The first murder follows the urban legend where the girl stops to get gas and the gas attendant sees someone in her back seat. Only Michelle (Natasha Gregson Wagner), the victim, gets spooked by the stuttering gas station guy and flees, only to be decapitated to the sounds of "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Since Michelle was a student at Pendleton, the entire campus is abuzz with the gory news, especially since this isn't the first time something ghoulish has happened at Pendleton.
25 years ago, one of the dorms was a hunting ground for a killer who relentlessly went to each door and slit the throat of its inhabitant. But most of the kids dismiss this tale as an urban legend. In fact, most of the kids have heard 'em all since they are all in Professor Wexler's (Robert Englund) class on urban legends. As the body count rises, Alicia becomes convinced there's a psycho on campus. With the help of friends Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart) and Paul (Jared Leto when he was hot, hot, hot!), who also happens to be the school paper's top reporter, the pals are determined to get to the bottom of things. But when Alicia's roommate and then her friends start dying by various urban legends, Alicia starts to fear for her own life. Can she unravel the mystery before she succumbs to this crazed killer?
Urban Legend is actually 10 years old and is being re-released on Blu-ray. I remember seeing the flick years ago and I enjoyed it, but had forgotten most of it. Seeing it again was really fun as this is a stereotypical 90's horror film. There's a bit of gore, but its more anticipation than anything else. I found the pseudo-ending to be a little stupid, but then it is redeemed by the actual ending. Urban Legend benefits slightly by the slickness of the movie in Blu-ray, but what really pops is the surround sound. When a glass broke in the middle of a tension-filled scene, I whipped my head around, thinking Geck0 had broken a glass behind me. Good stuff.
Special features are skimpy and merely include a making-of and some commentary, but the making-of does contain a weird sex scene that was omitted from the film staring Tara Reid, Michael Rosenbaum and his voyeuristic dog.
While the movie is a good horror from the 90's and all of the actors play their parts well, with Rebecca Gayheart being slightly over the top, the best by far has got to be supah-fly supercop Reese Wilson (Loretta Devine). She is hysterical as she practices her Foxy Brown impressions daily and then gets to save the day, finally, at the end of the film.
If you dig 90's horror, this may be one to pick up if you don't already own it.
