Horror films in which a masked killer is primarily up to mischief in a high school or college were a dime a dozen in the second half of the 1990s. The Outstanding Success of Wes Cravens “Scream – Scream!” had triggered a veritable gold-rush mood in the Hollywood studios – and since the films of this genre were usually also damn cheap to produce, there was actually nothing to lose, only to win…
But if you put the slightly different teen horror “Final Destination” aside, there were really only two other slasher franchises that really made a splash. On the one hand, of course, “I know what you did last summer” with the crazy teenage quartet Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. With “I still know what you did last summer” it also had a solid sequel and with “I will always know what you did last summer” a completely superfluous sequel.
The third slasher success in the group was then in 1999 “Dark Legends” by Jamie Blanks, who after all has a later Oscar winner in young Jared Leto and will be broadcast on Tele5 on free TV tonight from 10:05 p.m. If you don’t have the time or generally don’t feel like watching films with commercial breaks, “Dark Legends” is available as video-on-demand from Amazon Prime Video:
» “Dark Legends” on Amazon Prime Video*
While the German title “Düstere Legenden” could hardly be more generic, the original title “Urban Legend” actually perfectly describes the core of the slasher: It’s not just about a typical college serial killer (this time in a veiling winter coat), but also about so-called “Urban Legends”. This refers to big city legends that spread again and again because people tell them as if they actually happened (usually to a friend of a friend, etc.). Meanwhile, such Fake Stories Of course, it was mainly spread via social networks, but even in the nineties it was still campfire stories that were shared among friends and family.
“Dark Legends” is primarily about an alleged urban legend about a killer who is said to have been around atpendelton college in New England exactly 25 years ago (although no one really believes that it really was him at the time has given). The students at the institute are even planning a macabre party to celebrate the anniversary of the murders. But then a killer is actually going around! But does he really just assassinate one victim after the other completely indiscriminately – or is there perhaps a plan behind the killings?
While “Dark Legends” director Jamie Blanks then delivered the pretty lousy holiday slasher “Scream, if you can” with David Boreanaz and Denise Richards, John Ottman’s “Dark Legends 2 – Final Cut” was released in German cinemas in 2001. Certainly not a good movie, but fans of the genre can still take a look (after all, later stars like Eva Mendes or Jennifer Morrison are also included):
» “Dark Legends 2” on Amazon Prime Video*
On the other hand, we would absolutely advise against “Düstere Legenden 3”, which was released directly on DVD in 2005. It comes from the not to be underestimated horror director Mary Lambert (“Cemetery of Cuddly Animals 2”) and also has the later “Fantastic Four” star Kate Mara, but in the end turns out to be a typical (read: fairly cheaply produced) home cinema look-up.
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