Urban Legend (1998)
Directed by Jamie Blanks
The late 90s saw a slashers come back big time with Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend were the big 3 movies I remember as a kid. I had Urban Legend on VHS and watched it a few times. I Know What You Did Last Summer was my JAM. How did this hold up?
Urban Legend is about a group of college friends that are being picked off one by one by a serial killer using popular urban legends as a way to kill people. The plot is interesting for sure. The cast is full of stars. Jared Leto, Joshua Jackson, Michael Rosenbaum, Danielle Harris, and Robert Englund, to name a few. The acting is pretty solid all around, there are some better than others. Englund ALWAYS brings it, Danielle Harris plays a goth girl which is a little out of type for her and she does great, I love Danielle, she’s a really sweet lady. She gave us a shout out on our podcast last year and answered some Halloween questions for us. Needless to say she’s a fav. Alicia Witt plays Natalie the main girl, she’s ok I guess. Maybe it was just a 90s trope of her to be brooding and whiny. Rebecca Gayheart plays Brenda, whom ends up being the killer. Why is she the killer? Well Natalie and her friend (whom is killed earlier in the movie) were out recklessly driving and killed Brenda’s boyfriend accidentally, so its a revenge angle. Not great, but still a decent movie.
There isn’t much in the way of special effects, it doesn’t have super gory moments like Scream does, but it is effective. Really this movie relies heavily on the plot and the idea of the killer using Urban Legends as a means to end people. The ending is a bit doofy as well. Brenda gets shot and falls out of the window and Paul (Leto) and Natalie make and escape. Brenda is in the back seat with an axe. She gets thrown from the car and over a bridge and floats in the river. Last scene shows a different college talking about Brenda’s kills as a new Urban Legend. A woman interrupts and says they’re telling it wrong, it was Brenda. Lame.
Urban Legend was still fun. The plot is pretty cool and entertaining. The acting is decent enough and the kills are imaginative. It comes off as kind of corny and dated compared to Scream. I Know What You Did Last Summer I have a bias for because that movie cemented my love for horror and Jennifer Love Hewitt (swoon). I enjoyed this but found myself laughing at some of the absurdity. I give Urban Legend a B-.
