Following in the footsteps of discovery+ and the Travel Channel’s recent foray into documdramas, Eli Roth’s latest anthology series, Urban Legend, captures all those stories you heard were true…and maybe are.
The mini-horror film format that worked on The Haunted Museum and Eli Roth Presents: A Ghost Ruined My Life, takes a sometimes more “realistic” (read less paranormal) turn in Urban Legend, with stories featuring serial killers, murder mysteries, monsters, and naturally, more than a few involving ghostly visitors.
Mid-way through the first season of the new anthology series (consisting of eight one-hour episodes, with the fifth episode debuting on November 25) the bag has been pretty mixed and pretty scary.
As stated early, at least half of the episodes stray from the paranormal to tales of spider bites, stalkers, and organ harvesters. For those used to the ghosts and demons that populate the programming on both the Travel Channel and discovery+, the intensity is turned up a notch, including additional gore not usually seen on the networks.
Director Jason Lapeyre’s upcoming “The Harvest” (who also directed two episodes of A Ghost Ruined My Life) is a good case in point, which tells the tale of an egotistical older gentleman looking for a romantic connection over a digital dating site, only to find himself missing a kidney in the morning. These “horror stories” ripped from the pages of tabloid magazines and click bait websites make people wary of chance encounters with strangers, and “The Harvest” is genuinely disturbing for that reason.
And if those stories are a little too real for you, there are a few haunted episodes this season centered on prom dresses, creepy visitors who live in the walls, and a haunted shower on a university campus.
The mix of terror-filled tales is a natural step for the networks to take in the direction of the uber-popular serial killer and true crime series currently filling the streaming and cable airwaves, but just be sure that you know what you are getting into before turning on Urban Legend. Just like in the stories that the episodes take their inspiration from, you just may get more than you bargained for.
Urban Legend airs on Friday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Travel Channel and all-day on discovery+.