i 'm not sure if silvio horta wrote urban legend before or after the success of scream , but i 'm guessing after just because it seems he may not have had time to write a second draft .
seriously , this idea -- a psycho bumping off people in the style of urban legends -- is a great one and i wish it could have been pulled off .
the first sign of trouble comes with the painfully insipid dialogue .
an example : " that [ car crash ] must 've been awful . . .
for everyone involved .
"
you can tell that the writer intended that something a little more airy was supposed to have been said , just no one figured out what .
i know in slasher movies there is n't supposed to be a lot of great characterization
and i myself do n't mind
cardboard cutouts , but please do n't let the cutouts be so damn bland .
one reason movies like scream , star wars and diva have become so treasured is because they feature charismatic actors playing interesting characters .
aside from jared leto and joshua jackson ( who are n't on the screen long enough )
no one in urban legend makes the grade .
alicia witt shows none of the acerbity or wit
she displayed on cybill , rebecca gayheart
actually looks unattractive ( not to mention as dumb as a post through 3/4 of the film ) and robert englund
just cruises on auto pilot .
good thing brad dourif is here , but wait .
. .
he 's only in the movie for five minutes
_
and _ he 's just redoing his good - natured stuttering character from one flew over the cuckoo 's nest .
which brings me to another aspect of urban legend
: it 's unoriginality .
the film most blatantly ripped off is scream ( another reason that makes me think silvio horta wrote this after craven 's and williamson 's great success ) .
urban legend tries to deconstruct modern - day folklore much the same way scream deconstructed slasher films , but it does n't quite succeed
.
it 's best stab at self - reflexivity is poking fun at " that girl in the noxzeema ad " ( ie , rebecca gayheart ) we also have another killer - taunting - his - victim - on - the - phone routine in urban legend and quick , what movie is this exchange of dialogue from : female protagonist : why ?
villain :
why ? why ? ! ?
congratulations to those of you who answered scream and/or urban legend .
like i said , this movie could 've been great .
if only silvio had worked or been allowed to work a little longer on the script .
still , at least urban legend had some pretty cool death scenes and a somewhat realized whodunit angle which makes this slasher is waaaayyyyyy better than i know what you did last summer .
it does n't quite succeed no one in urban legend makes the grade most blatantly ripped off the first sign of trouble comes with the painfully insipid dialogue actually looks unattractive cardboard cutouts , but please do n't let the cutouts be so damn bland unoriginality just cruises on auto pilot shows none of the acerbity or wit