2022 - Urban Legend
This Arkansas-based urban legend about a werewolf-like dog man roaming around the town of Quitman merely embellishes a true tale. In 1954, a boy named Gerald Bettis was born. The rumors around town held that he was cruel and sadistic, and that he liked to capture stray animals and do twisted experiments on them. His cruelty only grew as he got older, and he was abusive to his aging parents. In 1981, his father was found dead in the family home, and his death is surrounded in mystery; the newspapers said it was illness, but many townspeople believed it was murder. Bettis then kept his mother basically imprisoned in the house until adult protective services placed her in protective custody. His mother testified against him in court and he went to prison, where he died in the 1980s. People say that his spirit still haunts the house where he grew up and where his father died. In many versions of the legend, his ghost walks on all fours and is shaggy like a dog, while in others he appears as a towering man wearing a brown jacket and bow tie. These are the spookiest urban legends from every state in America.
2022 - Urban Legend
"What the hell did you kids do?!" Lionsgate has released an official trailer for an indie horror movie called Where The Scary Things Are, the latest creation from filmmaker B. Harrison Smith. This premiered at the Horror Hounds Film Festival and will be on VOD in June this summer. A group of teenagers inspired by a high school "Create Your Own Urban Legend" project quickly get out of hand in their greedy desire for more "likes" and going viral with deadly consequences. It seems that they end up creating some kind of real urban legend monster, and film him to prove he's real ending up becoming a viral sensation - but it's also really killing people. Or so it seems from the trailer? The ensemble cast includes Paul Cottman, Michael Cervantes, Peter F. Cote, Quinn Andrew Fickes, Selina Flanscha, Oliver Givens, Emma Lim, Asher Ruppert, & Riley Sullivan. The dialogue in this trailer is pretty bad, but the rest of it seems okay.
According to a new report, Sydney Chandler and Katherine McNamara are both in talks for roles in the new Urban Legend. Keith Powers is also being looked at for a possible role but it's not clear where he and the studio are in the process. Chandler is set to play the protagonist, assuming the deal closes. There is no word on who McNamara will be playing, should things pan out. While specific details are largely being kept under lock and key, the reboot will see a "diverse cast of college students as they navigate a series of bizarre deaths that resemble urban legends linked to the darkest corners of social media." The movie is also said to be dealing with deepfake technology. Colin Minihan (What Keeps You Alive) is set to write and direct the reboot.
We welcome papers that explore any aspect of tall tales and urban legends from any period of American and African American literature or popular culture. Please send proposals to Jasleen Singh (ja.singh@mail.utoronto.ca) and Ross Bullen (rbullen@ocadu.ca) by January 3rd, 2023.
After being given the assignment to create their own urban legend they sneak back into the amusement park and find out that not all urban legends are false. They discover Lockjaw, the semi-human serial killer that supposedly haunts the area, and turn the creature into a viral video sensation. But to keep the hype, and the likes flowing they have to create increasingly nastier videos. And that eventually turns deadly. 041b061a72