After a bit of slasher horror action with the “I Know What You Did Last Summer” movies, we move on to the often disturbing Urban Legend trilogy.
Urban Legend
(Canada/USA 1998, director: Jamie Blanks)
A psychopath kills students of the Pendleton University according to urban legends.
The premise is everything one needs to know about to understand that the ensuing deaths or kills are highly imaginative and sick, making the movie already stick out of the unknown assailant serial killers the slasher genre is known for. While at first it seems that it’s another version of I Know What You Did Last Summer by replacing the fisherman’s coat/hook look with a winter jacket/axe dress-up, there’s much more to the movie than a by-the-numbers killing spree.
Even without the interesting background of urban legends (which are neatly explained by Robert Englund who did the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movies and plays a professor here), trying to figure out who the killer is and what some characters hide from their past is as much fun as enjoying the twisted ending. Without taking anything away, it’s an over-the-top performance one wouldn’t expect and makes the movie, together with some slick death sequences (also involving an animal), more memorable even if one shouldn’t expect any Oscar winning performances of the actors or actresses involved.
Score: 8/10
Buy the BD Trilogy on
Amazon Germany (import)
Amazon UK
Urban Legends: Final Cut
(Canada/USA 2000, director: John Ottman)
A killer delivers urban legends-inspired killings among the Alpine University film school students.
Self-referential movies in the horror genre seem to have been all the rage since the “Scream” movies, but very few (or actually none) have been clever enough to pull off the film-within-a-film concept quite successfully. Urban Legends: Final Cut is probably the worst example of this tradition, as it doesn’t only have an annoying lead who wasn’t that bad as the survivor girl in the previous instalment, but also more than enough other characters one doesn’t care about. This wouldn’t be too bad, as it’s not the first time that slasher movies feature forgettable protagonists, but as there’s simply too much talking going on, one is stuck with them, wishing that the killer strikes soon. Why he wears a fencing mask is anyone’s guess, but at least his murders are more vicious, which is more or less the only redeeming feature about the movie.
Except for an atmospheric ghost train ride sequence, more time is spent with everyone trying to figure out why the psychopath captures his killings on camera. There’s actually an interesting story behind this which obviously has something to do with filmmaking, but it’s nowhere near as satisfying as in the original, which is all down to the pretty boring acting of everyone around, bar the intentionally bad screaming/acting of one actress who is more likable but doesn’t stay alive for too long.
Score: 5/10
Buy the BD Trilogy on
Amazon Germany (import)
Amazon UK
Urban Legends: Bloody Mary
(USA 2005, director: Mary Lambert)
On prom night in the late 60ies a high school student is accidentally killed, but her vengeful spirit is brought back many years later when a group of friends say the “Blood Mary” incantation.
The Bloody Mary legend is probably best known because of the “Candyman” movies, but while these had the charismatic actor Tony Todd, here it’s simply a ghost who doesn’t say anything. This wouldn’t be too bad if the cast would be memorable. It’s not, although at least the characters aren’t as annoying as in the second Urban Legend movie. The only redeeming features that make the whole experience worthwhile aren’t only serious subject matters like date rape and power structures at high schools, but the gratuitous death sequences.
After all, the movie is no teenage drama, even if tries to be at times. It might not have a killer with a mask, but the killings are still inspired by urban legends, and their implementations are surprisingly cruel and disgusting. If only one wouldn’t have to wait for them to happen too long, because the story itself and its conclusion are pretty boring. Still, as a standard slasher flick in the vein of the Final Destination movies (I still have to review), the third and last part of the trilogy works, despite not having anything to do with the storylines of the former two (just as in the third “I Know What You Did Last Summer” movie).
Score: 6/10
Buy the BD Trilogy on
Amazon Germany (import)
Amazon UK
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