This is yet another film that attempts to cash in on the desire for cynical, humorous slasher movies with whodunnit asides that was started and let’s be honest, never been topped by Wes Craven’s Scream.
Ok, the set up, some extremely inventive murders begin to take place a college campus (shock) in North America, only this time, the are based on urban legends, which are essentially fables that have been over the years , grossly exaggerated which the sole aim of shocking a scaring whoever can be bothered to listen. Ok with that? Right then, first to go is a young girl driving her car through a rainswept night as an axe-wielding loon leaps up from the back seat and chops her to pieces, in what is one of the best opening sequences I have seen in this genre to date, plus it will have you checking the back seat of your car for the next month or two, longer if you are anything like me.
From then on, it’s as expected pretty much run of the mill slasher fare as more and more of the college staff and students are picked off by parka-hooded killer, slightly annoyingly, you don’t see some of the kills which is a cardinal sin in a slasher movie and even more so, a certain Robert Englund is offed, sadly not on camera. As for the other mixers, A
Joshua Jackson goes for a pee in the woods and is hanged for his trouble – plus there is a classic Dawson’s Creek gag, Tara Ried is a DJ that is hacked apart in her studio (I didn’t hear cheers there did I?), the college principle is run down by a car, the resident wise-ass suffers death by toilet, basically there lots of deaths and some unique methodologies applied which I’m sure will appeal to most.
Many films of this type come up short, but where Urban Legend remains enjoyable, lies in its all-round competence. The scary moments are pretty well executed, do the job and are in fact genuinely nerve-jangling at times. The mystery, though contrived, manages to keep you guessing as the finger of suspicion falls upon virtually every character at some point. Imust admit that the killer’s identity is so well disguised that it caught me out, I was genuinely impressed with that. Urban Legend is no classic, nor is it particularly fresh, but it does what it does pretty well and is a decent 90 minute popcorn flick.