A REVIEW ABOUT THE MOVIE

I'm sure we all know atleast one Urban Legend. Whether it be the one about the girl who slept with her arm out of her bed and waited for her dog to lick her hand to let her know everything was safe and well in the house, only to find one more morning her dog had been killed in the bathroom and a message in it's blood left saying "Humans can lick too"...or how about the one where if you say 'Bloody Mary' three times in a mirror, you will see the ghost of Mary Worth who some say murdered her own children, or how about the most common one of all, if you eat a pack of pop rocks (those crystals that pop in your in your mouth) and drink a fizzy drink at the same time and swallow....your stomach explodes. We all know atleast one.

INFORMATION
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Directed by: Jamie Blanks

Starring:
Jared Leto -as- Paul Gardner
Alicia Witt -as- Natalie Simon
Rebecca Gayheart -as- Brenda Bates
Michael Rosenbaum -as- Parker Riley
Tara Reid -as- Sasha Thomas
Joshua Jackson -as- Damon Brooks
Loretta Devine -as- Reese Wilson
Danielle Harris -as- Tosh
Robert Englund - as- Professor William Wexler

Released: 1998

Running time: 99 min.

PLOT
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This movie is about a killer who murders their victims based on common Urban Legends. There are about maybe 14 or 15 real Urban Legends used in this movie and they used in an excellent way.

The movie starts immediately, it's one of those movies where it starts straight away with the opening credits still appearing on the screen. It begins with a young woman driving home in the dark. The whether is your typical for a teen horror movie, the rain thats beating on your windscreen and the odd flash of lightning and occasionally a big bump of thunder. At this moment in time, the woman we see is nameless, but we do eventually find out her name is Michelle Mancini.

The typical thing happens, she runs out of gas, but just manages to pull into a really run down looking gas station and an even more run down looking man! He becomes known as the gas station attendant who has a speech problem....he stutters.

The attendant fills her car up and goes inside with her credit card to charge her, but within minutes he comes rushing back and tells her, quite difficultly as his speech problem is very obvious, that there is a problem with her credit card and she must come inside to talk to her credit card company on the phone. She doesn't particularly want to go inside as he could do anything to her, afterall it is a gas station in the middle of no-where, so she takes her pepper spray with her. Upon entering the station, she goes for the phone only to hear the dreaded "beep beep beep beep beep"...the gas station attendant grabs her and he is clearly trying to tell her something, but she sprays him in the face and makes a run for her car.

She quickly speeds off with the gas station attendant still trying to tell her something.....but what is it he's trying to desperately tell her??? I'm not going to spoil it for you, but it is possibly your worst nightmare and Michelle doesn't live to tell the tale.

From here, we are later introduced to the main cast. They are just having a casual chat about certain Urban Legends in the coffee shop on campus where they all attend Pendleton University, known as the safest University in the country.

It isn't long before the whole campus finds out about what happened to Michelle Mancini (the girl at the beginning of the movie), and they all go into a state of panic that somebody on their campus has been murdered. After another murder, somebody makes a suggestion that the killer could be basing their horrendous murders on Urban Legends.....

DOES THIS IDEA WORK?
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Lets face it, now-a-days, if this movie was more modern, it would be seen as pathetic and over the top and completely unrealistic. But we have to face facts that this movie is nearly a decade old. It did work in it's day, it was a new idea. Instead of your bog standard teen slasher of a psychopath with no original ideas of how to kill their victim, this film went one better and decided to base the murders on something that is spoken about and believed in real life. You do get a sort of eery feel when you see the murders happen, knowing that there is an actual Urban Legend for that murder!

WHOSE WHO?
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Jared Leto plays Paul Gardner, an on campus reporter looking to report anything juicy or gripping. He is the first to report that Michelle Mancini has been killed. Paul is lusted after by Brenda.

Alicia Witt plays Natalie Simon, the main character who works with Paul to try and figure out whose been murdering their friends before they get killed themselves. She has a depressing goth as a room mate.

Rebecca Gayheart plays Brenda Bates, the best friend of Natalie and the one who is lusting after Paul. At one point she thinks Paul and Natalie are getting too close for comfort and jumps to conclusions.

Michael Rosenbaum plays Parker Riley, the party guy. This guy doesn't really care much about whats happening and he takes one day at a time. He throws a huge party to celebrate a massacre that happens years ago.

Tara Reid plays Sasha Thomas, the host of the University radio station. Sasha is the girlfriend of Parker and also a friend of Natalies.

Joshua Jackson plays Damon Brooks, the prankster and the all round joker who loves to freak people out, but also believes he is a ladies man and a complete stud.

Loretta Devine plays Reese Wilson, the on campus security woman. She can be quite annoying as she is quite interferring and loves the fact she has the power of telling people what to do as she is the security for the campus.

Danielle Harris plays Tosh, the goth room mate of Natalie. She is very depressed and has painted half the room black. At one point, she's asking for guys to hook up with her on campus via an online chat....but who she received as the guy who wants to hook up is really somebody she should be avoiding!

Robert Englund plays Professor William Wexler, the only lecturer we see in this movie. He has abit of seriousness to him but he is also quite sarcastic with his students.

WHAT IS THE ACTING LIKE?
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The acting is not bad at all. Even now, you can watch it and not think the acting is bad. Afterall, the cast is pretty good, what with Jared Leto, Joshua Jackson and Robert Englund who is no stranger to us as he was the genius that is Freddy Krueger.

Admittedly it was weird seeing Robert Englund with his rubber mask and razor sharp gloves on. He plays the serious Professor, and sometimes it is hard to take him seriously as a lecturer, because you can't help but notice even without his rubber mask, he does look alot like Freddy. However, his acting is very good and pretty superior to the rest.

Obvously there are cries for help in this movie and they are not pathetic like some teen slasher movies. Tara Reid actually makes believeable cries for help and plays the pretty girl clinging on to her life very well. I must say also that she looks alot different in this movie compard to now, she was not as skinny....more real looking.

IS IT PREDICTABLE?
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Yes and no. Yes because you can pretty much tell when somebody is about to die by the big lead up to it. But no because when I first watched it, I was gobsmacked at who the killer was! If you have seen this movie and guessed who the killer was before the ending, then well done. I am by no means thick, but I truly believed it was not that person!

You can predict whose going to survive, but you can with the majority of films out now-a-days.

WHAT LETS THE FILM DOWN?
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Just the fact that it is a teen slasher movie. I was in my mid-teens when I first saw and thats probably why I enjoyed it so much, because it was aimed at my age-range. However, i'm almost in my early twenties now and admittedly it's not spectacular anymore, probably because i've seen it so many times, but mainly because it's pretty dated now and horror / thriller has been abit more modernised now.

IS THERE A FOLLOW UP?
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Unfortunately there is. If it wasn't for the follow up, Urban Legend would be seen as something so much better. The second film 'Urban Legends 2:The Final Cut' is disastrous, but this can be said for most slasher film follow ups, it just shouldn't be done!

Do not watch the second one before the first as it will put you off completely. Once a new idea has been done, then just leave it alone, don't try and make it better because with this idea, it just didn't work.

They completely went out of their mind and decided to make a third installment titled 'Urban Legends 3:Bloody Mary'...why why why!? This film is the worst thing I have seen and I would just suggest to watch the first one and the first one only!

OVERALL OPINION
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I would recommend this as a film to watch just once in your life. Yes you might find it abit dated and unrealistic now-a-days, but just think about how it would've been taken 9 years ago.

It's a film that will always be sat on my DVD rack at home as i did really enjoy it's idea back in the day. It was on Channel 4 afew weekends ago and I sat and watched it and I didn't enjoy it as much as I did afew years ago, but thats only because I have seen more and more horror films since then that are more modern and tense.

This is not a brutal or haunting film. It will freak you out a little bit and leave you with afew chills, and maybe it will shock you in the end if you don't guess, like me.

All I can say is to just give it a go. It's not disapointing and I will probably continue to see it as one of the best slasher movies I have seen.

EXTRA INFORMATION
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This film is ageing now so as you would expect, the prices to buy this movie are not on the expensive side.

Amazon - £2.29 used and new
Play - £4.99