Urban Legend (1998)

So I’m one of those horror fans that honestly think the 1990s was the worst decade for horror ever!  There really wasn’t anything on the big screen but watered down slasher movies and Scream clones.  But when I went bargain shopping at my local discount store and Urban Legend sitting on the stack I said to myself, “Why not it is cheap.”  This is one of those 90s flicks that I passed on initially, and I’m sort of bummed that I did. 

The story is this.  There is a killer stalking a college campus knocking off coeds for some reason that they only know.  Pretty familiar and simple concept, nothing new here.  But the cool thing about the movie is the overly complicated way that the killer offs his victims using urban legends (thus the title).  Of course you have the pretty girl running around watching her friends die, the dean that doesn’t believe them and covers up the crime, as well as the requisite horror icon in little more than a cameo role (in this case Robert “Freddy Krueger” Englund).  Eventually when the friends are whittled down, the red herrings exposed as such, and the plucky comedy relief shows up the audience finds out the real identity of the killer.  This all ends in a final showdown and things are resolved, until they aren’t and another ending is awkwardly tacked on.

So I know that it may seem that I didn’t like this movie.  Truth is that I’m sort of drawn to the innate cheesiness of the plot.  The whole thing feels a bit forced, which reminds me a whole lot of the second and third tier 80s slashers I grew up renting.  Hell if this movie had some gore and nudity it would fit right in with those movies.  And this is my real issue with the movie.  If you are going to make a horror movie with a body count I expect some nudity and gore.  This movie fails to deliver either, which is very disappointing.    Still like I said the plot has a goofy feel to it that I enjoy and there are several really scary and creepy moments.  The “aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the lights” urban legend has always gotten under my skin and is used really effectively here.  Also “appearing” are the guy in the back seat, boyfriend scraping on roof of car, and dog in a microwave urban legends.  Now come on doesn’t that sound like some fun?

The cast is made up of the normal “hot” young stars, as you would expect.  There is that Dawson’s creek guy (Joshua Jackson), American Pie girl (Tara Reid), Beverly Hills 90210 hottie (Rebecca Gayheart), and My So Called Life Heartthrob (Jared Leto).  Along with them are horror icons Robert Englund and surprisingly Daniel Harris (Halloween 4 and 5) almost unrecognizable as a Goth girl!  But my favorite character has to be the head of security, portrayed by Loretta Devine.  I have a soft spot in my heart for a character that gets her policing tips from watching Coffy! 

Technically this is a well-made movie.  Again I think that it would have been better with some gore, but is fairly bloodless.  Picture and sound are all what you would expect from a large budget Hollywood flick.  But there isn’t anything special about this one, and it looks like every other horror movie made in the decade, which is bland. 

Okay how hard could it of been to get Tara Reid to take her shirt off?  Come on she is begging people to look at them now!  But seriously this movie really needed an injection of blood and boobs.  As it is now I still sort of liked this movie based solely on it’s clever use of Urban Legends and ability to build some tension and scares.  Still at best this is an average flick, but well worth the 3 bucks I spent on it.  So if you find this one cheaply and don’t mind some silly kills then I say give it a try.  It isn’t as if you have much invested in it.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2008 John Shatzer