Monday April 30 review project- notes

While everyone's film review notes are due by 3:00 tomorrow, some students sent theirs along early. You will find below an example. These notes, however, do not give enough information to write the review, which is due by 3:00 Thursday. (my grades are due Friday remember.) Read over these notes and see my comments, so as to understand how they need to be expanded. Remember that the person reading your review is depending upon your eyes to bring the film alive.

Notes: Urban Legend (1998)

Title: Urban Legend (1998) Notes

Director- Jamie Blanks (what else has he done)

Written by- Silvio Horta ( other work?)

Stars- Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Michael Rosenbaum, and Loretta Devine (background on these actors)

Setting- Remote New England Campus (how is the remoteness achieved? types of buildings? landscaping?)

Genre- Horror, Thriller, Suspense 

- Very ominous music to start off (instruments? start off where? describe the setting against which is plays. analogous to what?)

- Great camera angles to create suspense (wide angle, close up? on what or who?)

- Cliché scary old guy at gas station (describe him...time of day)

- Trilling 1st death...even though axe killer not very scary (how dies?)

- Very old campus to give it scary feel (doesn' t that fil it with the setting?)

- Nice job of introducing characters in the beginning so you can get an opinion about them before they die (how exactly are they introduced?)

- Guy takes girl to woods...very scary (how is she enticed into the woods?)

- Makes girl kill friend... Very creative death (how? why?)

- The movie makes you hate the girl's roommate (why?)

- They do a great job of create camera angles that create suspense (?)

- Music is all kind of cliché (good)

- The way the roommate died is very unrealistic….clever but very unrealistic (explain)

- Usually the protagonists throughout horror movies are the killers so I predict the journalist is the killer (good)

- Someone is framing the professor (good- expand the plot info)

- I wonder what the Stanley hall massacre is? 

- The rain is very cliché throughout the movie (good)

-Very creative way to kill off the dean (good- explain)

-Security guard seems to be the only innocent one (how is this integrated into the plot?)

- Killing a dog was taking it too far (why?)

- The killer seems to be killing everybody quicker…it seems as though they’re trying to (talk about pacing and how it works in the film.) rush to the end of the movie by killing everyone off

- The feminine way the killer waves at the main character foreshadows (good- use the literary terms )the killer being her best friend (

- The rain is OVERUSED in this movie (good)

- Very good thriller...keeps you guessing who is the killer (good- why?)

- Seem unnecessary to kill the janitor 

- Old decrepit abandoned house seems too cliché

- I knew her friend was the killer :) (how?- put don't give that away in the review)

- The back-story of the killer seems like a good enough reason for the killing

- Killer is not a very good actor... Does not play villain well (why?)

- The security guard seems like the only honorable character

- Were did the journalist come from...didn't make sense (good point to include in review)

- Didn’t see the killer still being alive in the car (good)

- Great ending to the movie with killer still being alive

- Overall great storyline kept me guessing the entire movie (what exactly worked for you in the film?