Urban Legend—Columbia Pictures (Blu-ray)

Video: 3.75/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2/5

When New England college student Natalie finds herself at the center of a series of sadistic murders seemingly inspired by urban legends she resolves to find the truth about Pendleton's own legend a twenty-five-year-old story of a student massacre at the hands of an Abnormal Psych professor. As the fraternities prepare to celebrate the macabre anniversary Natalie discovers that she is the focus of the crazed killer's intentions in the ultimate urban legend-- the story of her own horrific murder.

This is another one of those teen horror films that was riding the coattails of the mega-hit Scream. Looking at the front cover you’ll find a lot of familiar faces and for the most part the actors do a decent job with the material. Like most of these films you get an hour and a half of systematic killings with just enough clues to have you guessing who the bad guy is to the very end. Nothing new, but not horrible at all.

Once again Sony comes through with a great looking catalog release. Some of the photography style doesn’t lend to an extremely sharp image but details are abundant. The natural film look is preserved perfectly and my only real complaint would probably stem from the somewhat muted color style. Contrast levels are strong and really add to the outstanding depth of image and the image maintains a great sense of dimension despite the softer filming style.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is a nice balance of atmosphere and dynamics. The track was a bit front heavy for my tastes but the surrounds do play in enough on occasion. The lower end of the track punctuates the more intense sequences and there are plenty of times when they do their best to get you to jump with the track. Dialogue sound natural through most of the film but there were a few moments when the tracks balance suffers a bit from the overwhelming score.

Extras include a director’s commentary and a short promo featurette that looks a bit into the production. This title is also BD-Live compatible.

While this one didn’t do much for me Sony has done a good job on the presentation. While I can’t recommend adding it to the library unless you’re a huge fan, it’s worth a look for fans of the genre.

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