Urban Legend (1998)

Average rating

(59%)

Starring:	Jared Leto \| Alicia Witt \| Michael Rosenbaum \| Joshua Jackson \| Rebecca Gayheart \| Robert Englund \| Tara Reid
Director:	Jamie Blanks
Studio:	UCA
Run time:	96 mins
Collections:	100 Horror Films
Genres:	Horror
Languages:	English
Dubbed:	German
Subtitles:	Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish
Released:	April 13, 2004
Also available on:

Three features: 'Urban Legend', 'Urban Legend 2' and 'Urban Legend 3 - Bloody Mary'. URBAN LEGENDS: BLOODY MARY writers Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris apply their talents to the teen slasher genre, delivering a horrific update to the well-known legend of Bloody Mary. It's 1969 and Mary Banner is a bookish, unpopular girl who has unexpectedly been invited to the dance by a star athlete. His intentions are less than admirable, however, and after trying to escape from him Mary suffers a long and painful death. Years later in 2005, Sam (Kate Mara, TV's JACK & BOBBIE) and her girlfriends are having a slumber party on prom night, and while discussing urban legends and local lore, they invoke Mary's name and bring her back from the dead. This sets off a string of local murders, each executed according to the dictates of a different urban legend. Sam and her brother David (Robert Vito, SPY KIDS 3: GAME OVER) take it upon themselves to investigate, researching the original crime in an attempt to thwart the revenge the wronged spirit is determined to see through.

Rating of 2 stars out of 5

This is one of the weaker examples of the late 1990s resurgence in stalk 'n' slash movies. After a particularly gruesome opening, it becomes apparent that the attractive teenagers at a remote university campus are being dispatched in the form of — you've guessed it — urban legends. The series of gimmicky murders are the film's sole stab at innovation (anyone heard of Scream?), although some of the later “legends” seem made up for the purposes of the plot. There's a pointed cameo from Robert “Freddy Krueger” Englund, but otherwise the pedestrian direction, bland cast and ludicrous final unmasking don't add up to much.

Highest rated reviews

5 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Brilliant piece of fun

mickeyboy from Nottinghamshire, 29th April, 2005

If you want to be scared to death don't watch this film but if you want a great film with a variation on the slash 'em up genre then get this one. I did and am I glad.

Main plot involves colledge students being killed off by different methods...
Nothing new there I hear you say but this ones a little different the murders are all done using the urban legends and myths that everybody must have heard over the years.

Great acting and the final unmasking of the murderer came as a surprise to me as I'm usually pretty good at guessing the killer before the end.
Excellent entertainment.
Get it now !!!

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4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:

An intelligent campus horror

gothicHM from from Herts, 24th August, 2004

Take your usual set of US campus kids, put them in some nice Gothic architecture, add the spice of a 25th anniversary of 'something bad happened' and take bets on which teen will get it first.

A fun and comparatively well scripted film that takes some popular US urban legends and plays them out 'for real' on screen. Admittedly there are shades of the Candyman but without that film's tingling sense of evil. Many movies use the familiarity of small town America to ease their audience into a false sense of security this uses the familiarity of horror.

Nevertheless Urban Legend is a great choice for a night in with friends, snacks & alcohol.

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Most recent reviews

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

*** May contain spoilers ***

Typical Teenage American horror

FraggleRocker from from Cranbrook, 6th September, 2008

What was this? A horror? Or a comedy? If you like Scream then you'll like this. The same era, the same settings, the same level of acting and the same type of actors. No real romance, no real horror. But funnily enough, I was still sitting on the edge of my seat... The storyline was a good idea. Cliched, yes, but kinda worked in my opinion. I think that the film worked for me because I HONESTLY DIDN'T EXPECT THE ENDING. The classic whodunnit of teen horrors and not even I could have guessed that the murderer was who it was. Anyway, I can't really be scared of this film as I wacthed it in the morning, in my pyjamas - not exactly scary movie setting. But Jared Leto is a brilliant actor and I don't think he had enough opportunity to shine in this film. Plus the main character was annoying with no emotion in her voice and I wanted her to die in the end. Dammit. Oh well... 3 Stars

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