Urban Legends: Final Cut
Encyclopedia
Urban Legends: Final Cut is a 2000 slasher film
and sequel to the 1998 film Urban Legend
. It stars Jennifer Morrison
, Matthew Davis
, Loretta Devine
, Anthony Anderson
, Hart Bochner
, Rebecca Gayheart
, Regina Hall
, Yani Gellman
, and Eva Mendes
. The movie was directed by John Ottman
who also edited the movie and composed the score.
) is unsure about her thesis. But after a conversation with security guard Reese Wilson (Loretta Devine
), (who got transferred after the events of the first film), she decides to make a film about a serial killer murdering in the fashion of urban legends.
Meanwhile, a student named Lisa (Jacinda Barrett
) is drinking in a bar, when someone drugs her drink. Lisa feels dazed and prepares to leave the bar, when someone abducts her. She wakes up in a bath-tub filled with ice and discovers that her kidney was removed. Attacked by her abductor, she tries to flee through the window and is decapitated in the process. Lisa is not missed as she was about to go on a trip. The next day, Amy is preparing the shooting of her thesis film but is deserted by the assigned camera man, Toby Belcher (Anson Mount
), who accuses Amy of stealing his thesis idea. Shooting begins with another camera man, Simon. When Sandra (Jessica Cauffiel
), Amy's actress friend who played a victim in a scene, returns to an empty studio after forgetting her keys, she is attacked by the same killer who killed Lisa. Her friends witness her death when the material is smuggled into a sequence of takes of the scene, but discount it as another piece of acting, wondering who shot it. As there is no body and Sandra was about to go on a trip, her disappearance goes unnoticed.
Travis (Matthew Davis
), a friend of Amy who was depressed about having received a poor grade on his thesis film, is found to have committed suicide at the campus tower. At the funeral, Amy is offered help by Graham (Joey Lawrence
), a student from a prosperous Hollywood background. She refuses, wishing to make it on her own. This offends Graham, who thinks it hypocritical, as Amy grew up in Hollywood as the daughter of a famous documentary film maker before moving to Chicago. At night, Amy enters the tower and is surprised by Trevor, Travis' twin brother, who claims that Travis was murdered. The next night, Simon (Marco Hofschneider
) is attacked by the killer but his screaming for help goes unnoticed as the others are doing the "midnight scream". Amy, who has heard his last scream on her head phones, is suspicious and asks Reese to review the surveillance tapes. After she has detected the assault on Simon on the tapes, she is confronted by the killer. During the ensuing chase, she loses the tapes and cannot prove her claims to a skeptical Reese. Amy now believes the claims of Trevor and meets up with him but, he still refuses to inform the police, hinting at a criminal past.
The next scene to be shot involves the "Tunnel of Terror", which is set up in an old carnival ride. Sophomores Stan (Anthony Anderson
) and Dirk (Michael Bacall
) are attacked and electrocuted by the killer while preparing the tunnel. Amy, who is taking a tour of the tunnel, discovers the corpses and is again confronted by the killer. She escapes again and informs the police, who attribute the deaths to accidental electrocution. Amy is comforted by Trevor. They begin having sex when Trevor suddenly stabs Amy. She wakes up and realizes that it was only a dream. Seeing a light on at the bell-tower, she decides to go there and finds her lesbian friend, Vanessa (Eva Mendes
). Vanessa received a love note supposedly written by Amy, but when Amy disclaims any knowledge of such a note, the two are attacked by the killer and chased to the top of the tower, where Vanessa is captured. Meanwhile, Amy is locked in a room also containing Sandra and Simon's corpses. When Amy manages to break out, she finds Vanessa being hanged from the bell.
Amy runs out of the tower into the arms of Trevor, who has found out that the thing the victims all had in common was their having worked on Travis' thesis film. They review Travis' film, which turns out to be awful, and find out that somebody placed Travis' credits onto another film. They suspect Toby, the only person working on the film left alive. They kidnap him and call in Professor Solomon (Hart Bochner
) to present their suspicions. However, Toby reveals that Travis faked Toby's sound credit to help him graduate admitting that he never went anywhere near Travis' film. Upset that he gave Toby "an A for nothing", Professor Solomon shoots Toby and threatens Amy and Trevor. He also reveals that he murdered Travis making it look like a suicide. He holds Trevor at gunpoint and Amy yells to him is this what he wants. He reveals feeling trapped in a teaching position since failing to win the Hitchcock award in his student days for which he blames Amy's father, who cast the deciding vote against him. He now wanted to take credit for Travis' brilliant film and use Amy's Urban Legend film to eliminate all who worked with Travis, framing Amy in the process.
Graham, who has been lurking in the back all this time, hits Solomon with a chair, but is shot by the professor. In the confusion, Trevor manages to disarm the professor. Then, Solomon threatens Trevor with a shovel while Amy gets a hold of the gun and threatens Solomon. Reese storms in, thinking Amy to be the killer, and forces her to drop the gun. Solomon accuses Amy, and calls attention to the fact that Reese saw Amy running out of the tower. As Reese never told anyone about this, she becomes suspicious and punches the professor. He tries to take her gun, but in the ensuing brawl, Reese's gun is lost amongst a pile of prop guns. Amy, Trevor and Solomon all grab for a gun. Trevor's gun is a fake when he tries to shoot Solomon, and Solomon's gun is a fake when he tries to shoot Amy. Amy got a hold of Reese's gun but hesitates to fire. Solomon attacks her again, but she shoots him. Then scene then cuts to the Hitchcock awards, where an award is posthumously given to Travis. As Trevor is about to accept the award on his late brother's behalf, a sniper appears in the rafters, only to be shot down by Reese. The altercation is then revealed to be a scene in Amy's new film "Urban Legends". We also see that Toby and Graham survived their attacks and are now busily working on her behalf.
The final scenes show Solomon in a mental institution where, after watching Amy's film, the nurse asks him if he enjoyed the movie. He is wheeled out by a nurse, who is revealed to be Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart
), the previous film's killer saying that they have a lot in common "and a lot to talk about."
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
and sequel to the 1998 film Urban Legend
Urban Legend (film)
Urban Legend is a 1998 horror film starring Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Jared Leto, Michael Rosenbaum, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Loretta Devine, Robert Englund, John Neville, Joshua Jackson, Regina King, and Tara Reid...
. It stars Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...
, Matthew Davis
Matthew Davis
Matthew W. Davis is an American actor.-Life and career:Davis was born in Salt Lake City. He attended Woods Cross High School, and the University of Utah....
, Loretta Devine
Loretta Devine
Loretta Devine is an American stage, film and television actress known for her roles on Boston Public, Grey's Anatomy, and Eli Stone. She also provided her voice for the stop motion animated television series The PJs. Devine is a NAACP Image Award and Emmy award winning actress.-Early life:Devine...
, Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He has starred in his own sitcom All About the Andersons, as well as the Fox sitcom The Bernie Mac Show during the fifth and final season of the show. He is also known for his leading roles in television dramas such as K-Ville, The...
, Hart Bochner
Hart Bochner
Hart Matthew Bochner is a Canadian film actor, screenwriter, director, and producer.-Life and career:Bochner was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Ruth , a concert pianist, and actor Lloyd Bochner...
, Rebecca Gayheart
Rebecca Gayheart
-Early life:Gayheart was born in Hazard, Kentucky and raised in Pine Top, Kentucky, the daughter of Floneva , who worked as a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant, and Curtis Gayheart, a miner and coal truck driver. She is of Irish, Italian, and German descent...
, Regina Hall
Regina Hall
Regina Hall is an American film and television actress known for her lead role of Brenda Meeks in the Scary Movie films and as Corretta Lipp in the FOX comedy-drama Ally McBeal.-Personal life:...
, Yani Gellman
Yani Gellman
Yani Gellman is an American film and television actor.Gellman was born in Miami, Florida to a Canadian father and an Australian mother; he was named after a family friend, writer Jan Joors...
, and Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...
. The movie was directed by John Ottman
John Ottman
John Ottman is an American film editor, composer and director.He is best known for his collaborations with film director Bryan Singer, acting as film editor and composing the scores for The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, X2: X-Men United, Superman Returns and most recently...
who also edited the movie and composed the score.
Plot
A flight attendant attacks passengers and crew on an airplane, which turns out to be a scene in a film shooting at a film academy. As the students are preparing for their thesis films and the prestigious Hitchcock award, a student named Amy Mayfield (Jennifer MorrisonJennifer Morrison
Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...
) is unsure about her thesis. But after a conversation with security guard Reese Wilson (Loretta Devine
Loretta Devine
Loretta Devine is an American stage, film and television actress known for her roles on Boston Public, Grey's Anatomy, and Eli Stone. She also provided her voice for the stop motion animated television series The PJs. Devine is a NAACP Image Award and Emmy award winning actress.-Early life:Devine...
), (who got transferred after the events of the first film), she decides to make a film about a serial killer murdering in the fashion of urban legends.
Meanwhile, a student named Lisa (Jacinda Barrett
Jacinda Barrett
Jacinda Barrett is an Australian American model turned actress. She first became known to audiences as a cast member on The Real World: London before appearing in films such as Ladder 49, The Namesake, The Human Stain, and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.-Early life and career:Born in Brisbane,...
) is drinking in a bar, when someone drugs her drink. Lisa feels dazed and prepares to leave the bar, when someone abducts her. She wakes up in a bath-tub filled with ice and discovers that her kidney was removed. Attacked by her abductor, she tries to flee through the window and is decapitated in the process. Lisa is not missed as she was about to go on a trip. The next day, Amy is preparing the shooting of her thesis film but is deserted by the assigned camera man, Toby Belcher (Anson Mount
Anson Mount
Anson Adams Mount IV is an American actor who has appeared in both movies and television shows. Mount has also played Jim Steele on the short-lived NBC series Conviction and appeared in the independent movie Tully with Julianne Nicholson, as the title character Tully Coates, a playboy whose ways...
), who accuses Amy of stealing his thesis idea. Shooting begins with another camera man, Simon. When Sandra (Jessica Cauffiel
Jessica Cauffiel
Jessica Cauffiel is an American actress and singer.-Early life:Cauffiel was born in Detroit, Michigan; her mother is a social worker and her father is Lowell Cauffiel, a best-selling true crime author, screenwriter and television documentary producer...
), Amy's actress friend who played a victim in a scene, returns to an empty studio after forgetting her keys, she is attacked by the same killer who killed Lisa. Her friends witness her death when the material is smuggled into a sequence of takes of the scene, but discount it as another piece of acting, wondering who shot it. As there is no body and Sandra was about to go on a trip, her disappearance goes unnoticed.
Travis (Matthew Davis
Matthew Davis
Matthew W. Davis is an American actor.-Life and career:Davis was born in Salt Lake City. He attended Woods Cross High School, and the University of Utah....
), a friend of Amy who was depressed about having received a poor grade on his thesis film, is found to have committed suicide at the campus tower. At the funeral, Amy is offered help by Graham (Joey Lawrence
Joey Lawrence
Joseph "Joey" Lawrence is an American actor, R&B-singer, and TV-host. He is known for his roles in the TV-series Gimme a Break!, Blossom, and Melissa & Joey.- Early life :...
), a student from a prosperous Hollywood background. She refuses, wishing to make it on her own. This offends Graham, who thinks it hypocritical, as Amy grew up in Hollywood as the daughter of a famous documentary film maker before moving to Chicago. At night, Amy enters the tower and is surprised by Trevor, Travis' twin brother, who claims that Travis was murdered. The next night, Simon (Marco Hofschneider
Marco Hofschneider
Marco Hofschneider is a German actor known for his biographical portrayal of Solomon Perel in the 1990 acclaimed World War II film Europa Europa...
) is attacked by the killer but his screaming for help goes unnoticed as the others are doing the "midnight scream". Amy, who has heard his last scream on her head phones, is suspicious and asks Reese to review the surveillance tapes. After she has detected the assault on Simon on the tapes, she is confronted by the killer. During the ensuing chase, she loses the tapes and cannot prove her claims to a skeptical Reese. Amy now believes the claims of Trevor and meets up with him but, he still refuses to inform the police, hinting at a criminal past.
The next scene to be shot involves the "Tunnel of Terror", which is set up in an old carnival ride. Sophomores Stan (Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He has starred in his own sitcom All About the Andersons, as well as the Fox sitcom The Bernie Mac Show during the fifth and final season of the show. He is also known for his leading roles in television dramas such as K-Ville, The...
) and Dirk (Michael Bacall
Michael Bacall
Michael Bacall is an American screenwriter and actor. He acted in movies and television from an early age. Turning to writing in the 2000s, he co-wrote and co-starred in Manic...
) are attacked and electrocuted by the killer while preparing the tunnel. Amy, who is taking a tour of the tunnel, discovers the corpses and is again confronted by the killer. She escapes again and informs the police, who attribute the deaths to accidental electrocution. Amy is comforted by Trevor. They begin having sex when Trevor suddenly stabs Amy. She wakes up and realizes that it was only a dream. Seeing a light on at the bell-tower, she decides to go there and finds her lesbian friend, Vanessa (Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...
). Vanessa received a love note supposedly written by Amy, but when Amy disclaims any knowledge of such a note, the two are attacked by the killer and chased to the top of the tower, where Vanessa is captured. Meanwhile, Amy is locked in a room also containing Sandra and Simon's corpses. When Amy manages to break out, she finds Vanessa being hanged from the bell.
Amy runs out of the tower into the arms of Trevor, who has found out that the thing the victims all had in common was their having worked on Travis' thesis film. They review Travis' film, which turns out to be awful, and find out that somebody placed Travis' credits onto another film. They suspect Toby, the only person working on the film left alive. They kidnap him and call in Professor Solomon (Hart Bochner
Hart Bochner
Hart Matthew Bochner is a Canadian film actor, screenwriter, director, and producer.-Life and career:Bochner was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Ruth , a concert pianist, and actor Lloyd Bochner...
) to present their suspicions. However, Toby reveals that Travis faked Toby's sound credit to help him graduate admitting that he never went anywhere near Travis' film. Upset that he gave Toby "an A for nothing", Professor Solomon shoots Toby and threatens Amy and Trevor. He also reveals that he murdered Travis making it look like a suicide. He holds Trevor at gunpoint and Amy yells to him is this what he wants. He reveals feeling trapped in a teaching position since failing to win the Hitchcock award in his student days for which he blames Amy's father, who cast the deciding vote against him. He now wanted to take credit for Travis' brilliant film and use Amy's Urban Legend film to eliminate all who worked with Travis, framing Amy in the process.
Graham, who has been lurking in the back all this time, hits Solomon with a chair, but is shot by the professor. In the confusion, Trevor manages to disarm the professor. Then, Solomon threatens Trevor with a shovel while Amy gets a hold of the gun and threatens Solomon. Reese storms in, thinking Amy to be the killer, and forces her to drop the gun. Solomon accuses Amy, and calls attention to the fact that Reese saw Amy running out of the tower. As Reese never told anyone about this, she becomes suspicious and punches the professor. He tries to take her gun, but in the ensuing brawl, Reese's gun is lost amongst a pile of prop guns. Amy, Trevor and Solomon all grab for a gun. Trevor's gun is a fake when he tries to shoot Solomon, and Solomon's gun is a fake when he tries to shoot Amy. Amy got a hold of Reese's gun but hesitates to fire. Solomon attacks her again, but she shoots him. Then scene then cuts to the Hitchcock awards, where an award is posthumously given to Travis. As Trevor is about to accept the award on his late brother's behalf, a sniper appears in the rafters, only to be shot down by Reese. The altercation is then revealed to be a scene in Amy's new film "Urban Legends". We also see that Toby and Graham survived their attacks and are now busily working on her behalf.
The final scenes show Solomon in a mental institution where, after watching Amy's film, the nurse asks him if he enjoyed the movie. He is wheeled out by a nurse, who is revealed to be Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart
Rebecca Gayheart
-Early life:Gayheart was born in Hazard, Kentucky and raised in Pine Top, Kentucky, the daughter of Floneva , who worked as a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant, and Curtis Gayheart, a miner and coal truck driver. She is of Irish, Italian, and German descent...
), the previous film's killer saying that they have a lot in common "and a lot to talk about."
Cast
- Jennifer MorrisonJennifer MorrisonJennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...
as Amy Mayfield - Matthew DavisMatthew DavisMatthew W. Davis is an American actor.-Life and career:Davis was born in Salt Lake City. He attended Woods Cross High School, and the University of Utah....
as Trevor Stark/Travis Stark - Hart BochnerHart BochnerHart Matthew Bochner is a Canadian film actor, screenwriter, director, and producer.-Life and career:Bochner was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Ruth , a concert pianist, and actor Lloyd Bochner...
as Professor Solomon - Eva MendesEva MendesEva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...
as Vanessa Valdeon - Loretta DevineLoretta DevineLoretta Devine is an American stage, film and television actress known for her roles on Boston Public, Grey's Anatomy, and Eli Stone. She also provided her voice for the stop motion animated television series The PJs. Devine is a NAACP Image Award and Emmy award winning actress.-Early life:Devine...
as Reese Wilson - Joey LawrenceJoey LawrenceJoseph "Joey" Lawrence is an American actor, R&B-singer, and TV-host. He is known for his roles in the TV-series Gimme a Break!, Blossom, and Melissa & Joey.- Early life :...
as Graham Manning - Anson MountAnson MountAnson Adams Mount IV is an American actor who has appeared in both movies and television shows. Mount has also played Jim Steele on the short-lived NBC series Conviction and appeared in the independent movie Tully with Julianne Nicholson, as the title character Tully Coates, a playboy whose ways...
as Toby Belcher - Rebecca GayheartRebecca Gayheart-Early life:Gayheart was born in Hazard, Kentucky and raised in Pine Top, Kentucky, the daughter of Floneva , who worked as a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant, and Curtis Gayheart, a miner and coal truck driver. She is of Irish, Italian, and German descent...
as Brenda - Anthony AndersonAnthony AndersonAnthony Anderson is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He has starred in his own sitcom All About the Andersons, as well as the Fox sitcom The Bernie Mac Show during the fifth and final season of the show. He is also known for his leading roles in television dramas such as K-Ville, The...
as Stan Washington - Jessica CauffielJessica CauffielJessica Cauffiel is an American actress and singer.-Early life:Cauffiel was born in Detroit, Michigan; her mother is a social worker and her father is Lowell Cauffiel, a best-selling true crime author, screenwriter and television documentary producer...
as Sandra Petruzzi - Michael BacallMichael BacallMichael Bacall is an American screenwriter and actor. He acted in movies and television from an early age. Turning to writing in the 2000s, he co-wrote and co-starred in Manic...
as Dirk Reynolds - Marco HofschneiderMarco HofschneiderMarco Hofschneider is a German actor known for his biographical portrayal of Solomon Perel in the 1990 acclaimed World War II film Europa Europa...
as Schorm "Simon" Jabuscko - Derek Aasland as P.A. Kevin
- Jacinda BarrettJacinda BarrettJacinda Barrett is an Australian American model turned actress. She first became known to audiences as a cast member on The Real World: London before appearing in films such as Ladder 49, The Namesake, The Human Stain, and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.-Early life and career:Born in Brisbane,...
as Lisa - Peter Millard as Dr. Richard Fain
- Chas LawtherChas LawtherCharles "Chas" Lawther is a British-born Canadian actor, comedian and writer.Lawther came to local prominence in Toronto when in the 1980s he created the character of Chuck The Security Guard for CFMT-TV's The All-Night Show, on the ostensible premise that as the station's night security he would...
as Dean Patterson - Chuck CampbellChuck CampbellChuck Campbell is a Canadian actor who portrayed the role of Chuck the Technician on Stargate Atlantis. He had a role in the webseries, Sanctuary.-Personal life:...
as Geek in Plane - Yani GellmanYani GellmanYani Gellman is an American film and television actor.Gellman was born in Miami, Florida to a Canadian father and an Australian mother; he was named after a family friend, writer Jan Joors...
as Rob - Regina HallRegina HallRegina Hall is an American film and television actress known for her lead role of Brenda Meeks in the Scary Movie films and as Corretta Lipp in the FOX comedy-drama Ally McBeal.-Personal life:...
as Marinna - Jeannette Sousa as Libby
- Rory Feore as Killer Flight Attendant
Urban legends used in the film
The following urban legends are mentioned or depicted in the film:- Lisa is drugged at a bar and wakes up in a bath tub of ice, her kidney being removed.
- Amy recounts a legend about students screaming at midnight to relieve tension, causing a brutal assault to go unnoticed. This is later re-enacted in Simon's death.
- Sandra tells of a burrito contaminated with roach eggs, which then hatch inside a girl's nose and of a chicken sandwich containing pus from the chicken's tumor.
- Vanessa warns Travis that cell phones cause cancer.
- The first scene of Amy's film has a girl discovering the corpse of her dog, who supposedly licked her hand at night, in the shower, with the message "Humans can lick too."
- The basis for one of the scenes in Amy's film is a carnival displaying fake corpses in a "Tunnel of Terror". As the carnival moves on, several children are missing and the fake corpses are revealed to be real.
Production
- Scenes featuring the exterior of Alpine University campus were filmed on location at Trent UniversityTrent UniversityTrent University is a liberal arts and science-oriented institution located along the Otonabee River in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.The enabling legislation is the Trent University Act, 1962-63. The University was founded through the efforts of a citizens' committee interested in creating a...
in Peterborough, OntarioPeterborough, OntarioPeterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...
in Canada. - Loretta DevineLoretta DevineLoretta Devine is an American stage, film and television actress known for her roles on Boston Public, Grey's Anatomy, and Eli Stone. She also provided her voice for the stop motion animated television series The PJs. Devine is a NAACP Image Award and Emmy award winning actress.-Early life:Devine...
and Rebecca GayheartRebecca Gayheart-Early life:Gayheart was born in Hazard, Kentucky and raised in Pine Top, Kentucky, the daughter of Floneva , who worked as a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant, and Curtis Gayheart, a miner and coal truck driver. She is of Irish, Italian, and German descent...
are the only actors from the previous film to return. Gayheart appears only in a brief cameo.