Urban Legend is a 1998 horror film starring Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart and Robert Englund. The film is based on the premise that a killer is using the methods of death described in certain urban legends as a means to kill his victims.
The film was followed by Urban Legends: Final Cut, which was released to theatres in 2000, and Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, which went direct-to-video in 2005.
Plot
The film opens at a gas station, where a young woman, Michelle Mancini, fights off a supposed attack by the stuttering gas attendant. However, the attendant actually tried to warn her, and as Michelle drives off, a shape appears in the back seat and decapitates her with an axe.
On campus, student Parker relates how one of the campus halls, Stanley Hall, had been the site of a massacre in 1973. The story is discredited by school journalist Paul, but it sticks in the minds of Natalie and Brenda. The two girls attend a lecture by Professor Wexler who introduces them to the concept of urban legends.
As Natalie is visibly shaken by Michelle's death, Damon offers to talk and the two drive into the woods. Natalie reveals that she was friends with the victim but hadn't spoken to her in years. Damon tries to seduce her via a fake story about a deceased girlfriend but is repelled. He then is attacked by the killer, who hangs him from a tree with the rope attached to the car. As the killer approaches Natalie, she attempts to run him over, strangling Damon in the process. Damon's corpse falls unto the windshield and Natalie flees into the woods, screaming. The next day, no trace of the incident is left and no one believes Natalie's story due to Damon's penchant for pranks and tricks.
Realizing both Damon's death and Michelle's murder closely resemble famous urban legends, Natalie goes to the library to read up on urban legends. While she is away, her goth roommate Tosh is attacked and choked by the killer. Thinking her roommate is merely engaging in rough sex (as was the case in an earlier scene), the returning Natalie doesn't turn on the lights and goes to bed. In the morning, a shocked Natalie discovers her roommate's corpse and the words, "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light" scrawled on the wall. School officials conclude that Tosh committed suicide.
Trying to find out more about the supposed Stanley Hall massacre, Natalie and Paul break into Prof. Wexler's office. They find, among other things, a fur-lined coat and an axe. Wexler surprises them and takes them to the dean, where they voice their suspicions that Wexler is the killer. The dean admonishes them, bringing up a suspended sentence from Natalie's past and announces Paul to be fired from the newspaper.
After trying to save Brenda from a supposed attack in the swimming hall, Natalie reveals her past with Michelle: One night, Natalie and Michelle, reenacted another urban legend: they were driving with their headlights turned off and pursued the first driver to flash them, causing him to run off the road and die in the crash. Natalie and Michelle got off with a suspended sentence, but the incident still haunts Natalie. Brenda suggests that she should keep her mind off of these things by attending a party.
As the weekend approaches, the dean is attacked in the garage and run over by his car forcing the emergency spikes into his back. Later on, security guard Reese Wilson finds Wexler's office empty and smeared in blood.
In the meantime, Paul has discovered that the Stanley Hall massacre actually occurred and that Wexler was the sole survivor. At the party, he informs Natalie of his findings and concludes that Wexler, haunted by the memory of the massacres, has now himself turned into a killer. Paul apologizes to Natalie and kisses her, which enrages Brenda, who has a crush on Paul.
Parker refuses Paul's suggestion to stop the party because there is a killer on the loose. He is then lured into the toilet, where the killer attacks him and forces him to chug bathroom chemicals. The killer then attacks Sasha, the radio host, at the broadcasting studio and chases her, while her panicking screams are sent over the radio. Natalie tries to save Sasha but comes just in time to see the killer axe his victim down.
Fleeing from the station, Natalie finds Brenda and Paul, and they drive off to find help. Paul convinces the girls that the killer is Wexler. When Paul stops at a gas station, Natalie and Brenda discover Wexler's dead body in the car and bolt, thinking Paul to be the killer. Natalie loses Brenda but makes her way to a road, where the school's janitor picks her up. When the janitor flashes a car with its lights out, it swerves around and pursues them. The janitor's car is forced off the road but Natalie survives and makes her way towards Stanley Hall, She hears Brenda screaming from inside, presumably held captive by the killer. When Natalie breaks into the hall, she discovers the corpses of Parker, Damon and Dean Adams and an unconscious Brenda lying on a bed. As Natalie starts crying, Brenda sits up and knocks her unconscious.
Waking up, Natalie finds herself tied to a bed. The killer comes in and unmasks herself as Brenda. She reveals that the young man Natalie and Michelle killed was Brenda's boyfriend and she is now exacting her revenge by killing Natalie's friends. She begins to cut Natalie's stomach in the fashion of the "Kidney Heist" legend, when Reese rushes in, drives away Brenda and frees Natalie but is first stabbed and then shot by the latter. Brenda threatens to shoot Natalie, revealing her estimation that after Natalie's death she would get together with a heart-broken Paul. Suddenly Paul appears and tries to trick Brenda. As Brenda is deciding whether to shoot Paul or Natalie, the wounded Reese reaches up and shoots Brenda. Natalie grabs the gun and shoots Brenda, who falls through a window.
Natalie and Paul drive off to get help for Reese and wonder how the event will in turn themselves become an urban legend. Suddenly Brenda appears in the backseat and attacks them with the axe. Paul crashes on a bridge, sending Brenda through the windshield into the river below.
Some time later, the whole story is told among another group of students. The other students disbelieve the tale with the exception of one young woman, who is revealed to be Brenda, alive and well, setting out to give her version of the story. The film ends on Brenda telling the group she'll tell them how the story really goes.
Urban legends used in the film
The following urban legends are mentioned or depicted in the film:
- A caller to Sasha's radio show states that she replaced her room mate's birth control pills with baby aspirin.[1]
- A caller to Sasha's radio show thinks about having her stomach pumped after performing oral sex on the school team.[2]
- Michelle is killed by the killer in the backseat. This legend is also referenced by various people looking at the back seat or talking about it.[3]
- Brenda and Natalie try to conjure up Bloody Mary[4]
- Prof. Wexler mentioned the legend of the babysitter getting phone calls from an upstairs room. This legend is later referred to by Parker moments before his death.[5]
- Prof. Wexler suggests eating Pop Rocks and drinking soda at the same time. The death of Little Mikey from this is mentioned by Brenda. The killer later re-enacts this legend on Parker, substituting soda with bathroom chemicals.[6]
- Damon is hung from a tree while Natalie is waiting in the car below.[7]
- Parker suggests placing spider eggs in bubble yum[8] and gerbilling[9] as the killer's next move.
- Gangs driving with their headlights turned off, pursuing the first driver to flash them and running him off the road, is mentioned by Sasha in the library. It is later revealed that Natalie and Michelle did this, killing a young man, subsequently re-enacted by the killer on Natalie and the Janitor and finally revealed as central to the killer's motive.[10]
- Natalie find her roommate killed next to her with the note "Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn on the Lights"[11]
- The legend of an attacker hiding under a car and slashing his victim's ankles is re-enacted on Dean Adams.[12]
- A guest at the party claims that the song "Love Rollercoaster" contains a real murder scream.[13]
- Parker finds the remains of his dog in the microwave, resembling the "Old Lady dries wet dog in microwave" legend.[14]
- A couple suffering from Penis captivus calling in on Sasha's radio show.[15]
- Brenda tries to re-enact the Kidney Heist on Natalie.[16]
Cast
Reception
The film was not well received by critics, attaining a rating of 21% on RottenTomatoes.com[17].
However, Alicia Witt's performance earned her a nomination for a Saturn Award for "Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress" by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.
The film brought in $38,072,438 in the United States and brought in $34,455,157 overseas, bringing its total box office revenue to $72,527,595. The film was considered a huge success, due to the budget of the film being $14,000,000.[18]
Soundtrack
There were two soundtracks released on behalf of this film:
Composer Christopher Young's Original Score and The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Track listing
- "Love Rollercoaster" – The Ohio Players
- "Save Yourself" – Stabbing Westward
- "Total Eclipse of the Heart" – Bonnie Tyler
- "Redefine" – Incubus
- "Spook Show Baby" – Rob Zombie
- "Comin' Back" – The Crystal Method
- "Crop Circle" – Monster Magnet
- "One" – Creed
- "Twist" – Korn
- "The End of Sugarman" – Roy Ayers
- "Just One Fix" – Ministry
- "I Know God" – David Ivy
- "Deaf Forever" – Motörhead
- "Riot" – Flaw
- "What Would You Do (Tha Dogg Pound song)" – Ice Cube
- "Call It Something" – Saliva
External links
References
