7 Horror Movies About Urban Legends
Which urban legend is your fave?
We all have our favourite urban legends.
And there are so many to choose from. Is it the killer in the backseat that has you checking behind you when you get in the car in that lonely supermarket parking lot? Or is it the hook-wielding murderer thumping on the roof of your car at a lonely lovers’ lookout? Or ghosts, witches, gateways to Hell, human-like creatures with red eyes and ravenous appetites?
Urban legends are great examples of exaggerated stories and, although they’re mostly fiction, they have a way of creeping into the real world.
People love to talk about them because they can cause that shiver to run down your spine and you wonder how much is true. Sure, urban legends are just that: stories. But are they? Are they really?
Check out these seven movies that use urban legends as a basis for their scares.
Contents
1. When a Stranger Calls (1979)
When a Stranger Calls is a psychological ‘Killer is in the House’ horror movie.
Jill is babysitting one night. The children are sleep and Jill receives a phone call asking her if she’s checked the children. She initially dismisses it as a prank, but the calls keep coming and get more threatening, so she calls the police. They tell her to keep the caller on the line and they’ll trace the call. After the next call, the police tell her that the calls are coming from inside the house.
The bad guy is caught and sentenced to a psychiatric institution.
Seven years later, the bad guy escapes and he, the family, the policeman that investigated the case, and Jill, who now has her own children, all converge into a terrifying scenario that spirals out of control.
Star Ratings
IMDB: 6.4 out of 10 | Amazon: 4.5 out of 5
2. The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
The Mothman Prophecies is a supernatural ‘Mothman’ horror movie.
John, a reporter is involved in a car accident when his wife swerves to avoid a large, flying, black figure. They both survive, but his wife is subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumour. After she dies, he finds her sketchbooks filled with drawings of a mothlike beast with red eyes.
Two years later, he gets lost in Virginia and finds himself in Point Pleasant (where the urban legend is based). Strange things happen, like time loops, and people start reporting seeing a huge, flying moth-like creature with red eyes.
He becomes obsessed with the legend and is certain a tragedy is about to happen somewhere near there. But no one will believe him.
Star Ratings
IMDB: 6.4 out of 10 | Amazon: 4.5 out of 5
3. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
I Know What You Did Last Summer is a slasher ‘Hook-wielding Murderer’ horror movie.
Julie and three of her friends cover up a hit-and-run accident in which they think they’ve killed someone.
Twelve months later, the group are all happily leading their own lives until Julie receives an anonymous letter stating: ‘I know what you did last summer’. A figure wearing a raincoat and wielding a hook starts to terrorise and kill the friends, as well as people close to them.
In a race against time, Julie tries to survive by working out who’s doing this, at the same time as not telling the police what they did last summer.
Star Ratings
IMDB:5.8 out of 10 | Amazon: 4.5 out of 5
4. Urban Legend (1998)
Urban Legend is a slasher horror movie and is the first in a series of three movies.
A series of murders seemingly caused by different urban legends begin on a private university campus in the New England area of America.
We have deaths that include: a killer in the backseat; lovers at a lonely lookout; someone flashing their headlights from behind; a killer in the bathroom who forces pop rocks and chemicals down someone’s throat; a killer in the radio station of a late-night talkshow; and, an organ theft attempt, to name some of them.
Who is the killer and is it only one?
Star Ratings
IMDB: 5.6 out of 10 | Amazon: 4.5 out of 5
5. The Golem (2018)
The Golem is a supernatural ‘Golem’ horror movie.
It’s 1673, Lithuania. A group of peasants turns up in a village of Jews to massacre them, accusing them of cursing people with the Black Death. Hanna, one of the women from the village, argues that they should fight back and create a Golem to protect them but the rest of the village doesn’t agree.
When Hanna’s sister loses her baby after being assaulted, she takes matters into her own hands and creates a Golem. The Golem saves Hanna from an assault but gradually becomes a danger to everyone as its actions work off Hanna’s emotions and it can’t be killed by normal means.
Star Ratings
IMDB: 5.5 out of 10 | Amazon: 4.0 out of 5
6. Toad Road (2013)
Toad Road is a distorted-reality ‘Seven Gates of Hell’ horror movie.
James doesn’t do much except party and do drugs. He meets Sara, a college student seeking enlightenment through drugs. He tries to dissuade her but she’s hellbent on achieving enlightenment her way.
She convinces him to go with her to Toad Road, a road in York, Pennsylvania, that has seven gates that supposedly lead you to Hell. With each gate you pass through, you get more disoriented and lose more of yourself.
They go there and takes drugs. James wakes up and discovers that six months have passed, Sara is missing, and he’s considered a suspect in her disappearance.
Star Ratings
IMDB: 5.0 out of 10 | Amazon: 3.9 out of 5
7. Nothing Left to Fear (2013)
Nothing Left to Fear is a supernatural ‘Stull Gateway to Hell’ horror movie.
Dan moves to Stull, Kansas, with his family where he’ll serve as the new pastor of the church.
The townspeople are all weird and the old pastor is planning something that doesn’t bode well for this new family.
One of Dan’s daughters chokes on a tooth baked into a welcome cake, which makes her ‘chosen by God’ to be possessed by the devil when the old pastor opens the gateway to Hell.
Star Ratings
IMDB: 4.4 out of 10 | Amazon: 4.0 out of 5
Published: 21 September 2022
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