Urban Legend (1998)
Starring: Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Joshua Jackson, Tara Reid
Director: Jamie Blanks
Synopsis: Trashy horror near-classic is derivative of the Williamson flicks, but fun
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

 

Reviled upon its release by most respected critics, this was, I am almost ashamed to admit, a film we loved every minute of. It turned out to be the surprise package of the year: a film from which absolutely nothing was expected, yet one that proved to be, in many ways, the most enjoyable, trashy, fun-filled slasher whodunit since Scream.

Yes, it is highly derivative of Kevin Williamson's post-modern brand of horror. No one is trying to deny that, make excuses for it, or claim that it is in any way original or even particularly intelligent.

All we are saying is that it is fiendishly entertaining and contains one of the funniest—and most perfectly executed—opening sequences we have ever encountered in a horror film.

What a cracker of a beginning.

A young woman arrives at an isolated petrol station, only to encounter the gnarled, psycho-geek of an attendant, played with magnificent relish by Brad Dourif. Stammering as though he has just escaped from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, he looks as if he is about to unleash something truly horrific.

She escapes...just.

For a moment.

Then doom strikes.

It is a breathtakingly enjoyable opening that sets the tone perfectly for the rollercoaster of shocks and thrills that follows. This is mindless teenage slasher entertainment, but the set-pieces work remarkably well, and the film moves at such a rapid pace that its glaring plot holes and inconsistencies become surprisingly easy to forgive.

The film is directed with considerable style by someone we had never previously heard of. It is, unquestionably, a shameless rip-off of the Kevin Williamson formula, but it succeeds where it matters most.

It entertains.

Leave your brain at the door, grab a large bucket of popcorn and surrender yourself to this wonderful guilty pleasure. It is a riot from beginning to end.

But whatever you do...

Do not miss that opening scene.