Editorials
Remembering ‘Urban Legend’ 19 Years Later
Released nearly twenty years ago, on September 25, 1998, Urban Legend had the misfortune of being lumped in as another Scream copycat, despite it being a box office success. It’s hard to argue that aesthetically, and tonally, this teen slasher shared a lot in common with the string of ‘90s teen slashers released during the latter half of the decade. Urban Legend is definitely not without its flaws, but it’s a slasher worth revisiting for both its high fun factor and the clever script revolving around urban legends.
Admittedly, I’m a sucker for Easter eggs and hidden horror homages, and Urban Legend has quite a few. Casting Robert Englund as unpleasant Professor Wexler was a stroke of genius. Not only is it always great seeing Englund appear in horror films, but his long-standing history as Freddy Krueger makes it even easier to believe that Wexler was behind the murders. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss it moment, you can spy a Freddy Krueger puppet hidden in Wexler’s closet, just before the reveal of the axe. Brad Dourif’s casting as the gas station attendant during the kill that emulates the urban legend featuring the killer in the vehicle’s backseat was also a pleasant surprise. Also notable in that kill, is that the victim, Michelle Mancini, is named after Child’s Play creator Don Mancini. Urban Legend marked Danielle Harris’ first major theatrical horror release since her turn as Jamie Lloyd in the Halloween franchise.
The killer’s final reveal is memorable for Rebecca Gayheart’s scene-chewing performance, but there are a few clues sprinkled throughout that the person hidden beneath the winter coat was a female. In keeping with the horror homages, Gayheart’s character, Brenda Bates, was named after Psycho killer Norman Bates. Poor Norman wasn’t known for his grip on reality, and Brenda revealed herself to be extremely unhinged by the film’s climax as well. If that’s too loose of a connection, then look to Pendleton University for more cleverly hidden clues. The motto found on the university’s emblem, in Latin, translates to “The best friend did it.” As for the strange choice for the killer’s outfit itself? It turns out that the original intent was for this to be a winter set story, but the warm weather during production changes those plans. Everything winter was tossed aside, well, except for the killer’s outfit.
That this killer prefers to stage their kills around urban legends gives this slasher an almost anthology quality. From the opening kill, the aforementioned backseat killer, to Tosh’s violent murder nod to “Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?” Each death is varied enough that it’s fun predicting which urban legend will trigger the next death. With the endless possibilities to explore more fun kills through urban legends, it’s also the perfect setup for a franchise that inexplicably never quite stuck the landing. Brenda’s surprise appearance at the end, showing she survived, has her sporting a ribbon around her neck as an homage to the urban legend where the girl’s head falls off when the ribbon is removed.
As far as the ‘90s teen slasher craze is concerned, Alicia Witt’s Natalie and Jared Leto’s Paul are two of the dullest protagonists. Natalie can be frustratingly incompetent. Yet, the commitment of the entire supporting cast makes this a forgivable flaw. Loretta Devine is such a scene stealer as rent-a-cop Reese Wilson that Ryan Murphy seemed to rip the character off completely for TV series Scream Queens. Gayheart imbues enough liveliness into Brenda that it more than makes up for Natalie’s lifelessness. Joshua Jackson nails the jerk role and takes humorous callbacks to teen show Dawson’s Creek like a champ.
Urban Legend wasn’t a game changer in the slasher genre, but it was a worthy attempt. It still is. It’s not perfect, but it’s one I revisit far more often than most of its time. It’s also one that I wish received a reboot. It’s an effective concept with a wealth of underexplored urban legends, that could use a modern update. As it stands though, it’s a lot of fun.
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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