Urban Legend (1998) - ★★½

Director: Jamie Banks
Writer: Silvio Horta
Stars: Alicia Witt, Jared Leto, Rebecca Gayheart, Loretta Devine, Tara Reid

Urban Legend is in many aspects just another 90's horror movie where teens are killed one by one by a surprising killer. What sets this movie apart from others though is the unbelievable yet entertaining plot of a serial killer that murders students at Templeton College using Urban Legends as their method. This movie is thrilling and entertaining but unfortunately the combination of bad acting and terrible dialogue make this movie just as ridiculous as it is scary.

In a memorable scene at the beginning of the movie, we see a young woman driving in the rain singing (badly) to 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' by Bonnie Tyler. She notices that her gas tank is empty, so she pulls over to an eerie gas station and meets a deformed and suspicious gas station attendant that tells her that her card has been declined. Little did she know, he got her out of the car because he saw someone in the back of her car. She thought he was trying to kidnap her so she got back into her car and drove away with the axe wielding murderer, which ended in a suspenseful and brilliant start to the movie.

Other highlights to the movie was the cop that tries her best to be like Foxy Brown, played by Loretta Devine, and Rebecca Gayheart's brilliant performance as Brenda. Jared Leto and Tara Reid also star in this movie and surprisingly Tara does a great job at being a semi-intelligent outspoken coed. What took away from this movie most was whenever the main character Natalie tried to emote how scared or upset she was, she just came across as an actor trying to act. The good thing about this movie is that most scary scenes were executed well however it just wasn't enough to save it from everything else.