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Urban Legend is a cool premise that pays tribute to, but falls victim of the teen slasher tropes. With small roles for Danielle Harris, Robert Englund and Brad Dourif you can tell that this film has a love for horror legends itself. But doesn't bother to do much to add to the genre or separate itself to be unique.
Deemed a Scream rip-off, as many teen slashers in the 90's would be called, this film teeters on the edge of being good. Yet the unimaginative kills (despite the great source material to pull from) and a lackluster reveal hurt the thrills and the chills in this flick. Urban Legend is basically about a killer killing college kids using urban legends as a source. One of them is about a guy strangling a roommate in the dark and leaving a horrifying message for her in the morning; "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights?" it reads. How convenient that these two roommates had a discussion about turning on lights when entering the room just days prior.
None of the characters are likable. Joshua Jackson is a prankster who wants to take advantage of his friends depressed state, Tara Reid is a dumb blonde who works as a radio DJ for a sex show, where she makes fun of her callers, Jared Leto is a school journalist who would rather write a good story to further a potential career than care about people who've just been murdered. Michael Rosenbaum is a typical party douche who apparently has a dog out of nowhere at one point, Rebecca Gayheart is the friend who likes a boy....not much else. Finally our lead girl, Alicia Witt, she likes to run awkwardly in the rain, be an accessory to manslaughter and have almost no personality. She also likes to stand in one spot and scream "Noooo" when her friend is being murdered. It's funny.
Why does everyone in this film own a parka? The killer wears one and half the cast apparently owns one to throw suspicion every which way. I don't know where this film takes place but I usually only see those worn in the snow. I see no snow here. Cue classic jump scares where people turn around at the last minute and bump into a friend or stranger. Violin music cranks up and the audience jumps at the lack of danger. 90's Horror 101 in full effect.
I remember thinking the killer reveal was dumb when I watched this as a kid. I still think it doesn't hold up. It's comically bad and Urban Legend becomes a distant memory for a lot of people while Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer remain teen slasher "classics"
October 10th
Urban Legend
90's Slasher Horror
Urban Legend
90's Slasher Horror
Urban Legend is a cool premise that pays tribute to, but falls victim of the teen slasher tropes. With small roles for Danielle Harris, Robert Englund and Brad Dourif you can tell that this film has a love for horror legends itself. But doesn't bother to do much to add to the genre or separate itself to be unique.
Deemed a Scream rip-off, as many teen slashers in the 90's would be called, this film teeters on the edge of being good. Yet the unimaginative kills (despite the great source material to pull from) and a lackluster reveal hurt the thrills and the chills in this flick. Urban Legend is basically about a killer killing college kids using urban legends as a source. One of them is about a guy strangling a roommate in the dark and leaving a horrifying message for her in the morning; "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights?" it reads. How convenient that these two roommates had a discussion about turning on lights when entering the room just days prior.
None of the characters are likable. Joshua Jackson is a prankster who wants to take advantage of his friends depressed state, Tara Reid is a dumb blonde who works as a radio DJ for a sex show, where she makes fun of her callers, Jared Leto is a school journalist who would rather write a good story to further a potential career than care about people who've just been murdered. Michael Rosenbaum is a typical party douche who apparently has a dog out of nowhere at one point, Rebecca Gayheart is the friend who likes a boy....not much else. Finally our lead girl, Alicia Witt, she likes to run awkwardly in the rain, be an accessory to manslaughter and have almost no personality. She also likes to stand in one spot and scream "Noooo" when her friend is being murdered. It's funny.
Why does everyone in this film own a parka? The killer wears one and half the cast apparently owns one to throw suspicion every which way. I don't know where this film takes place but I usually only see those worn in the snow. I see no snow here. Cue classic jump scares where people turn around at the last minute and bump into a friend or stranger. Violin music cranks up and the audience jumps at the lack of danger. 90's Horror 101 in full effect.
I remember thinking the killer reveal was dumb when I watched this as a kid. I still think it doesn't hold up. It's comically bad and Urban Legend becomes a distant memory for a lot of people while Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer remain teen slasher "classics"