A few weeks ago I did a tiny promotional article for a short film titled Miss Mary Mack. Written and directed by Johnnard Harper, the short film was a contestant in the ABC’s of Death II competition and saw the famed children’s rhyme turned on its head. Not too long after that Johnnard contacted me in reference to reviewing his first feature film, Urban Myths. Since I enjoyed his previous work so much, I was more than happy to watch and give an honest reviewing. Having watched Urban Myths tonight, here’s my thoughts.
Johnnard Harper not only wrote, produced and directed Urban Myths, but he was one of the lead actors in it, too. Cast members appearing alongside him include JP DeStefano, Tabitha Fuller, Caitlyn Moore, Tina Fuller, Jordan O’Neal and Jenna Garcia. The film follows an independent production crew as they are this close to making it big due to a network enjoying the previous episodes of their show which focuses on debunking famous myths. To kick off a series of new investigations, the crew heads to a home that was previously attacked and destroyed by none other than Bloody Mary herself. Quickly, they realize that this myth is far from untrue.
Ok, let me get this out of the way right now. Just because you choose to film something reality television styled or as a found footage film is not an excuse to slack behind the scenes. My god, the cinematography and camera work in Urban Myths is beyond horrible during the first 20 minutes. Beyond horrible. So bad that it makes The Blair Witch Project look like Avatar. So bad that I almost didn’t make it through the first four minutes because my eyes were bleeding. Camera was all over the freakin’ place, zoom in/zoom out, out of focus/in focus, shaky pan/shaky dolly… My eyes! Why have you hurt me so, Johnnard Harper? Luckily, midway through the movie the camera work improved dramatically, but that first 20 minutes… Geez…
One thing that stayed constant throughout the entire movie, though, was the awesome acting from the cast members. I thoroughly enjoyed everyone’s performance here, especially JP DeStefano and Tabitha Fuller. Without giving too much away, Caitlyn Moore was great in her portrayal and the director, Harper, has some skill in front of the camera as well as behind it. Too bad he wasn’t utilized more here! What helps them sail through Urban Myths is that they are all very believable and realistic in their mannerisms and what little friendships we saw. No stiff acting, no awkward motions, no forced dialogue. I can tell that they really understood the script, had lines or point cards memorized and turned up to set ready to work. I don’t know if they knew each other before filming, but they all appeared warm and natural here.
Now, the plot of Urban Myths is kind of slow. Up until the 55 minute mark nothing scary happens except development of the legendary Bloody Mary character and a handful of “was that a ghost?” moments. Although, once it hits that 55 minute mark, it’s full steam ahead and turns into a very decent horror film. This may turn off a lot of viewers, but there is actually a huge market for films like this, ones that are inspired by “Ghost Hunters” and “Paranormal State.” It’s so popular, in fact, that I think it’s starting to become its own subgenre in horror cinema. With that said, despite the slowness of the first three quarters of the movie, I think there will be some appeal to fans who are into found footage films about ghost investigating gone wrong – or in this case urban myth investigating that turn deadly.
An extremely talented cast, tackling the subject of one of the world’s most popular female ghosts and entering the project in a popular subgenre of film does not make for a success story. You still need other elements to propel the film to distribution, and unfortunately I think Urban Myths is lacking some of those elements. That camera work during the first 20 minutes hinders a lot of this title’s chances of doing well in any major market. My suggestion? Self distribute. I firmly believe that if you put time, money and effort into making a feature film on an independent budget, then people still need to see it, no matter what good or bad qualities it possesses. Personally I think putting Urban Myths up for stream on Amazon Instant Video and doing a self DVD release through CreateSpace would the best way to get Urban Myths out to the public. Is it rough around the edges? Yes. But it’s not a complete loss in any way. Johnnard Harper definitely has talent – as seen with Miss Mary Mack – he just missed the ball on this one.
Final Score: 5 out of 10
