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Myths and Urban Legends I Saw on the Internet center4research.org | Surgery Blog - Dr. Goldstein: Urban Legend cosmetic-surg.com | x-ray films, xray films, x ray films, medical x-ray films alphamedical.com |
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.
[edit] 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. Back at the radio station, Sasha is talking to a woman when she is cut off by the supposed storm. In the background her employee is being strangled to death. Sasha looks through the glass to see the killer smash the glass. Sasha screams and runs out of the room; the plus is that she is still on air and everyone can hear her cries for help. Not everyone believes she's in trouble besides Natalie who runs through the rain to save her. After Sasha encounters the killer several times she escapes to a flight of stairs. She runs down to see the killer on the platform. She screams again before being pushed over the side, hanging on by her fingernails. Screaming more the killer picks up the axe and just as the killer swings the axe Sasha drops and lands on the other platform on her legs. She manages to drag herself to the lifts. On level 3 the killer takes the stairs. Sasha cries for help as many people such as Reece hear her cries. She goes back to the radio station to see Natalie enter the building. Natalie warns Sasha that the killer is behing her. Sasha is then killed with the words "Please i don't wanna die" but the killer refuses.
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. [edit] Urban legends used in the filmThe following urban legends are mentioned or depicted in the film:
[edit] Cast
[edit] ReceptionThe 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] [edit] SoundtrackThere were two soundtracks released on behalf of this film: Composer Christopher Young's Original Score and The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [edit] Track listing
[edit] External links[edit] References
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