Following a series of strange murders, a group of students at a college campus set out to investigate the crimes and their seeming connection to the killer when they find out the killer is basing their crimes on urban legends and set out to stop the rampage.This is far better than its reputation would have it. Among the better features here is the fact that back when this movie came out the gimmick of using the deaths based on urban legends allowed for some pretty inventive and original kills. The opening backseat driver decapitation is a great one to open a film on, the dead boyfriend suspended over a fleeing car in the woods offers some rather nice suspense with the killer appearing and continually trying to break into the car and the sex/strangulation misidentification is really cool mainly because the circumstances needed to make it true, from the back-story needed to make sure she shouldn't see anything, the killer gaining access to the room without violent means, and the actual sounds of the incident, are all mixed together and makes a marvelous scene. These here really work nicely due to the way they incorporate the whole mythology of the premise into their stalking and work incredibly well at bringing these together. Other great scenes, where she watches someone in the killers known attire stalk one of her friends in a swimming pool while she is helplessly trying to get her attention or the tense stalking of the DJ in the radio station during the thunderstorm make for some additional tense, thrilling scenes, and the way it works out due to knowing what the killer is dressed like is effective enough. That also leads into the twist about the identity of the killer and how their secret is kept, as the way there are so many different red herrings involved and all of them given good alibis to clear them, so by gaining more clues to their identity, it broadens the suspense by making an extra clue for the people to solve. These here really work nicely for the film as there isn't a whole lot really to dislike here. The main problem with this film is that it was aimed for the masses to consume, so it has a lot of toned-down gore. Many of these killings should've been gorier, and it will probably disappoint many out there looking for a good gory slasher film. It also falls into the realm of those films where they're trying to poke fun of the genre at the same time as trying to scare, and here is one example that having a ton of cheap scares aren't that frightening. What makes it worse is that many of the jokes aren't funny, so it is a bit flat in some places. The pacing is a little off in the first half with all the build-ups to the class and what they all mean, but there's not a whole lot else wrong here.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, some alcohol use, a scene with a dog drinking and a brief mild sex scene.

Urban Legend (1998): Dir: Jamie Blanks / Cast: Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Jared Leto, Robert Englund, Tara Reid: Another slasher film out to educate the public on various methods to kill people. It is a film about untrue events that bare probability. It involves the killing of teenagers based upon urban legends. Robert Englund plays a professor who teaches a class on the subject, and his urban legend involving a babysitter receiving threatening phone calls was presented in a superior horror film called When a Stranger Calls with Carol Kane as the sitter. Director Jamie Blanks does a fine job at concealing the killer's identity. It is well made but written as an executioner's handbook. When A Stranger Calls or Halloween have the suspense that this film lacks. We are required to blame the murders on Englund because of his notorious career as Freddy Krueger. Can a guy not get an even break? The young cast wander about aimlessly waiting for their roles to spark life despite the fact that the only thing to spark out of their lives is a very gruesome death. Among the wasted cast are Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart and Jared Leto and their roles consist of running, screaming and being murdered in some fashion that is unfortunately more creative than anything else the film has to offer, which isn't much. Yet another puke fest in all of its gory sick details. Score: 3 / 10

Released in 1998, "Urban Legend" chronicles events at a New England university where a mad killer is on the loose, imitating urban legends. Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart and Tara Reid play the three main female students while Michael Rosenbaum, Jared Leto and Joshua Jackson play the main dudes. Robert Englund is on hand as a dubious professor, Julian Richings as a weird maintenance guy, John Neville as the dean and Loretta Devine as campus security.While this is a slickly-made and entertaining late 90's slasher with a stellar cast, it's also hackneyed, cartoony, contrived, over-the-top and unbelievable; the revelation of the killer in the last act is particularly roll-your-eyes. It's also not scary. But, like I said, it's amusing and polished; I also like the NE locations (Toronto area). Alicia Witt plays a strong heroine and it's inexplicable that she didn't become more popular, although she's had steady work ever since.The film runs 96 minutes and was shot at Humber College, Toronto, Ontario, and nearby Trent University with an opening aerial shot of Trinity College School, Port Hope, Ontario.GRADE: B- (6.5/10)

This movie opens with Michelle Mancini (Natasha Gregson Wagner) driving in a rainy night and gets killed by an ax killer hiding in her backseat. At Pendleton University in New England, Professor William Wexler (Robert Englund) teaches a class about urban legends. Paul Gardener (Jared Leto) writes about Mancini in the school paper enraging dean Adams (John Neville) and security guard Reese Wilson (Loretta Devine). Mancini and Natalie Simon (Alicia Witt) were high school cheerleader co-captains. Then Damon Brooks (Joshua Jackson) is killed while he's with Natalie but his body goes missing. She suspects the killer is focused on her. Her goth roommate Tosh Guaneri (Danielle Harris) gets killed. She and her friends Brenda Bates (Rebecca Gayheart), Parker Riley (Michael Rosenbaum) and Sasha Thomas (Tara Reid) are stalked by the killer. Also there's a weird janitor (Julian Richings).This is a functional horror although it's nothing terribly original. In fact, the whole movie is about all the horror clichés. It plays it seriously. The cast is full of good young photogenic actors. It's a routine slasher movie and nothing more. Unlike other films, this does lack a sense of humor.