URBAN LEGEND RATING: 5 / 10 --> Not a good movie
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PLOT: Someone is murdering people on campus in various ways depicting true urban legends. At first, people don't buy it. Then, people start believing. Then, people get really scared.
CRITIQUE: Good little premise with decent mood and a great opening scene, turns into a muddled "teen horror flick of the day", with plot holes the size of my ass, and a resolution that just blew away any suspension of disbelief that I had left over. It's hard for me to describe my distaste for this film's tactics, without giving too much away, but just let me say that I am personally not a fan of horror films that leave too many questions unanswered, and this one had me wondering all kinds of stuff. The fact that the killer wore a parka in the dead of summer was weird enough, but to show various other members of the cast with that same parka just for the sake of spreading out our web of suspension, just didn't brew my beer (Yes, there is actually a girl who wears a parka jacket inside a pool area. Hello!?!?!?). And you know a horror flick's lost all sense of hope, when its killer NOT only confesses to the whole thing whilst torturing a victim, but has a SLIDE SHOW to back things up. That's right....a SLIDE SHOW!! You'll shit your pants, I'm telling you!
It's too bad because the film had a nice opening, some tense moments and an interesting premise. And can we please do away with horror flicks in which nobody in the case believes the main accuser, despite obvious evidence, signs of foul play and good ol' fashioned proof?? I mean, c'mon people! That kind of stuff doesn't scare us...it just pisses us right off!! Having said all that, I suppose this film could be tolerated under certain circumstances, like a dark, dreary summer night alone in your parka with a beer in one hand, and a gigantic suspension of disbelief in the other. A slide show........I still can't get over it !!! hahaha
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Originally titled, MIXED CULTURE and URBAN LEGENDS. If you look behind Natalie and Parker in the auditorium, you will see the writer Silvio Horta acting as a college student. Hopefully, he's taking notes on the implausibilities lined within his own script. When Paul and Natalie walk into the hidden room in Wexler's office, a puppet of Freddy Krueger can be seen just before they see the axe. Robert Englund, who plays Wexler in this film, played Freddy Krueger in the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movie series. The book sitting on the desk in Professor Wexler's desk in his class is "The Vanishing Hitchhiker," which is one of the premiere texts on urban legends. When Joshua Jackson (Damon Brooks) starts his car before he takes Natalie to "the spot" in the woods, the radio is playing Paula Cole's "I Don't Want to Wait" from the TV show "Dawson's Creek" also starring Jackson. There is another reference regarding a "girl in those Noxema commercials" which is another subtle ribbing at actress Rebecca Gayheart, who appears in those commercials. She is currently engaged to her boyfriend of nine years director Brett Ratner (RUSH HOUR (7.5/10)).
Review Date: June 28, 1999
Director: Jamie Blanks
Writer: Silvio Horta
Producers: Gina Matthews, Michael McDonnell and Neal H. Moritz
Actors: Jared Leto as Paul
Alicia Witt as Natalie Simon
Rebecca Gayheart as Brenda
Genre: Horror
Year of Release: 1998
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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