Dark legends
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dark legends |
| Original title | Urban legend |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| length | 99 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jamie Blanks |
| script | Silvio Horta |
| production |
Gina Matthews Michael McDonnell Neal H. Moritz |
| music | Christopher Young |
| camera | James Chressanthis |
| cut | Jay Lash Cassidy |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
|
Successor → |
|
Dark Legends is a 1998 slasher film directed by Jamie Blanks .
action
Michelle Mancini is driving her car during a nightly thunderstorm. At a gas station she meets the stuttering gas station attendant Michael McDonald, who lures her to the phone because of her credit card, where she feels threatened by him. When Michelle escapes, he tries to warn her with the words “There is someone in your back seat!”, But the young woman does not hear him and a few moments later is killed with an ax.
While Sasha is hosting a radio talk show at Pendleton University , her friend Parker tells the story of a psychology professor who murdered a row of students at Stanley Hall 25 years ago. Brenda therefore calls " Bloody Mary " five times in front of the old building to wake the dead. She and her friend Natalie actually hear screams, but they come from Damon Brooks playing a prank on them. Natalie catches her roommate Tosh, who belongs to the Gothic scene and swallows lithium pills, having sex in her room .
Professor Wexler gives a lecture on " Dark Legends " at the university . He tells his students the legend of the babysitter who got a phone call from the house . Brenda is brought to the front because she laughs at the professor's cell phone ringing. She should now eat "Pop Rocks" and drink Coke, which, according to another myth, leads to the stomach and intestines bursting, as the students know from the advertising with Mickey. Damon takes on the task and simulates a breakdown.
While newspaper reporter Paul is causing a stir with the headline “Lunatic on Campus”, the TV news reports on Michelle's death. While Natalie is leafing through photos showing that she knew the deceased from their time together at Mountain Lake High School, Damon comes to her and persuades her to go on a trip.
They drive into the forest, where Damon says that his girlfriend at the time has died and that he can understand Natalie's situation and is now trying in vain to get closer to Natalie. He goes to pee in the forest, where he is ambushed from behind. A stranger in a black hooded jacket scares Natalie. As she drives off, she strangles the Damon hanging on a rope above her. But when she returns to the scene with the university policewoman Reese, the corpse and all traces are gone.
Her fellow students don't believe her because Damon likes to play pranks. But one remembers a dark legend that Wexler once told. Now Natalie recognizes the pattern of such a legend in Michelle's death.
She tries in vain to contact Damon in the place where he allegedly goes snowboarding on the weekend . In the library she gets the "Encyclopedia of urban legends", which was last borrowed from Damon. Sasha points out a gang ritual in which anyone who flashes headlights is murdered.
Tosh meets someone in the chat who tells her that he is in her room. There he kills her. When Natalie enters the dark room, she doesn't attach much importance to the noises because of the previous sex scene. The next morning she finds Tosh's body and a bloody message on the wall: “Aren't you glad you didn't turn the light on”. (Aren't you glad you didn't turn the light on?). However, Reese and the dean believe in a macabre suicide .
Paul, who now knows about the connection between Natalie and Michelle, offers to help the nervous student. In his editorial office, Natalie recognizes from a note on the bulletin board that today is the 25th anniversary of the Stanley Hall massacre . However, further research is not possible because the chronicle does not contain the volume for that year (1973). A mysterious cleaner refers the two young people to Professor Wexler.
You break into his office. Natalie discovers the notorious hooded jacket and an ax in a hidden chamber. At that moment the professor comes in. Wexler, who calls the ax a prop, brings the culprits to the dean. Adams points to a suspended sentence for gross negligence on Natalie's student file. Paul, who has now resigned from the newspaper, tries in vain to find out more about it.
From a window Natalie sees a figure in the dark jacket in the swimming pool, but inside there is a harmless girl. Then she reveals to Brenda what happened to her with Michelle. The two young women were out in the car at night when Michelle came up with the idea of playing a prank in the spirit of the headlight legend. It kept blinking in pursuit of another car, the driver of which lost control of his car and died.
Brenda persuades Natalie, who has been plagued by remorse since then, to a party. Meanwhile, while cleaning up his office, Paul discovers an old newspaper report from which he learns that William Wexler was the only survivor of the massacre at Stanley Hall on April 24, 1973. The dean is injured in the ankle by the unknown murderer in the parking garage after imposing an information blackout. Bleeding, he tries to crawl away, but is run over by his own car and impaled on the point at the exit.
At the party, Paul shows Natalie the newspaper report and tells her about his suspicions that the university is covering up the massacre. Brenda is disappointed when she sees the two kissing. Parker responds to Paul's warning to end the party by making him look ridiculous. Shortly afterwards, however, the self-confident young man receives an eerie call: "Tonight you will die." The voice that answers Damon's phone number speaks of the legend of the dog in the microwave . Parker sees this in the kitchen and is murdered in the toilet.
The anonymous killer breaks into Sasha's studio. Natalie hears the fleeing presenter's cries for help over the radio, but her fellow student thinks it's a production. Reese, who tried in vain to make an emergency call after a bloody discovery in Wexler's office, hears the desperate Sasha on the car radio. After Natalie sees the murderer killing Sasha in her studio, she drives away with Paul and Brenda. Reese, who finds the body, also sets off.
The three teenagers drive to the gas station. While Paul is on the phone inside, the girls hear a ring from the trunk and discover the cause of the mysterious smell - Wexler's corpse. Since suspicion falls on Paul, they flee through the forest, with Brenda disappearing. Natalie gets in with the cleaning man passing by. When she sees the black jacket in his car, she panics again, but then the killer appears behind them and urges her off the street, flashing.
Natalie escapes and tries to call 911 when she hears screams from Stanley Hall. In a room in the dilapidated building she finds the bodies of Parker, Adams and Damon. Next door, Brenda is lying on the bed between burning candles.
She overwhelms and ties Natalie and returns to the room with the infamous jacket. She reveals to her horrified fellow student that David Evans, the driver Natalie and Michelle have on their conscience, was her boyfriend. Since her lover died of a dark legend, she staged the series of murders accordingly. Now she wants to realize the legend of kidney disease on Natalie.
But when she starts slitting, Reese comes in. Brenda attacks the policewoman with a knife and threatens Natalie with the captured pistol. At this moment, Paul also enters the room and interrupts the action. Reese fires a second pistol at Brenda, who dies from the shot - apparently. Because when Natalie and Paul drive away in the car, Brenda appears in the back seat with an ax. After a fight, she falls from the bridge into the river.
In the epilogue , the next generation of students tell this story as a “dark legend”. Brenda's body was reportedly never found. Finally, you see Brenda sitting with the students.
criticism
Lexicon of the international film : “A horror film that combines its various murder cases into a very exciting plot. In doing so, he never leaves the usual genre conventions and only attracts attention through his numerous drastic acts of violence. "
Awards
Alicia Witt's performance earned her a nomination for the Saturn Award for "Best Performance by a Younger Actor / Actress" at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films , USA.
background
The film cost about $ 14 million. It grossed over $ 72 million at box offices worldwide.
The film was shot entirely in Canada. As a backdrop served u. a. the Trent University in Peterborough .
Sequels
There are two sequels to this film . In 2000, Düstere Legenden 2 was created and in 2005 the third part, Düstere Legenden 3 , followed, which was released directly on DVD.
Remake
In February 2020, a remake of the film was announced. In the remake , modern elements such as video platforms and social networks should flow into the film content / plot. Colin Minihan ( Grave Encounters / 2 and Extraterrestrial: They Don't Come in Peace ) will write the script and direct the slasher film by Screen Gems and Phoenix Pictures , which is announced for 2021/2022 .
Others
When Damon ( Joshua Jackson ) turns on the radio in the car, the theme song for the Dawson's Creek series plays . He also played here.
Web links
- Urban Legend in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Dark legends in the online film database
- Review of the film music on Filmmusikwelt.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dark Legends. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ business data. Internet Movie Database , accessed May 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Dark Legends Box Office Mojo
- ↑ Vulture.com : Urban Legend Reboot Coming from Director Colin Minihan on February 10, 2020
- ↑ Deadline : Colin Minihan To Direct Screen Gems Thriller 'Urban Legend' from February 10, 2020