URBAN
MOVIE REVIEW |
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You Support This Site When You Buy My Books E.C. McMullen Jr. PERPETUAL BULLET "'Some People' ... may be the standout story in the book." - John Grant, Infinityplus E.C. McMullen Jr. WILLOW BLUE "'Willow Blue' will burrow under your skin and stay there long after you've put the book down." - Jeffrey Reddick, Creator of FINAL DESTINATION IN OTHER BOOKS E.C. McMullen Jr.'s short story CEDO LOOKED LIKE PEOPLE in the anthology FEAR THE REAPER "This Ray Bradbury-esque is one of the most memorable and one of the more original stories I've read in a long time." - Steve Isaak, Goodreads HORROR 201: The Silver Scream Filmmaker's Guidebook featuring RAY BRADBURY, JOHN CARPENTER, WES CRAVEN, TOM HOLLAND, E.C. McMULLEN Jr., GEORGE A. ROMERO, and many more. Extensively quoted in PHANTASM EXHUMED The Unauthorized Companion And In CINEMA E.C. McMullen Jr. Head Production Designer MINE GAMES (Starring: JOSEPH CROSS, BRIANA EVIGAN, ALEX MERAZ) |
URBAN LEGEND is the kind of film that was made fun of by SCREAM. As formula as can be imagined, and if you haven't figured out who "the killer" is well before the end, it's time for you to sterilize yourself to prevent your defective genes from reducing humanity's average IQ. The new group of doomed teens die in mildly inventive ways, but every moment is predictable to the point of boredom. Female characters that show any hint of sexual aggressiveness are quickly hacked to pieces, while the central character heroine survives as a reward for her virtuous nature. And the so-called "twist" at the end is exactly what you think it will be, stolen from mediocre scripts of the past in a long tradition of plagiarism.
Nudity? None! The one thing that can make you feel it wasn't a complete waste of time is sadly missed. The basic idea is mildly interesting, playing on the stories people tell of some terrible event that really happened to a friend of a friend of their old roommate's cousin. But they only do a few of the legends*, and completely miss the creepier ones. Where's the girl who reaches under her bed for her dog to lick her hand before she goes to sleep, only to be discovered dead and dismembered, next to a bloody note that reads, "Humans can lick hands, too"? Robert Englund (DEAD & BURIED, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, WISHMASTER, STRANGELAND) has a small, forgettable role, undoubtably because a mortgage payment was due. He's truly wasted in this film, his talent for genuine scary characters not even tapped. Bills for your wasted time should be sent to director Jamie Blanks and (first time) writer Silvo Horta.^ And now, the rating: One Shriek Girl. Don't waste your time.
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