Natalie and several of her friends are enrolled in a Folklore class at Pendleton University in New England. Their instructor, Professor Wexler, is teaching the class about urban legends, including his own legend about a mad psychology professor who he claims murdered six students at the Universities own Stanley Hall 25 years ago.
When a fellow student, Michelle, is murdered in what appears to be a copy of one of the legends, Natalie begins to suspect that a serial killer is on the loose using urban legends as his or her calling card. Soon her friends and others around her are disappearing and turning up dead in increasing numbers, and all in ways that coincide with the urban legends. Michelle is left to discover who is responsible, before she is next.
The interesting thing about the theme of Urban Legend is that hardly anyone can say they have never heard of at least one of these legends. People hear any number of things through word of mouth and never really take the time to see if there is accuracy to what they are taking as truth. In most cases, it is probably true that the stories are manufactured in order to instill through fear a particular behavior that the originator of the legend believed to be good. Professor Wexler's class would likely be a very interesting one indeed. After all, to what extent to the films of the horror genre play the same role in society today?
As for the film itself, the 1990's were largely a sapless decade for horror. With that said, there were a few gems. Gem might be going a bit far for this one, but it isn't bad over-all. Some of the dialogue might be poor, and the lengthy explanation of the killers motives mixed with insane ranting was drawn out unnecessarily to the point of silliness.
There are also some scenes that seem a bit unexplainable. For example, at the end of the film... why do the survivors drive away from the scene of the crime when ambulance are coming to them and they are injured... and don't they need to give a statement to the police? Where are they going? As for that guy from Dawson's Creek... well, even they couldn't help but poke fun at that.
On the other hand, it does keep you guessing about the identity of the villain almost right to the end... well done on that score. There are a few good scenes of suspense and the odd jump, without which it wouldn't have much to offer the average horror fan since it is feeble on gore and bereft of the seemingly obligatory nudity. A decent 90's slasher flick in its context, and it did well enough at the box office to warrant two sequels.
3.5 slashers hiding in the back seat out of 5
Rated R for horror violence/gore, language and sexual content.
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