URBAN LEGEND and URBAN LEGENDS Mini Reviews

Urban Legend (1998) One of the better post-Scream horror offerings with enjoyable shades of ’80s slasher tropes about a college tormented by a hooded ax killer who uses famous urban legends as their modus operandi. Good characters and excellent atmospherics help heighten this above its Abercrombie good looks and a majorly goofy red herring in the form of Robert Englund hamming it up as the mysterious professor of – yup – urban legends. Although not nearly as gory as it could be this is still a thoroughly enjoyable flick. B

Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000) Decent sequel goes meta (not unlike Scream 3) with several film school students making a class project about the killings from the first movie (titled Urban Legends) while being stalked by a psychopath wearing a fencing mask. This lacks the pacing and energy of the first movie, and there’s a cockamamie subplot involving a dead character’s twin, but it has enough spunk and humor to keep it moving to its goofy climax. Don’t shut off the movie too soon or you’ll miss the surprise cameo at the end complete with the theme from Alfred Hitchcock Presents. B

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