Urban Legend
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Movie Reviews of Urban Legend
Movie Review: Slick, stylish and brilliant. The best 90's slasher BY FAR!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This has to be the best horror movie made during the post-"Scream" slasher revival. It blows "Scream" away (even though it clearly exists because of Craven's success). It's just plain cool. A killer using urban legends to whack his victims; why hadn't anyone thought of this before 1998?
I wont repeat the synopsis of the movie (plenty of other reviews below this one do exactly that) suffice to say that it has the most jaw-dropping opening of a movie ever. Brad Dourif (you just know that the filmmakers were riffing on his part from "Cuckoo's Nest") is amazing. Robert Englund is perfectly cast as the red-herring you just know won't turn out to be the guy - it's too obvious.
The cast are fabulous and the self-referential humor is kept in check - there's just enough to be amusing without going too far (Scream just completely overkilled the concept).
The cinematography is so beautiful in this movie, it's hard to believe that the 26 year old director of this film had never directed a feature prior to this movie. He also directed 2001's "Valentine" which I loved also. Jamie Blanks clearly loves his 80's slasher movies and has so far delivered two brilliant homages to those movies. I can't wait to see his next movie.
Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Joshua Jackson and Jared Leto are all brilliant in this movie. It was cool to see a pre-Smallville Michael Rosenbaum (with hair!) in this roll. Hootie rules! And Loretta Devine was the bomb! Pam Grier wannabe security guard from hell!
I give Urban Legend a strong 5 stars and wish that every horror fan would see this movie. If you've seen it - see it again.
Forget the crummy, pathetic sequel - it was awful. Lame, lame, lame. They must have run out of good urban legends by then. Just watch this original masterpiece again and check out "Valentine" if you haven't already. Finally a slasher film directed by someone with some style. Screw "Scream". If this movie had come out in the 80s it would have completely re-energized the entire slasher genre. I also love the fact that it doesn't poke fun of the genre that it exists within. It takes itself just seriously enough to pull off the gag. (Not too serious though).
Tara Reid is gorgeous (I'm sure the director was trying to evoke Stevie Wayne from "The Fog"), Rebecca Gayheart is insanely beautiful (Noxema girl) and Alicia Witt evokes memories of Sissy Spacek from "Carrie". So many beautiful women in one movie. (Come to think of it, the cast of "Valentine" were pretty hot also - lucky guy...)
The commentary and behind the scenes docos are very entertaining. They clearly had a great time making this movie. If they make an Urban Legend 3 I hope that Jamie Blanks returns to direct it. Buy this movie if you don't already have it in your collection - it is essential late 90's slasher gold. + the trailer kicks ass.
"There's someone in the back seeeaaaat!"
Movie Review: A Scary Slasher Flick With a Cool Twist
Summary: 5 Stars
Jared Leto (Paul), Alicia Witt (Natalie), Rebecca Gayheart (Brenda), Michael Rosenbaum (Parker), Joshua Jackson (Damon), Tara Reid (Sasha), and Natasha Wagner (Michelle) star in this well-conceived film about urban legends.
In the opening sequence, Michelle is driving her SUV back to campus. Realizing she's low on gas, she pulls into a service station. The attendant is acting rather strangely, and for some reason, he asks Michelle to get out of the SUV. He immediately tries to restrain Michelle, but she sprays him with mace, gets back in her vehicle, and speeds away. Chillingly, the attendant yells "someone is in the back seat!". Sure enough, an axe-weilding figure emerges from Michelle's back seat and kills her.
The rest of the movie takes place at Pendleton University. The students are involved in a Folklore class taught by Prof. William Wexler (Robert Englund). Wexler entertains his class with stories of urban legends, which includes Pendleton's own urban legend about an Abnormal Psychology teacher who murdered six students at Stanley Hall twenty-five years earlier. Eventually, the students learn of Michelle's death, and Natalie begins to suspect that a killer is on campus. Meanwhile, Paul has written a story about Michelle's murder which has infuriated the administration, especially Dean Adams (John Neville). He is subsequently thrown off the paper, but he continues with his investigation.
The murders continue, and, strangely, each has taken on the theme of an urban legend. One by one, the group of students is killed off by the maniacal killer with gruesome effect; Parker dies by having draino poured down his throat, Damon is strung up from a tree, and Sasha is chased around the campus radio station with the microphone still on so everyone can hear her screams.
Natalie tells Brenda that she and Michelle were responsible for the death of a teenage boy when they were in high school by driving with their lights off and waiting for someone to flash them. When the first vehicle flashed them, they turned around and chased the car until it ran off the road. The driver didn't survive.
Soon, Natalie realizes that she and her friends are becoming part of the killer's own urban legend; the story of their own deaths. Will anyone survive, or will the killer succed in making urban legends out of them all?
This is a very good movie with an excellent and well-conceived plot, but the best part is the teriffic twist at the end. It is totally surprising, but when all of the details are revealed, the ending will make perfect sense.
I highly recommend this great horror movie. The plot is scary and suspenseful, and the ending will definitely surprise you. Watch and see some great urban legends and a thrilling ending, too.
Movie Review: 'Urban' is Complex, Suspensful,and Restrained in Violence
Summary: 5 Stars
"Urban Legend", Jamie Blank's directorial debut, is a stylized, fairly non-graphic in its violence, and genuinley suspensful. It suprised me when I went to the video store that I had not yet seen this movie, since I see most everything. However, after the scene in the gas station I knew that I had seen this on cable before, so I hadn't officially seen it. I rented it, needing a good scare (I had just seen 'The Grudge' late that afternoon, and it was HILARIOUS!) but not really expecting it. I rented this and the second one, along with 'Jeepers Creepers' and prepared for a night of horror flicks. I got a pizza and some raw cookie dough, locked the doors, and popped this in. I was suprised that this was in fact quite scary, after the dissapointingly predictable opening sequence. For the entire film, I watched with my hands over my face. Only this time (unlike 'Scream' and the second 'Urban Legend') it wasn't because of violence. It was because of the taut and truly scary suspense. The plot of the movie is scary in itself. There is a killer stalking college students on a college campus somewhere in Maine. Only this killer is no Michael Myers, she/he is killing people in the way that people died in urban legends. The movie is alternately gruesome and restrained in terms of violence, as one person will get there head hacked off, but the camera will only show glass shattering and a little blood. In another killing, the killer pours acid down a guys throat, smashes his head against a toilet, then hooks him, if you get my drift. The plot has all the horror movie regulars: the Creepy Kid(Joshua Jackson), the Sexy Guy Who Believes What The Hot Girl Is Tellin Him(Jared Leto), the Hot Girl Who Has Seen The Killer(Alicia Witt), Hot Girls Friend(Rebecca Gayheart), the Goth on Lithium(An Unknow Actress), the Creepy Professor(Robert Englund), and the Comic Relief African American Security Guard(the hilarious Loretta Devine). We pretty much know who's gonna die here, but it's loads of fun getting to it. The killer plays elaborate games with her victims (yes, it is a girl but the plot is over populated with them so you'll never guess who). She then kills them elaborately, usually in crowds of other people. This, of course has the two college students (Leto and Witt) scrambling to solve the mystery before it's too late. One of the urban legends in the movie is something where gang members turn off their flood lights, wait for someone to flash them, then turn around and follow them, usually killing them. This happens in the movie, and is truly terrifying, since I have seen this happen.
Rated R for A few scenes of violence and blood
Movie Review: The call is coming from inside the house
Summary: 5 Stars
Ha ha! Well, Urban Legend is probably not exactly what most people would be looking for from a film with such a title. I happen to be a nut for "Urban Legends," and if you, like me, would prefer to see a film that is basically a group of people sitting around telling twisted tales about a friend of a friend, full of reenactments of the classic stories we all have heard before, then I recommend you pick up a copy of the film Campfire Tales, and The Big Book of Urban Legends, which is a graphic novel (comic book style) encyclopedia of sorts. But this is not to say that you should discount the film, "Urban Legend," completely. It's actually pretty good for recent teen slasher horror. Not on the level of Scream, but what film is? Urban Legend is the tale of Natalie Simon (Alicia Witt), a young college student whose friends are slowly being picked off by a serial killer in the style of well known Urban Legends. The film is half slasher horror, half detective story, as Natalie and the school reporter, Paul, try their best to find out who's behind the killings and why. There are plenty of great scenes that actually DO reenact our favorite Urban Legends, like the opening scene that plays out the old "There's someone in the backseat!" story, to the awesome tune of "Total Eclipse of the Heart," (well, it's one of my faves anyway), and the scene where Joshua Jackson takes in the deadly mixture of pop rocks and soda. Toward the end, the film might stretch the climax a tad too long, but it's a lot of fun leading up to that point, and the final scene is a nice touch. Probably the only thing that really hurts this film is that most, if not all of the characters are less than likeable, even if a couple of the girls are pretty cute. And I Know What You Did Last Summer still holds the award for "cutest girls in a slasher film" as far as I'm concerned, but those characters were also unlikeable, and at least Urban Legend is a much better movie.
Movie Review: The call is coming from inside the house
Summary: 5 Stars
Ha ha! Well, Urban Legend is probably not exactly what most people would be looking for from a film with such a title. I happen to be a nut for "Urban Legends," and if you, like me, would prefer to see a film that is basically a group of people sitting around telling twisted tales about a friend of a friend, full of reenactments of the classic stories we all have heard before, then I recommend you pick up a copy of the film Campfire Tales, and The Big Book of Urban Legends, which is a graphic novel (comic book style) encyclopedia of sorts. But this is not to say that you should discount the film, "Urban Legend," completely. It's actually pretty good for recent teen slasher horror. Not on the level of Scream, but what film is? Urban Legend is the tale of Natalie Simon (Alicia Witt), a young college student whose friends are slowly being picked off by a serial killer in the style of well known Urban Legends. The film is half slasher horror, half detective story, as Natalie and the school reporter, Paul, try their best to find out who's behind the killings and why. There are plenty of great scenes that actually DO reenact our favorite Urban Legends, like the opening scene that plays out the old "There's someone in the backseat!" story, to the awesome tune of "Total Eclipse of the Heart," (well, it's one of my faves anyway), and the scene where Joshua Jackson takes in the deadly mixture of pop rocks and soda. Toward the end, the film might stretch the climax a tad too long, but it's a lot of fun leading up to that point, and the final scene is a nice touch. Probably the only thing that really hurts this film is that most, if not all of the characters are less than likeable, even if a couple of the girls are pretty cute. And I Know What You Did Last Summer still holds the award for "cutest girls in a slasher film" as far as I'm concerned, but those characters were also unlikeable, and at least Urban Legend is a much better movie.