The Urban Legend Trilogy Ranked From Worst To Best | Screen Rant
The Urban Legend featured some of the most iconic myths from across the world, but each movie in the trilogy didn't exactly execute them in the best way. Here's how each of the three installments compare to one another.
When Urban Legend released in 1998, it offered the teen horror sub-genre a unique take on the concept of urban legends. Throughout history, there have been numerous tales told of people lurking in the shadows, spirits who appear in mirrors when beckoned, and candies with the capability of exploding human organs. The concept of the first movie was enough to launch an entire trilogy, especially given the wealth of source material available to draw from. While these movies may have been entertaining for some viewers, they have all received overwhelmingly negative responses from critics. Now that Ryan Murphy's upcoming horror anthology American Horror Stories proposes revisiting some of the world's most iconic urban legends, it is the opportune moment to look back on some of the genre's most memorable attempts at compiling them into one feature-length movie.
Despite the fact that the Urban Legend trilogy wasn't well-received, it was an important marker in horror history. It showcased the transformation from 1990s teen horror that revolved around slasher stories into paranormal horrors. The first two installments heavily emphasize slasher characters and killers, while the third movie stands on its own as a venture into the supernatural. Each movie's individual ratings and how they compare to one another further showcases just how impactful this shift was to the genre as a whole. Without further ado, here's how each movie in the Urban Legend trilogy compares to one another.
Released in 2000, Urban Legends: Final Cut follows a group of college students who are working on a film project that centers around urban legends. Some of its featured myths include cell phones causing cancer, black market organ theft, a carnival of "fake" corpses, and snuff movies. In comparison to Urban Legend, the sequel features substantially fewer stories than its predecessor, and focuses primarily on the concept of a slasher-style killer on campus. As Wes Craven's Scream made abundantly clear in 1996, slasher stories grew stale and predictable after their boom in the '80s; Urban Legends: Final Cut is no exception. Ultimately, it was formulaic and failed in its attempts to be humorous or satirical.
In 2005, the trilogy altered their existing formula by shifting toward the paranormal horror sub-genre in Urban Legends: Bloody Mary. During the late-1990s, this sub-genre was growing increasingly popular due to the fact that hauntings could manifest in numerous ways. Urban Legends: Bloody Mary focuses predominately on the well-known urban legend of Bloody Mary. While it is the only movie in the trilogy that features a singular myth, this approach actually worked in the franchise's favor. In fact, Urban Legends: Bloody Mary has the highest rating out of them all with a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. By shifting from formulaic slashers to ghostly urban legends, the trilogy concluded on a high-note. Even so, it fails to beat out the first movie in the series.
While it is not the highest rated of the three, Urban Legend unforgettably captured some of the world's most popular urban legends. It includes the aftermath of mixing Pop Rocks with soda, the old lady who dried her wet dog in a microwave, the existence of spider eggs in chewing gum, and the most popular urban legend, the man in the backseat. This movie used so many of the most well-known urban legends, and as a result, it was hard for its direct sequel to keep the same pace. The reason Urban Legend ranks so highly in the trilogy is because of how it seamlessly wove together each myth to create one cohesive story while retaining elements of classic teen slashers. While none of the movies in the Urban Legend trilogy are considered outright masterpieces by fans and critics, they do have some redeeming qualities, especially when they're attentive to shifting trends in the horror genre.