Cinema: "Urban Legends: Final Cut"

A FILM within a film, Columbia Pictures' murder mystery is set against the backdrop of a film institute.

When Travis (Matthew Davis), a brilliant student film-maker, commits suicide after receiving a C grade for his thesis film, Amy Mayfield (Jennifer Morrison) is puzzled. Travis was in fact, in the running for the prestigious Hitchcock Award, which guarantees a chance in Hollywood.

Amy, who is busy working on her psychological thriller, happens to meet Trevor, Travis' look-alike brother and stumbles upon a sinister plot.

There is somebody (in this case a masked stranger) on the campus who wanted Travis out of his way! Not satisfied with that, he also wants to eliminate all those who worked with Travis on his project, including Amy! Who is after them and why?

``Urban Legends: Final Cut'' (a sequel to ``Urban Legends'') belongs to the usual thriller genre, with predictable camera angles, a background score and gory blood-filled scenes.

But what makes the film watchable is its tongue-in-cheek sense of humour and references to cinema's legends and classic films... from Hitchcock to John Woo, from ``Vertigo'' to ``Silence of the Lambs'' and ``Amadeus''.

The film revolves around Amy, who sees it all but nobody believes her. The fake deaths and fake scares interspersed with the real murders keep the viewer guessing throughout.

So much so, after a point, you begin to wonder if Amy is imagining things. And of course, practically every other character is a suspect!

It is unusual to find a director who also composes and edits his films. John Ottman, who has the distinction of being Hollywood's only film editor/composer, makes his directorial debut with this film.

He builds up the theme quite well. But the ending is quite a let down and falls short of expectations. However what John Ottman has achieved is to give a new twist to an old genre.

SAVITHA GAUTAM

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