Urban Legends-Final Cut: Collector's Edition (2000) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Horror |
Dolby Digital Trailer-City Audio Commentary-John Ottman (Director) Outtakes Featurette-Making Of Deleted Scenes-7 +/- Director's Commentary Theatrical Trailer Biographies-Cast & Crew |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2000 | ||
Running Time | 94:22 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (67:08) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | John Ottman |
Studio
Distributor |
Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
Jennifer Morrison Matthew Davis Hart Bochner Joseph Lawrence Anthony Anderson Loretta Devine |
Case | Soft Brackley-Transp | ||
RPI | $36.95 | Music | John Ottman |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English German Dutch Arabic Bulgarian Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Swedish Turkish German Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Even though this movie is a sequel, it is able to be considered separately - having seen the previous film is not a pre-requisite. There are a few in-jokes that link both movies, but only one character from the first film, the security guard (Loretta Devine), returns for the sequel and her role is quickly laid out for the audience.
Urban Legends: Final Cut is set around a number of students who are entering their final year in film school, during which time they must complete a feature film as their major project. One student, Amy Mayfield (Jennifer Morrison), decides to produce a horror film based upon urban legends. As filming progresses, members of her cast and crew are involved in a series of fatal accidents.
Urban Legends: Final Cut does not contain any real surprises, and follows the standard formula for this type of movie, but the performances are strong enough to make this film watchable, if somewhat forgettable.
This was the directorial debut for John Ottman who also composed the score, mixed the score and edited the film. John has previously composed scores for films such as The Usual Suspects, The Cable Guy, Halloween H2O and Lake Placid. He was also nominated for an Emmy Award for his television score for 1998's Fantasy Island. In addition to composing, John has also previously edited Apt Pupil, Public Access and The Usual Suspects for which he won a BAFTA Award.
During his Director's Commentary John makes it clear that he wishes to direct films with more substance, aimed at a more mature audience, so it will be interesting to see what his next project will be.
The feature is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.
The film remains consistently sharp except for a couple of very brief shots, such as the University at night at 8:44, filmed by the second unit. Shadow detail is excellent throughout, with the many dark scenes providing a high level of information. The transfer shows no low level noise at any stage.
Colours are accurately portrayed throughout the film and at no stage appear oversaturated.
No MPEG artefacts were seen at any time during the film.
Aliasing is only seen on a small number of occasions throughout the film, such as the blinds at 12:40 and the mask at 50:03. The small amount of aliasing present in this transfer is remarkable considering the fact that many of the shots presented would traditionally have posed many problems with aliasing, such as the large amount of latticework and meshed metal panels seen at 8:40.
Film artefacts are also very rare in this transfer. Some of the few examples are a scratch appearing on a single frame at 25:50 and a small mark on the killer's mask at 50:34. These artefacts are not disruptive at any time during the transfer.
There are 17 different subtitles presented for the feature. I viewed the English titles and they seemed to constantly omit some spoken words. These omissions at no time reduced the meanings conveyed but there did not seem to be any reason for the small omissions. I was unable to check the accuracy of the other subtitle tracks.
The layer change occurs at 67:08 during a scene and is slightly disruptive.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
There are two Dolby Digital 5.1 448Kb/s audio tracks provided for the feature in both English and German. I listened to primarily to the English track but also sampled the German.
At no stage were there any problems with audio sync on the English track. The German track had the usual sync issues but appeared to be a reasonable quality dub.
The surround channels were used throughout the movie to provide an enveloping soundfield but this is not a highly aggressive mix. Surrounds were used for the score and environmental effects with few highly directional effects apparent. The sub channel is used effectively throughout for effects and to provide support for the score.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
As John was responsible for directing and editing the movie and also composing the score he was able to comment on many aspects of the film. At numerous points in the film he points out the many ways in which they were able to save money and stretch their small budget. During his commentary it becomes quite obvious that he is not a real fan of the horror genre so his decision to make this his directorial debut is quite surprising.
1. Amy's movie - 2:35 2. Writer's block - 0:33 3. Guilty moment - 0:58 4. After the Shoot - 0:51 | 5. Shower scene - 1:51 6. "He Let Me Go" - 1:08 7. Amy and Trevor - 0:47 |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Toshiba 1200, using S-Video output |
Display | Sony KP-E41SN11. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Front left/right: ME75b; Center: DA50ES; rear left/right: DA50ES; subwoofer: NAD 2600 (Bridged) |
Speakers | Front left/right: VAF DC-X; Center: VAF DC-6; rear left/right: VAF DC-7; subwoofer: Custom NHT-1259 |