Killer Legends

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.

I loved Joshua Zeman's first documentary Cropsey even though it was frustratingly short on details and hard facts. Killer Legends was uneven and hard to follow, especially the first segment about the hookman killing a couple in a lover's lane in Texas. It got better and more focused later, especially the candyman segment but it just wasn't as good as Cropsey. Watch that instead of this one.

Just like the directors other documentary, Cropsey, I found myself interested in the concept, but it really just let me down. It has a few little interesting moments, such as the clown segment, but overall it doesn't give a whole lot of information that you couldn't find online yourself with a little bit of research.

The film explores the concept of how certain urban legends come from real crimes that actually happened. In theory this sounds good, but it ends up kind of covering what we could already assume. It also covers some stories that have already been covered before, such as the case of the poison pixie stick a kid ate on Halloween. It would have been more interesting to hear about urban legends that came from surprising real events. I think Cropsey did the same thing. It was a documentary that had a good concept but just kinda goes into territory that is less relevant and becomes boring. It also seems ridiculous how the filmmakers try to "solve" these crimes themselves, as if they are going to find something that the tons of people who investigated it before them, including police and other interested people. I just knew that they wouldn't discover anything new or shocking.

I do wish this had more to offer, but it ends up being a forgettable documentary. I mean, if you really are interested in it, check it out, but if you know a little bit about urban legends, you might not get anything new from this.

The two presenters here are certainly no Louis Theroux. Do you remember the really annoying guy that would try scare others with creepy campfire stories on school camps? Well he is back and this is his documentary. For such interesting subject matter, it's testament to the incompetence of the filmmakers that they somehow manage to balls it up so badly.

It comes across highly exploitative and cheap in nature, with the presenters far too often the center of the film, instead of the subject matter itself. It features 4 'very American' urban legends. It would have been better off split into mini episodes as part of a Netflix series hosted by someone like David Farrier - because it doesn't quite work as a documentary.

Just ends up being two amateurs pointing at trees in the dark. It tries too hard to be scary, with not only on-site nighttime footage, but cut-shots of horror movies loosely based on the urban legends. The documentary didn't even come to much of a conclusion on the subject of urban legends.

Don't watch if you have a fear of clowns - though that segment was by far the most interesting part.

Delving into our collective nightmares, this horror-documentary investigates the origins of our most terrifying urban legends and the true stories that may have inspired them.

A few years ago, Joshua Zeman made "Cropsey", a punch in the gut documentary that started as an examination of an urban legend and turned into a full-scale exposure of something far worse. What many would rather have us forget, Zeman brought to life: a mental facility that was not doing its patients any good, to say the least.

This time he is back, examining not one but four urban legends and finding what may just be the truth behind them (or, if nothing else, real events that pushed the legends further into public consciousness). The hook man, the candy poisoner, the babysitter and the killer clown. Each is looked at in some detail (although limited by the film's running time).

With the hook, we travel to Texarkana, find a little-known serial killer who was never caught, and explain how fact and fiction were blurred through the film "The Town That Dreaded Sundown". The fact the city annually shows a film about the killer, who could have been alive and attended a performance, is a bit disturbing. And how these "Texarkana Moonlight Murders" are relatively obscure, even for serial killer buffs, is a mystery in itself.

In the candy poisoner segment, we learn of the legend of candy tampering, which is just that: a legend. Although circulating for one hundred years, instances are so rare as to be virtually non-existent. And then we have Ronald Clark O'Bryan, the man who took these legends and used them to cover up his real crime... and legend becomes reality.

The babysitter story, with a killer being inside the house, is best remembered as the plot for "When a Stranger Calls". Interestingly, we find that babysitters are not likely targets -- perhaps even less likely than the average person. But then the story takes a juicy turn, when we learn of a serial rapist and murderer who preyed on babysitters, and how a town's racial prejudice probably sent the wrong man to prison. This story deserves its own documentary.

Lastly, the killer clown. Apparently there is an urban legend (not as well known) of clowns that drive white vans and abduct children. And while they circulate around Chicago, the story cannot be traced to the obvious source of John Wayne Gacy (though he certainly intensified it). Here we never quite get to the root, but along the way learn a great deal about Chicago's history with clowns, which is interesting in itself.

This film is every bit as good as "Cropsey", though it does suffer from the format. From the short segments, we are left with one of two impressions (or both): that these needed to be longer but could not be because of running time, and that this was likely supposed to be an ongoing series for Chiller that never came to be. One can easily imagine Zeman traveling to a new town each week and getting to the bottom of an unsolved mystery and an old legend, being the gruesome counterpart to Jan Harold Brunvand.

And we hope he does make more.