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Good story, Not enough for a whole film

From my favorite movies..

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Oh wow, this "documentary" is really just a couple of hours of self-indulgence. Made by the same man who made "Cropsey" (which was ok), this film purports to reveal the origins behind 4 urban legends. The facts are sparse because it's not a real documentary. So the time is filled with visiting old locations where literally nothing else happens, telling innocent residents that their homes were formerly occupied by killers, and a plodding, uninteresting, downright irritating narration that I suppose is supposed to sound menacing but comes off as ridiculous and heavy-handed. If you're really into urban legends, your time would be way better spent at Wikipedia. This "film" is dull, uninspired, and boring.

I really enjoyed this piece! Rachel Mills and Joshua Zeman do an excellent job of examining several urban legends and the crimes that may have inspired them. I would really like to see them turn this into a series that explores true crimes and studies the twisting of the facts by the general public. Rachel and Joshua take a first person role in examining the facts and perceptions surrounding several high profile murders that spawned or at the very least bolstered urban legends such as the man with the hook, the babysitter and the caller and 'killer clown'. Their objective look at these is very believable and I think would do well in an ongoing examination of other high profile crimes and how facts get twisted in the retelling.

Poorly marketed! Mostly because (Netflix at least) did the marketing as a horror documentary. NOT SO! In fact, The most horrific thing about this was the real life crime photos (some massively disturbing of recently raped teens complete with legs spread) that they insisted on showing regularly. Unlike the Jack the Ripper photos, these were not blurry and while they weren't blood and guts material, I could have lived the rest of my life without seeing a photo or a raped and strangled 15-year-old in the pose her attacker left her in. The movie bills itself as "getting to the bottom" of the real crimes that inspired urban legends. As a lover of urban legends, this seemed right up my alley. What it really turned out to be was about 5 minutes of facts stretched into 20 minutes segments that involve the following contrived, poorly done techniques: * knocking on doors in the neighborhoods of the crimes and telling people the true story of their street only to cause fear in 80 year old women who are retired and happened to be at home *Lots of shots of people driving around pretending they are talking about something that hasn't been scripted but clearly has been based on the 0 reaction of the other party these people clearly aren't actors but were forced to give an attempt) *Countless lines of empty dialogue that ends in exclamation points (a la Amittyville Horror - novel form) but actually says literally nothing *More shots of people walking and having contrived dialogue that adds nothing to the plot (think, "this could be the tree where she was killed" uttered in a FOREST full of trees) * A "researcher" on cast who is supposed to validate what's being said but is clearly a grad student who is being paid to waltz about in inappropriate clothing (for the task - who wears heels and/or wedges to traipse about the woods?) *Starbucks marketing to the MAX. Now, they may love Starbucks, and that's okay. I drink Starbucks myself. But I have to wonder why it's in EVERY shot while they are in the car. The saving grace is that they don't drag the logoed cups out into the woods. (The stunning part of woods walking was reserved for the heels.) *Ridiculous timing. Am I supposed to be scared because they chose to "investigate" the forest where murders happened at night? Do they think I'm really dumb enough to wonder why they didn't go in the daytime when they could see instead of going to Starbucks? Anyone mounting a genuine investigation would do so in the freaking daylight. * LOTS of conjecture. In fact, only one of the four segments shown actually had a clear cut end. Now, I know urban legends are legends for a reason. But a film that professes it will get to the bottom of the true crimes behind the legends better damn well deliver SOME facts at least. Nope. Not here. The only firm facts delivered were in those of the case where the killer was executed for his crimes. But even then it's obviously not clear since he died professing his innocence (but at least they had the forethought to pause the footage of interviews with him on shots that made him look crazy because he was mid-word or mid-smile. Who looks sane in that pose?). The best thing is actually the montage of horror movie clips that show how the urban legends developed in pop culture. Which really means that the best parts of the film are ones that the film makers didn't actually make. The only positive I can think of is that one of the four segments was on a crime (the babysitter one) that took place in Columbia Missouri - a town not far from me. So that was the only thing that kept me watching past segment 2. In fact, I had already reached for the remote to stop it when I heard the phrase "Columbia, MO" and so continued watching. At that point, though, I had already dug out the trusty laptop to mess around on. I didn't watch hardly any of segment four, but at that point I figured I was already invested and so might as well continue (and that investment might have been really to the website I had started shopping on by that point).

In 2010 there was a chilling documentary called Cropsey about the real-life disappearances of five children in Staten Island and the urban legend it spawned. Now from Chiller TV, the director of Cropsey Joshua Zeman, is back with a new and equally unsettling documentary taking on four more classic urban legends and the real-life crimes that inspired them. Zeman and researcher Rachel Mills travel across the U.S. and dig deep to find the truth that inspired some of America's most chilling campfire tales… and truth is always scarier then fiction. Zeman and Mills first travel to Houston, Texas to investigate the murder of a little boy poisoned by tainted Halloween candy and quite possibly the case that started the popular fear-inducing Halloween urban legends of candy filled with glass, razor blades and poisons… of which there are actually no recorded incidents aside from this sad tale. We learn of the death of 8-year-old Timothy O'Bryan in 1974 and the intense police investigation which culminated in the arrest, conviction and eventual execution of the "Candyman", the man who poisoned the Pixie Stick that lead to Timothy's death and the start of these scary Halloween tales. Even more shocking was the man's name was Ronald Clark O'Bryan… the boy's own father. Proving the most frightening ghouls and goblins are the ones living in our very own backyards. The duo next take us to Columbia, Missouri to tackle the popular urban legend of babysitters being stalked by unknown fiends with the heart breaking rape and murder of young Janett Christman in 1950, who was sexually assaulted and strangled while babysitting for a local family. We are treated to an investigation that finds how the popular urban legend was fueled by the possibility that the same man may have committed a number of similar crimes and was never caught…though some unfortunate individuals were blamed for his heinous acts. Even more chilling is their research points to a man who was questioned but, never connected to the crimes… a man some of the victims knew as a neighbor and friend. This segment was particularly disturbing to think someone got away with murdering these poor young women and actually might have lived among them in plain sight. Zeman and Mills then travel to Texarkana to investigate a series of brutal murders of teens at a popular make-out spot that occurred in 1946 and inspired not only the urban legend of the "Hookman" but, the chilling horror classic The Town That Dreaded Sundown. We get another chilling investigation into a series of attacks and murders by a man dubbed "The Phantom", a crime spree that was never solved and even more unsettling is how the town is still haunted by these horrific events decades later and it has provoked some equally disturbing customs from the residents. Our final segment is sure to send goosebumps rippling up and down arms with a story touching on the fear of clowns and some really creepy clown cases and tales from the windy city of Chicago. For decades Chicago has suffered reports of clowns driving around in white vans trying to lure children inside and even more disturbing is that there are actually police reports and eye-witness accounts of this occurring… and the reports suggest there were more then one of these 'clowns' stalking the city. Thankfully, no children were abducted... that we know of. It's a case that has never been solved. We also get an in-depth look into a city that was home to the world famous Bozo The Clown show and to perhaps the spookiest clown creep of them all… John Wayne Gacy, who was convicted of killing over 30 people. Where did the fear of clowns originate?… Chicago apparently! All these stories are given some very thorough investigations by the documentary filmmaker and his researcher. We get some bone-chilling facts, shocking crime scene photos, interviews with those involved and visits to some of the actual locations which these real-life crimes and occurrences took place. It's very informative and the information provided can really be unnerving as we find the true start to some popular urban legends and the movies they inspired. And Zeman and Mills take us on this journey of discovery, eagerly trying to get to the bottom of these cases from which some of our culture's scariest bedtime stories have spawned. They dig deep and it's not only fascinating but, also quite horrifying that, in most cases, the perpetrators were never caught, or worse still, the wrong person was charged or suspected of the crime. And what better way to start an urban legend then an unsolved real incident?… and Zeman and Mills are more then happy to give us some hauntingly all-too-real facts that will make one sleep with a light on far more effectively than any movie or bedtime story. A very effective and disturbing documentary that chills and informs equally.