Urban Legend (Blu-ray)
APPROX. 99 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1998 - MPA RATING: R
" ...and most of the actors step into their roles with a tongue-in-cheek attitude.
Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.
The cast is also full of the usual stereotypical suspects making the killer's true identity into a guessing game. Could it be one of the two veteran horror actors, or are they just here to throw viewers off kilter? How about Pendleton U's Dean Adams (John Neville) or the grounds security and wannabe cop, Reese (Loretta Devine)? Maybe it's one of Natalie's peers like the campus reporter Paul (Jared Leto), her best friend Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart) or the notorious prankster Damon (Joshua Jackson)? Then we have the cocky and cynical Parker (Michael Rosenbaum), his nymphomaniac radio host girlfriend Sasha (Tara Reid), and who can count out Parker's beer-chugging terrier Hootie (himself)? It's a murder mystery like the boardgame "Clue." Just don't waste a guess that it was Professor Wexler with homemade finger-knives in the boiler room... that's some other movie.
Due to the inexperience of Blanks and Horta at the time, "Urban Legend" still does have a couple of holes that made me scratch my head with wonder about a few things. I'm no filmmaker, but wouldn't the killer's heavy parka disguise be best suited for cold weather? I just think it would be much easier to skulk about that way without drawing too much attention. Also, how does the killer stay twenty steps ahead of everyone else and predict their victim's every move? This kind of intuition would turn the greatest criminal masterminds in Gotham City green with envy.
Video:
Sony delivers another solid catalog title on Blu-ray with a very pristine transfer (MPEG-4 AVC codec) preserving the original theatrical widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1. Colors are slightly soft in certain frames, but I didn't notice any noise or other flaws. Strong black levels, especially in darker shadowy situations, make "Urban Legend" a worthy addition to any horror fan's video library.
Audio:
The Blu-ray version of "Urban Legend" features audio tracks in lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 in English, French, and Portuguese, as well as additional Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in Spanish and Thai. While the soundtrack is better than a fair number of Blu-rays I've previewed and there's not much to complain about regarding the ambience, it still didn't really "wow" me. Then again, my ears could be just getting spoiled after hearing some top-notch PCM tracks, though. We also have optional subtitles in English SDH, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, Dutch, and Arabic, although the commentary only has Dutch and French.
Extras:
The headlining feature is an Audio Commentary with director Jamie Blanks, actor Michael Rosenbaum, and writer Silvio Horta. All three seem to be having a ball while recording it, so it's definitely an entertaining one.
After that, a Making of Featurette (10:09) shows behind-the-scenes footage for a few of the stunts, post-production stuff, and even a deleted sex scene with Michael Rosenbaum and Tara Reid that was actually quite funny. This bonus comes with a commentary by Jamie Blanks.
Sony includes a few trailers on startup for "Blu-ray disc," "21," and "Starship Troopers: Marauder."
The packaging also designates the Blu-ray disc as being BD-Live Enabled, but unfortunately I can't fairly comment on this feature since my Panasonic is only profile 1.1 compliant.
The Final Cut:
Even though I had a few nitpicks, I think I actually had more fun with "Urban Legend" than I did with "I Know What You Did Last Summer." It's obvious that everyone involved had a blast making the movie, and most of the actors step into their roles with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. In the end, the mild satirical approach allows us to put our brains on the shelf for an hour and a half, sit back, and enjoy.
Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.
Learn more about our rating system »
