#2 - Urban Legend (1998)
(dir. Jamie Blanks)
After Scream revitalized the slasher genre in the mid 90's, a wave of imitators followed that mostly failed to replicate that film's success. Scream works not only because it is smart and self-aware, but also because it's genuinely tense and scary. Despite one or two neat kills, this one just never felt scary to me, and it's not nearly as clever as it thinks it is.
A killer who reenacts classic urban legends is a neat concept, but I thought the execution was pretty poor. The opening scene is probably the best one in the film, where an uncredited Brad Dourif tries to warn a young woman about the killer in her back seat. After that, though, the movie falls into a pretty standard slasher routine, with a dull cast of characters and a mystery that makes very little sense. Don't even get me started on the plot holes (why does everyone at this school own the same ugly winter coat!?)
Despite an interesting premise, this is unfortunately a fairly forgettable movie, weighed down by dull characters and weak storytelling. Unless you are really nostalgic for the late-90's, I can't recommend this one. I did appreciate the moment when Joshua Jackson's character turns on the car radio, hears the Dawson's Creek theme song, and hastily turns it off again in embarrassment.
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