head is chopped off by a window shut on a woman's neck
A person's face is bloodily bashed
People's faces are burned up
Bloody stabbings
Odd bloody gunshots
Alot of nice sliding type of music along with powerful trombone playing and of course terrific heavy drum poundings too as this was superbly orchestrated as well as some nice peaceful piano playing for the still moments adding nice timing here while we watch the movie to find out on what happens next. Of course good screeching sounds too. All of this was put together by John Ottman and Damon Intrabartolo.
Reese: Urban legend, my ass.
Dirk: Hi ho!
Stan: Did you call me a ho? |
