This file was generated 2002-06-09 04:23 GMT. This movie's information hasn't changed since 2001-08-26.
The horror genre holds fairly little appeal to me. While I want to go back to learn how it's supposed to be done from Hitchcock, the modern entries don't entice me. It is for this reason that I probably shouldn't be writing about Urban Legend, a movie that dropped off my radar with nary a blip when it came out. Even worse, I wasn't as devoted in watching as I am for the movies I normally plan to write about, but the movie wasn't able to draw me in. I jumped about twice, but the creepy-crawlies didn't set in like they should have, and I'm very susceptible to that kind of thing.
This is not a particularly funny movie. The urban legends that are reproduced are done devoid of the humor that make most urban legends fantastic storytelling. If they had thrown in the infamous rocket car, I might've been more amused.
The movie is heavy on Alicia Witt. I found Witt enjoyable on "Cybill" as a smart-alleck teenager, but she makes a really lame victim here. The screenplay gives her nothing to do, so it's not entirely her fault.
The plot requires large numbers of people to be stupid and unyielding for a while. John Neville turns up as the dean of a northeastern college. He certainly looks and sounds respectable, but he's obviously a movie dean, who threatens students who should be consoled instead. Loretta Devine plays the school's security force, and although we see her taking inspiration from Pam Grier, she does nothing to indicate that she's learned anything. Tell me, though, why a campus would have one security person with no way to radio for help? She shouldn't need to use the phone to call for backup!
For its diminutive security staff, the college itself is one of impossible splendor and size. One of the professors has an office that most university presidents would probably envy, and the dorms could each be a cathedral. There isn't a college administration in the country that would allow this much beauty and space on one campus! The movie was shot entirely in Canada, so maybe they have some excuse.