Urbania

Ever hear the one about the kid who has a few too many drinks, goes home with a mysterious girl, and wakes up in an ice-filled bathtub with a major hangover and no kidneys? To this day, The Daily Texan, alleged to have published a version of the urban myth, still fields phone calls from physicians and other parties taken in by the hoax. Urbania, a sleek, unnerving adaptation of Daniel Reitz’s play Urban Folk Tales, taps into our craving for plausible hysteria, that need to believe. First-time director Jon Shear works comfortably within a realm of dark and familiar paranoia, handing out such twisted anecdotes like so many razor-blade-stitched Halloween treats. Specific examples would only ruin the perverse satisfaction of recognizing our sinister daymares as the film skittishly reincarnates them onscreen. Dan Futterman plays Charlie, and on the one night of the year when time repeats itself, he’ll try to create a second chance. (Sept. 22)

This article appears in September 1 • 2000.

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