Urban Legend | | Cast : | Alicia Witt, Jared Leto | | Director : | Jamie Blanks | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | September 25, 1998 | | DVD Released Date : | September 07, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 09, 2005 | | Summary | Urban Legend-Revealed | Content
 | Urband Legend-one hell of a movie.Everything is good about it except the scene with the dog in the microwave.There wasn't enough shown.But other than that everything was peachy keen.Rebecca Gayheart was great.She really gave life to her character.The killings were great especially that one chick in the radio tower.That's one of my favorite death scenes in all of the horror movies I've seen.This wannabe Scream is a great film with an okay cast-Check it out.To talk more with me log on th myspace.com and look for (...). See you real soon! |
| Rating | | | Date | April 28, 2005 | | Summary | Okay, maybe 2.5 -- but only because Witt is hot. | Content
| Walking out of the theater back in 1998, my girlfriend of the time turned to me and said, "That didn't feel like a movie. It felt like...like....a series of set-ups!"
"A series of set-ups" is a good description of "Urban Legends," a cut 'n paste teen horror flick that doesn't live up to its potential. This is unfortunate, because in addition to casting actors who can actually act (thus breaking the first commandment of horror movies) the producers packed this slasher film in an unsually neat concept.
Students at Ivy Covered U are being picked off one by one by a killer who seems to be inspired by urban legends -- all those supposedly "true" tales about horrible deaths that never actually happened, my own favorite being the supposed death of commercial kid star "Mikey" from eating pop-rocks and drinking coke (I still remember my older brother telling me this tale and swearing he had seen Mikey die on TV, and me actually believing it....what a shmuck!). Instead of just hopping in a car and driving the hell away until the cops nab the murderer (and in fairness, who wants to drive away from Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart and Tara Reid?) the usual assortment of cookie-cutter characters (obnoxious snoop, arrogant face-man, horny blonde, beautiful brain, obvious "Red Herring" wierdo, etc.) sticks around to try and crack the case.
"Urban Legend" packs a host of famous names, though many didn't find their fame until later years. In addition to Witt, Gayheart, and Reid, then TV-stars Josh Jackson and Jared Leto make dutiful appearances as slasher fodder. Even Robert England shows up to lend his horror street cred to the flick as the obvious prime suspect, a wierdo professor who teaches urban folklore. Unfortunately he doesn't have much to do and the producers seem to have cast him mainly so they could stick his face on the ads. Professional bizarro Brad Dourif also appears in the film's creepy opening, possibly to show shallow people that just because somebody has a speech impediment doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to what they have to say. Especially if it's, "THERE'S A GUY WITH AN AXE IN THE BACK SEAT OF YOUR CAR, YOU IDIOT!"
All this star power fails to ignite, however, because of the occasionally clever but generally predictable script, the complete lack of transition between scenes -- most of the movie really is nothing but set-ups of extremely stupid victims -- stupid even by horror-movie standards -- and the fact that no amount of suspension of disbelief coating will make you swallow the identity of the killer. The infeasibility of some of the murders doesn't help either. Without giving anything away, the scene where one character gets overpowered, tied up and lynched within inches of his unsuspecting date is totally unbeleivable even before you learn the killer's identity: then it becomes outright insulting to the audience's intelligence. Similarly, it's hard to feel sorry for the girl who blubbers to the merciless axe-wielding killer, "Please, I don't want to die!" Honey, if ya didn't want to die, what the hell were you doing in the big, dark, empty radio station by yourself when there's a murderer on the loose?
There are some good moments in the film, but the best thing about "UL" is Alicia Witt, who is incredibly hot and also pretty convincing as the brainy heroine. I understand they made a sequel to this film -- it practically begged for a franchise, what with the great concept -- but one of these was enough.
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| Rating | | | Date | April 17, 2005 | | Summary | One of the best | Content
| I first saw this movie a couple years ago. I usually stay far away from these kinds of movies because they induce nightmares but I couldn't stay away from this one it hooks you from the beginning, from the scary gas station guy who turns out only to be trying to help the girl, to the very end when the shocking identity of the killer is revealed and believe me you won't guess who the killer is at least I didn't it was a total shock although a tad unrealistic the killer could not have that kind of strength but it doesn't matter somehow you totally buy it. Good directorial debut for Jamie Blanks and I have to say Jared Leto is so cute! |
| Rating | | | Date | November 30, 2004 | | Summary | 'Urban' is Complex, Suspensful,and Restrained in Violence | Content
| "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 |
| Rating | | | Date | November 03, 2004 | | Summary | One of my favorite slashers! | Content
| !Heather's Teenage Son!
The reason for this being oen of my favorite slashers is the original concept that is uses: The deaths happen based on an urban legend. This different concept & plot makes this film a fresh & stylish horror film, and also make it quite entertaining! However, it's sequel falls short of the suspence the original had and just plain sucks anyway, but part one is great! I reccomend it highly... |
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