The slasher sequel Urban Legends: Final Cut follows the story of Amy (Jennifer Morrison, Once Upon A Time), a young film student who, after hearing the story of the events which took place in the first film, comes up with the idea to make a film based on Urban Legends. However, as the film begins shooting, a mysterious killer begins picking off Amy’s cast and crew one by one. Amy soon realizes that her script has become reality and the horror isn’t staying on her script page.

I found this to actually be a very strong sequel, Although nowhere near as good as the first, it still manages to keep the eeriness of the first plus it has much bloodier kills. The acting, like the first, is pretty good mainly because you have relatively known actors such as Joey Lawrence (Blossom, Melissa and Joey), Eva Mendez (The Place Beyond the Pines) and Matthew Davis (Legally Blonde, The Vampire Diaries) adding their acting chops to this low budget sequel.

I found that this film had a lot more humor in it compared to the original. This made for a different tone in the film and separated it from its predecessor, which actually worked quite well in this sequel. The main thing for me which stuck out for the film was the fact that this one only received a 15 rating from the BBFC when the original was given an 18. It felt as though this one was much bloodier than the original. This got me thinking about horror films and their ratings, but also what goes into a film rating. After rewatching the first Urban Legend recently it crossed my mind that possibly the 18 was given for the threat more than actual on screen violence. For the most part many of the kills in the original were off screen.

Urban Legends Final Cut is possibly one of the better “recent” horror sequels. Although it has its connections to the first, it could be watched as a stand alone film. However, as a fan of the original, it is possible to imagine that many fans would possibly have liked to see or at least know what had happened to the characters in the first film. To be fair, in this sequel, they do try and pass the first film off as an Urban Legend story.

Overall I would highly recommend this film. As previously mentioned you do not have to watch the first to enjoy this film, although I do advice that you do as it is a great slasher film. Urban Legends: Final Cut is widely released on DVD and should be easy to get. In the UK it is also on Netflix.

–Ross Wilcock

Yesterday I saw Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988) for the first time. I had previously seen the original Sleepaway Camp (1983) and I found that a pretty good slasher with a noteworthy twist ending, which still manages to shock and controversy to this very day. Going into the sequel I had modest hopes, obviously the character of Angela Baker was portrayed by Pamela Springsteen this time around instead of Felissa Rose. Other than this character, there are none recurring characters in the sequels of Sleepaway Camp. I wasn’t sure about the swap of actress at first but wanted to give it a chance since I’ve been hearing great things from friends and slasher fans.

I have finally watched ‘Unhappy Campers’ and while it lacks in shock value and thrills the original Sleepaway Camp obviously had going for it, this comedic sequel takes a perfect direction with even bloodier and gorier kills as the body count has raised. Pamela Springsteen truly did a bang up job as Angela, I loved her line delivery and comedic chops. Her portrayal is slightly better than Felissa Rose but not by much. Still a very refreshing take on this special character. I also really liked Renée Estevez and Tony Higgins in this sequel. The characters were fun but very over the top and there were many parts that cracked me up. The nice references, touches and winks to classics like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were totally on point. As far as watchability goes, the sequel is more watchable than the original in my opinion. Characters were fleshed out better and the acting was a slight improvement over the original. The dark humor in this was spot on but its not considered scary or surprising in my books as opposed to the original.

Still a fun and campy comedy slasher with cool death sequences, a fantastic 80s soundtrack, a hilariously good Pamela Springsteen, fun characters and some witty dark humor. Not a movie I would consider ‘great’ by any means as some is left to be desired, like the non-effective ending but it does offer exactly what it promises and then some. I was not bored for a second watching this movie and would highly recommend it to everyone!

–Ferdi Akkulak

Yesterday I saw Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) for the first time, also as part of the ‪#‎80sHorrorWeek‬. I have seen the first four Friday the 13th movies before this. 1 and 2 were fantastic entries in the horror genre, 3 was very mediocre and 4 was only half good. Well I’ve seen ‘A New Beginning’ and while its not as good as ‘The Final Chapter’, it still left a better impression on me than Part III did. The storyline, while different this time around, was interesting enough. I know most fans weren’t pleased with the approach the franchise took with this installment but I didn’t mind it to be perfectly honest with you. However, this doesn’t mean that I loved this installment as it was very by-the-numbers and filled with cliches.

The acting performances were pretty much awful. Melanie Kinnaman (as Pam) might be one of the prettiest final girls of the Friday the 13th franchise but her acting is very over the top and flawed in a lot of parts. John Shepherd (Tommy Jarvis), Carol Locatell (Ethel) and Tiffany Helm (Violet) were very solid in this film. The characters weren’t very likeable in this installment as most weren’t even trying to achieve that level. And the kills, while high on body count, were decent but pretty much bloodless. The soundtrack is pretty good, just as in the other installments. The plot twist at the end was surprising and wasn’t a letdown whatsoever, it only made up for most of the film. There aren’t many ‘scary’ scenes in this installment and the suspense is also hard to find. I did love all the scenes with the character of Ethel and the ‘robot dance’ scene with Violet was awesome! (the soundtrack ‘His Eyes’ by Pseudo Echo is my favorite of the entire franchise!)

Overall, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning isn’t one of the better Friday the 13th movies but its definitely fun to watch and I enjoyed this 80’s slasher for what it was, even though it was nothing I’d call outstanding either.

–Ferdi Akkulak

The third installment of the Urban Legend series follows the story of Samantha (Kate Mara, House Of Cards). After being kidnapped with two of her friends, she begins to believe that the mysterious killings in her town are connected to her kidnapping. After investigating a case of a missing town girl from the 1960’s, Sam realizes that the truth may be closer to home than she thought.

This film did not come very highly recommended to me as many fans of the series do not like this threequel compared to the previous two films (Urban Legend 1998, Urban Legends: Final Cut 2000). The film was pretty poorly acted for the most part but considering it was a direct to DVD release, this is not surprising.

I was reminded while watching this of Halloween III as a “stand alone film” that had nothing to do with the other installments of the Michael Myers’ franchise. Sadly, I didn’t find this film to be very comparable. Although I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought, it was still disappointing as an Urban Legend film.

The one redeeming quality of this film were the kills. Although only achieving a 15 certificate in the UK, it was still enough to allow the film to show pretty imaginative kills. This alone suggests that the film is worth a watch at least once if you are a horror/slasher fan.

I was overall disappointed in the finished film. However, if you are looking for a film that passes the time and has decent kills, you could do much worse than this one.

–Ross Wilcock

I am excited to return to another Slasher Studios feature film! My first experience was taking a ‘test run’ up to the set location so I could easily find it the first morning of filming. My traveling companion for this test run was ‘Don’t Go to the Reunion’ cast mate, Kaleb Shorey. As we ventured into the northwoods of Wisconsin, the GPS directions took us farther and farther down one lane, dead end snow covered roads with hills, twists and turns, and seemingly, no cabin in the woods. This was already turning into a scary adventure and the movie has not even begun! Finally, we came across two fellows carrying snow shovels. I called out ‘are you making a movie?’ and lo and behold, this was our Director, Austin Bosley and DP, Jordan Hiller. They were coming to the rescue of some of the multiple cast and crew who would find themselves stuck in the winter wonderland. Another mile down the trail I had my first look at the film set. A rustic vacation home on a secluded lake. This was going to be where the magic happens. No one for miles around….just frozen Wisconsin tundra. And no phone or internet service.

Filming the movie was everything and more than I expected. The cast was amazing. Full of up and coming young actors from across the country with incredible talent. I also was reunited with people I worked on in DGTTR, like Zach, Kevin and Johnathan. The crew for this movie was outstanding. I met so many cool people! Viewers are in for a special treat! The lighting, sound recording, film work and attention to detail by the script supervisor will make this slasher one to remember! The crew had to endure the longest hours in below zero temps to bring you the best of holiday slashers, but it will be so worth it! Austin and Kevin definitely had a vision of how this story should be told, complete with blood and gore and action packed with excitement.

The cast, even though many were from warmer climates, did an incredible job of tolerating the weather. I do have to say the fireplace was running 24/7 to dry out mittens and boots and keep us warm. Due to the treacherous roads leading to the cabin, once we were there, we were there to stay, except for one night when we were done early and packed 18 people in 3 cars to have dinner at Nutzy’s, the local bar and grill. Other nights we were treated to home cooking courtesy of Scott, our AD. Nights were spent watching classic horror DVDs. A great thing to experience surrounded by people who know so much about film and are schooled in slasher movies.

This film also gave me a chance to work on some of the pre-production work with Zach and Andrew. I enjoyed helping out and providing the details and design to some of the scenes. It was also a chance to contribute my skills as a FX makeup artist, another horror passion of mine. My favorite and last memory from the set was the magical feeling of spending nearly two weeks in a house decorated for Christmas. While real life Christmas decorations are packed away, we had the chance to enjoy staying in a house decorated from top to bottom for Christmas.

Thank you to everyone for sharing this experience with me!

–Marla Van Lanen