City Legends (film)

• “It happened to someone who knows someone you know ... You are the next!” ( It Happened To Someone Who Knows Someone You Know ... You're Next! )

• “ What You Don't Believe Can Kill You! ” ( What You Don't Believe Can Kill You! )

• “If it wasn’t, it doesn’t mean it cannot happen!” ( Just Because It Didn't Happen, Doesn't Mean It Can't! )

• “Legends Can Kill!” ( Urban Legends Can Kill! )

• “Urban legends come to life at the university!” ( At Pendelton Univ., Urban Legends Are Coming True! )

• “Never talk with strangers, never answer the phone, never blink the lights, never get out of the car and always believe what they say to you!” ( Never Talk To Strangers, Never Answer The Phone, Never Flash Your Lights, Never Leave The Car, And Always Believe, What You're Told )

Michelle Mancini rides his university jeep in her jeep, runs out of gas and stops at a gas station. Strange behavior of a station employee under the pretext of credit card problems leads Michelle to the station building. He tries to tell her something, but Michelle, thinking that she is in danger, runs out of the building, gets into the car and drives off. However, the killer, who turned out to be another person, was in wait for Michelle in the back seat of her car. He realized his plan - he chopped off the girl’s head with an ax.

Further film takes place in the small university town of Pendleton on the eve of students celebrating a particular holiday - the annual celebration of the anniversary of the massacre of many university students. And, accordingly, murders begin to occur at the university. Natalie discovers the corpse of her friend Damon Brooks, but the police do not find the corpse. After that, Natalie Tosh’s roommate is killed, but her death is taken for suicide, and no one wants to believe Natalie’s stories about the killings. Soon, Natalie meets a local student newspaper journalist, Paul, with whom they are launching an investigation into a series of murders. At the same time, the university administration is trying in every way to localize the scandal that has arisen, in which the local police officer helps her.

The final scenes of the film unfold on the night before the celebration of the specified annual student holiday.

• Alicia Witt - Natalie Simon
• Jared Leto - Paul Gardner
• Rebecca Gayheart - Brenda Bates
• Michael Rosenbaum - Parker Riley
• Joshua Jackson - Damon Brooks
• Danielle Harris - Tosh Guanery
• John Neville - Dean Adams
• Loretta Devine - Reese Wilson
• Tara Reid - Sasha Thomas
• Natasha Gregson Wagner - Michelle Mancini
• Robert Englund - William Wexler
• Julian Richings - The Cleaner

Filming took place in Ontario in Canada , in cities such as Oxbridge, Peterborough , Etobico and Toronto . The pool scene was shot at the Etobicoke Olympium sports center, and Trent University in Peterborough acted as a university. The school was filmed in the town of Port Hope, in the building of "Trinity College School". ^[2]

The following urban legends were used in the film:

• Substitution of birth control pills with aspirin. ^[3]

• Explosion of the stomach after oral sex with a sports team. ^[four]

• Pinching the vagina of the penis during sex. ^[5]

• The murder of Michelle by a maniac sitting in the back seat of a car. ^[6]

• Brenda and Natalie are trying to call Bloody Mary. ^[7]

• Professor Wexler mentions a horror story about a babysitter and a maniac upstairs. The same thing happens with Parker before his death. ^[8]

• The professor offers the student to eat the "Pop Rocks" dragee and drink it with soda - "the death of baby Mikey." Later, a maniac mixed soda with household chemicals. ^[9]

• Damon was hung on a tree branch, and Natalie waited in the car while his legs scraped against the roof of the car. ^[10]

• Parker suggests placing spider eggs in chewing gum ^[11] and placing a small animal in the anus for anal stimulation. ^[12]

• Maniac with flashing car lights on the road. It turns out that once for the sake of a joke Natalie and Michelle did this, because of which the young man died. It was revenge that became the central motive for the maniac. ^[13]

• Natalie finds her roommate strangled, and the inscription on the wall says: “You're glad you didn't turn on the light.” ^[fourteen]

• The maniac hides under the car and stabs the victim's heels with a knife - this is how the attack on Dean Adams takes place. ^[fifteen]

• The guest at the party assures that in the song "Love Rollercoaster" real human death cries are heard. ^[16]

• Parker finds his dog’s remains in the microwave - a reference to the horror story of an old woman who dried her dog. ^[17]

• The killer was about to torture Natalie, using the legend of criminals carving kidneys from victims. ^[eighteen]

• The film is very reminiscent of "Scream 2" with many elements and the scene.
• Joshua Jackson also starred in the films Skulls and Gossip - both films were shot at the University of Toronto.
• Maniac's surname is Bates. The same surname is in the main villain of the series Psycho , begun by Alfred Hitchcock, Norman .
• Michael McDonald, a gas station suspect in the murder (played by Brad Durif ) got his name in honor of the film's producer.
• The role of Sasha was to play Sarah Michelle Gellar , but due to work schedule conflicts, which coincided with the filming of the series “ Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ” the actress left the project. Interestingly, the actress starred in the movie " Scream 2 " - Rebecca Gayheart and Joshua Jackson starred in this film together, and Natasha Gregson-Wagner auditioned for one of the roles. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Rebecca Gayheart starred together in the movie Harvard Party .
• In the initial scene, “ Land Rover ” was replaced by “Ford Expedition 4x4” (the largest car at that time), since in the first it was impossible to wave the ax.
• The author of the Encyclopedia of Urban Legends, as well as the doctor Tosh, whose name is indicated on the lithium jar, Charles Breen. This is the name of the production designer of the picture.
• The reporter reporting the death of Michelle Mancini is John McNill. John McNill is the first assistant director of the film.
• The film takes place in the fictional city of Melbourne in New Hampshire . Melbourne in Australia is the birthplace of the director of the picture.
• In the scene, when you can see Natalie and Paul sitting in the audience, in the background you can see the screenwriter of the film Silvio Hort, playing the role of one of the students.
• The role of Sasha also refused Jody Lin O'Keefe for the filming of the film " Halloween: 20 years later ."
• In Professor Wexler’s office, when Natalie and Paul sneak around him, before finding an ax, one can see Freddy Krueger's mannequin. Robert Inglund , who played the role of Freddy Krueger in the series of famous films “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, played the role of Professor Wexler in this film.
• At the end of the film, students list urban legends used in the films. One of the guys mentions Brenda - “I'm sure this actress starred in an advertisement for“ Noxzema [skin cleanser] ”. So it is - Rebecca Gayheart advertised these products in several commercials.
• Brad Durif also played in the movie “ Flight Over the Cuckoo's Nest, ” where his character Billy Bibbit also had speech problems.
• In the scene, when Damon and Natalie are sitting in the car, and Damon turns on the radio, the main musical theme of the series " Dawson's Creek ", "I Don't Want To Wait" performed by Paula Cool, sounds from the radio. In this series, Joshua Jackson , who played Damon, played one of the main roles.
• The creators of the 2003 Indian film Whistle were inspired by the American thriller on set.
• The Latin motto of the college is translated as “This was done by my best friend”, probably being a reference to the relationship between the main character and her friend, who turned out to be a maniac terrorizing the campus.
• According to the license plate on the dean’s car, he lives in Maine.
• The character “Mancini” was received by the character of Natasha Gregson-Wagner in honor of the screenwriter Don Mancini - the author of the pentalogy “ Children's Game ” about a doll into which the soul of a maniac was infused. Interestingly, Brad Durif, who first appeared in the film as an employee at a gas station, voiced the very doll named Chucky in all five films.
• The unusual image of the maniac’s costume is explained simply - initially the full-scale shooting of the picture was supposed to take place in the midst of winter. But the shooting period was changed, and the producers decided not to add artificial snow, but simply to change the detail insignificant for the plot.
• An article in the newspaper about the death of the guy Brands was written by a certain Benno Tatter. This is one of the employees of the art department, who worked on the painting.

Songs

1. Love Rollercoaster - The Ohio Players
2. Save Yourself - Stabbing Westward
3. “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” - Bonnie Tyler
4. Redefine - Incubus
5. Spookshow Baby - Rob Zombie
6. “Comin 'Back” - The Crystal Method
7. Crop Circle - Monster Magnet
8. "One" - Creed
9. Twist - KoRn
10. The End Of Sugarman - Roy Ayers
11. Just One Fix - Ministry
12. “I Know God” - David Ivy
13. Deaf Forever - Motörhead
14. Riot - Flaw
15. “What Would You Do (Tha Dogg Pound Song)” - Ice Cube
16. Call It Something - Saliva

Music

Instrumental music was written by composer Christopher Young . On September 25, 1998, a disc was released containing the following tracks: ^[19]

1. Urban Legend (02:18)
2. Sexual Ax (04:06)
3. Twilight Mercy (06:36)
4. Ghost With The Red Hair (03:04)
5. Auriculae (01:59)
6. Hootie's In The Microwave (04:15)
7. House Of Pain (01:55)
8. One More Look In Your Eye (05:24)
9. Funeral Music (01:21)
10. King Sting (04:20)
11. Devil Dog Dangling (03:21)
12. Love Anagram (04:28)
13. The Lucky One (01:42)

Criticism

The picture received mostly negative reviews, gaining only 21% on the Rotten Tomatoes website. ^[twenty]

Rewards

Although the performance of actress Alicia Witt was rated in the Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress as a Beginning Actress from Academy of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror Films.

Box office fees

With a budget of $ 14 million, the painting raised $ 38,072,438 and $ 34,455,157 abroad in the United States . Total fees were $ 72,527,595. ^[21]

• City Legends on the Internet Movie Database
• City legends on allmovie
• Urban Legends on Box Office Mojo
• City Legends on the Rotten Tomatoes website