Urban Legend [Blu-ray] [1999] [US Import] [1998]

It is so important for a film such as this to start off with a real bang, and Urban Legend wastes no time sinking its claws into the audience. A young girl just manages to make it to a gas station in the middle of nowhere when her tank hits empty, finds herself attacked by the strange, revolting attendant there, and manages to escape - only to have her head chopped off by a stranger in the back seat. Why they bother to do a decapitation scene and not show me the head is a question I have to ask, but certainly the opening scene tells the audience to buckle up for a wild ride. The setting for everything that happens here is Pendleton University, voted the safest school in the country by a prominent news magazine (despite the fact its campus security force consists of one lone woman). As we meet our major players in the film, the topic of urban legends comes up in the wake of the murder we already witnessed. Natalie Simon (Alicia Witt) does not admit that she knew the victim, but the successive actions taken by the mysterious killer place her right in the middle of things. Not only are the next victims her friends, she basically sees all of them get killed with her own eyes (or hears with her own ears in the case of the classic "Don't turn on the light" murder). Still, it takes time for her to convince anyone of what she is saying. Sure, the decapitated girl was murdered, but Victim #2 is a practical joker who probably went off to party the weekend away, and Victim #3 is ruled a suicide by the tight-lipped school administration. The murders continue, the tension builds up pretty powerfully, and the list of possible suspects dwindles as the body count rises. I have to admit that the big finish took me by surprise; maybe I should have figured out the killer's identity by that time, but I didn't - not by a long shot.

Among the talented cast, Alicia Witt and Rebecca Gayheart give particularly impressive performances. Gayheart in particular really expanded her acting repertoire with this film. The less talented cast members, as it turns out, were pretty much the first to be dispatched, and this works out well. It's always nice when a particularly annoying character you expect to have to deal with until the end gets offed in the first half hour. All told, I actually consider Urban Legend to be a much more original, shocking, effective film than any of the Scream movies it is invariably compared to. The final revelations of this film, as I have already mentioned, took me completely by surprise, and that really doesn't happen all that often. Urban Legend has everything a good slasher film needs, it tells an original story in a highly compelling way that actually makes sense, and it features a real humdinger of an ending. This is the best film in this genre that I have seen in a very long time.


Very creative!   July 31, 2000
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I love Urban Legend. The climax was non-stop and the film is very clever. Writer Silvio Horta and director Jamie Blanks did an excelent job for their first movie. I loved the climax and the Sasha scene in the radio station. The car scene with Michelle was clever as was Damon's demise. Much better than the I Know What You Did Last Summer series but not the Scream movies. I feel that the acting was a lot better in the 3 Scream movies, also the Scream plot's were much more creative. But Urban Legend will go down in the movie books as a very clever Scream rip off! And who care's right? I like the immitators.


Very Fantastic   March 9, 2001
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The movie was very good! I knew it from a friend of mine . Although there was one problem which made me sad about the movie is that i spotted the murderer from the begining of the film. but the reason of why the murderer was killing natalie was what i was waiting for, and if u ask why did the killer had to kill everybody although only 2 people were involved in the situation of making the killer murder them is because ALL KILLERS ARE PHCYOS, i guess Scream 3 did a great job of hiding the killer but i must say UL was good! but so sad so true that Urban Legend 2 (The final Cut) was BORING but the killer was hard to find. (i think so, because i wasn't really concentrating on the film) anyway check out "Scary movie" and "Valentine", because they are as good as Scream 1-3 and Urban Legend and to people who admire scream(like me) well yes the're going to do SCREAM 4 but they said it's out till 2002 so we'll just have to wait!


Great film and DVD   March 7, 2000
The trailer for this film said "From the producers of I Know What You Did Last Summer" but the huge breasts on the cover gave that one away. The film itself was one of the most enjoyable goofy films that I have ever seen. The film is no where near as gory as it has been made out to be with most of that stuff happening off screen. The story is predictable and the killer is fairly easy to spot, but is a great fun film.

The DVD is quite good with the typical bland 6min promo and a wonderfully entertaining commentary by the director, writer and one of the actors.

Overall a very enjoyable DVD


Fantastic!   July 23, 2000
It is the best stalk and slash film i have ever seen! It is better than scream 12and3! I sat down to watch it thinking it was going to be a rather rubbish film but i want see it even more times now. Everyone should see this one it is a hoot!