Post by slayrrr666 on Oct 24, 2005 13:38:40 GMT -5
Time now for a good old fashioned slasher now:
“Urban Legends” is the most underrated films of the “post-Scream” slasher films.
**SPOILERS**
Pendelton University is home to a group of friends like many other campuses do, but they’ve got a twist: an urban legend around campus that’s true but no one knows. Paul Gardener, (Jared Leto) a journalism student, hears the legend being told by fellow student Parker Riley (Michael Rosembaum) about a teacher who massacres his students, but no one else in the group, Natalie Simon (Alicia Witt) and Brenda Bates, (Rebecca Gayheart) believe the story. During a demonstration by Professor Wexler, (Robert Englund) they both hear the story about a woman murdered on campus. Even though Natalie swears she didn’t know her, the murdered woman was an old friend of friends, which Damon Brooks (Joshua Jackson) picks up on and asks her to talk about it. While talking, she finds out the true nature of Damon’s advances and kicks him out, only to see him killed by a mysterious figure in a black hooded jacket. When she gets back, no one believes her, since he also has a convenient alibi for being away. As more people disappear around campus, Natalie and Paul find out that the killer is basing their crimes on urban legends, and that anyone can be behind the hooded mask.
The Good News: Back when this movie came out, the gimmick of using the deaths based on urban legends allowed for some pretty inventive and original kills. The dead boyfriend suspended over a fleeing car was an expected one, and one that you can see coming from a mile away, but several others are quite original. The sex/strangulation misidentification death is really cool, and the backseat driver decapitation is a great one to open a film on. That sex/strangulation death is my favorite, mainly because the circumstances needed to make it true are so astronomical in their probability that it simply becomes a nice surprise. To have the backstory needed to make sure Natalie couldn’t see anything, the killer gaining access to the room without violent means, and the actual sounds of the incident are all mixed together and it makes a marvelous scene. The hanging car death is also masterfully excised to create some wonderful suspense scenes, as the killer is revealed in the early part of the movie, and does away with a likable character, Damon, right away. Their ensuing chase of Natalie adds extra juice as they try repeatedly to break into the car, setting off the events that lead to Damon’s death. Only one non-death scene was really effective for me: to prove an old urban legend, two woman stand in front of a building and say “Bloody Mary” five times. From inside the building are the ghostly screams of supposed dead souls from an old massacre twenty-five years past. Gasping in shock, they back away, only to bump into someone. A cheap gag, but the effect worked because it comes from the unexpected source. It isn’t the screaming ghosts, but the bump afterward that gets the scare. Also of note is the identity of the killer and how their secret is kept is some great writing. The way there are so many different red herrings involved, and all of them given good alibis to clear them, so by gaining more clues to their identity, it broadens the suspense by making a extra clue for the people to solve. One great scene, where Natalie watches someone in the killers know attire stalk one of her friends in a swimming pool, while she is helplessly trying to get her attention. A great little suspense scene that mainly works because we know what the killer is dressed like, but its effective.
The Bad News: The main problem with this film is that it was aimed for the masses to consume, so it has a lot of toned-down gore. Many of these killings should’ve been a gorier, and it will probably disappoint the many out there looking for a good gory slasher film. It also falls into the realm of those post-Scream films, where they’re trying to poke fun of the genre at the same time as trying to scare you, and here is one example that people can point to as having a ton of cheap scares that aren’t frightening. What makes it worse is that many of the jokes aren’t funny, so it is a bit flat in some places. Also, two of the murders aren’t based on urban legends: being dragged by a car onto the tire spikes in several buildings, and being chopped up by an axe. Not real urban legends, so it has a false title. One last thing: this scene is so stupid I have to comment on it. After surviving a vicious car crash, Natalie rolls down the car’s window and opens the locked door to get out. The window was already down; you didn’t need to open the door! That’s just letting the killer catch up to you.
The Final Verdict: While certainly not for everyone, this is a far better flick than its reputation would have it. It has some fresh kills, a couple nice suspense scenes, and a new gimmick at the time. Slasher fans will want to give it an open-minded look, but post-Scream horror film haters will think a little harder than others will.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, some alcohol use, a scene with a dog drinking and a brief mild sex scene
