Now this is interesting. This is interesting, indeed. Perhaps the theories on cinema desensitizing the masses are true. Case in point, I would have physically assaulted and crippled most of the characters in this film, myself. Were I a main character watching everyone else die, it wouldn't phase me. Hell, I'd call out Bloody Mary a few times and ask her if she wanted help. (Note that sounds like sarcasm. It's not.)
Mary was a high school student accidentally killed by the football team players who dropped some pills in her drink. Fast forward 30 years later, a new set of girls (one of which is the film's heroine) get pills dropped in their drinks and disappear by this generations jocks (who are also self-absorbed, delusional, morons who thrive on the microcosm of high school popularity).
But now Mary's back, and she's taking revenge. So, in other words, the evil killer ghost is doing mankind a favor and also poses no threat to the heroine (in fact, you could say she's taking revenge for herself and the heroine.) So I'm sitting here watching a horror movie where I can honestly, and without sarcasm, ask, "Why do they want to *stop* Mary?"
Mary's victims I hated them. Every one of them. I hated them to the point that I was verbally criticizing the film that the deaths weren't gruesome, painful, and horrible enough to give a satisfying finale to these pricks. Needless to say, this makes suspense impossible. To go back to Hitchcock's bomb-under-the table analogy, I was throwing rocks at the thing hoping to make it go off early. Screw suspense, just kill 'em.
Now, be careful, because the criticism isn't so much that I hated the characters. It's the fact the movie continues on as a normal horror movie and treats the suspense as if I cared about them. If I actually liked the characters, sure, I would have flown with it as the films stands. More so: I think it would have been very interesting if the film acknowledged that the victims were complete unsympathetic losers and found an alternate means of getting suspense by introducing an additional layer of conflict one that actually threatens Samantha (and no, the "surprise" ending that doesn't surprise us doesn't count.) Actually, let me address the ending of the movie a little bit further because it is quite hilarious: it's supposed to be a surprise ending, and yet it's part of a typical cinematic formula. If you haven't figured out the ending by the film's midpoint, you haven't seen enough movies. Here's a hint: "Luke, I am your father."
Then again, if the movie had the brains to go into more provocative concepts it wouldn't have a lot of the lame dialogue it has (especially in the beginning of the film.) Since we're in the post-Scream era of horror, enter the false layer of sophistication by having the characters mention the Clive Barker film, Candyman. So the film has convinced me the kids have seen one movie? Zip-a-dee-doo-dah-day! I was hoping it could convince me they had a life too.
Complaints aside, Mary Lambert can be a great director, and this is apparent in fleeting glimpses in Urban Legend: Bloody Mary. The visual style is always interesting, and I adored some of the roaming camera moves through the empty corridors of the school very stylish, very atmospheric, if only the script had the same level of sophistication as this simple (really simple) yet effective technique. At her best, Mary Lambert can deliver some truly haunting and disturbing imagery as seen in Pet Semetary (particularly, the final confrontation of the film stands out in my mind). As stated earlier, though, I hated all the characters, and no amount of directorial massaging can ever elicit any kind of emotional reaction of that caliber without some investment. I want to see Mary Lambert tell another good story, and unfortunately, Urban Legend: Bloody Mary was not it.