Rating: 
Summary: No Such Thing as an "Urban Legend"
Review: Please, who believes in those? "Urban Legend" plays around with college students whom a mysterious killer in an eskimo jacket is after. A school journalist (Jared Leto), a redhead (Alicia Witt), a curly-haired girl with enormous eyes (Rebecca Gayheart), the boy from "The Mighty Ducks" (Joshua Jackson) and Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, all star in this clever movie. Whoa, scary! "Dere Dere Dere's someone in da back seat!" a gas attendant yells to a girl speeding away in terror. Even the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" told her to "TURN AROUND!" Unlearned child. Pop rocks with soda, not tasty! Trust me. This movie pulls out all the stops. I'm telling you, don't leave your dog alone. Poor Lex (Michael Rosenbaum, who isn't bald) didn't watch his dog. The best character in the movie is the janitor though. He's pure comedy. Decent film.
Rating: 
Summary: A top-shelf thriller!
Review: Since the release of Scream, dozens of filmmakers have attempted to cash in on the teen horror craze, with many failing miserably. Movies like The Glass House and The In Crowd made us cringe, more in pain rather than terror. Urban Legend, however, is the most original and suspenseful film to be released since Wes Craven's masterpiece, Scream, thrilled viewers in 1996.
On the campus of Pendleton University, someone is offing co-eds based on urban legends. We've all heard them, and disregarded them as clever stories to scare us. We all know that mixing pop rocks and soda won't make our stomachs explode. Or will it? Like Scream, this film is where many of it's cast members got their big break into show business. Jared Leto (Fight Club, Panic Room), Tara Reid (American Pie series, Van Wilder), Michael Rosenbaum (Sorority Boys), Joshua Jackson (TVs "Dawson's Creek", The Skulls), and Rebecca Gayheart (Jawbreaker) all show up in this thrill-a-minute shockfest.Urban Legend is by no means a perfect movie, but by the same token, it's a worthy entry in the teen horror set. You'll be surprised how scared a movie can make you. Don't waste your time on the inferior sequel, this is where the thrills are at.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, Predictable and Pointless
Review: It's all set on some leafy college campus in New Hampshire. Professor William Wexler (Robert Englund) lectures on modern folklore and urban legends. The trouble starts when someone begins bumping off the students in the manner of these same urban legends. Can our heroine Natalie (Alicia Witt) figure out who it is before she becomes another victim? Can her friends help her? Or is one of them the killer? Or is it the weird janitor guy? Or maybe the Dean? Or Wexler himself...? In fact it's extremely difficult, watching this, to give a toss who it is. It's one of the dullest, most mechanical, most derivative, least frightening horror movies I've seen recently. The plot, first of all, is a straight rip-off from the 'Scream' franchise, a plot line Craven has already done so thoroughly to death the last thing anyone needs is a retread anytime soon. The only twist is the urban legend angle which is also of course pinched from assorted other movies, most notably 'Candyman'. And most of the urban legends the film invokes are again just a set of horror movie clichés swiped from films like 'When a Stranger Calls' and 'Candyman' itself. There are various tricks a director can use to keep an audience on edge during the bits of a movie when nothing genuinely scary is going on. A favourite one is this. Character X is wandering round alone and gets a terrible fright when they meet someone unexpectedly. Stick a sudden loud discordant chord onto the soundtrack and you give the audience a fright too. But then it turns out only to be Character Y and nothing to be frightened of. Many horror films have been known to use this little tease to make us jump. Jamie Blanks, the director of this film uses it very early on. And then he uses it again. And again. And again. Eventually I lost count but I'd guess we're pushing into double figures by the end. By when it is abundantly clear that, while there are indeed many such devices at a director's disposal, this director only knows the one and, it being the only trick he knows, he's going to keep on doing it endlessly no matter how tedious and predictable it becomes. Even if you fancy a movie that will give you a good scare and don't care if it's bad most other ways, you really shouldn't bother. It's a suspense-free zone, about as scary as watching someone playing a game of join-the-dots. People who love horror movies so much they are determined to see them ALL will no doubt have to take this in. For everyone else, life really is too short.
Rating: 
Summary: Completely and totally mediocre in every sense of the word.
Review: The string of teen horror flicks was revived with the wonderful Scream. It was then followed up with I Know What You Did Last Summer. Then along comes Urban Legend. This film takes everything you learned from Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, and turns it into the completely predictable piece of film trash. You can figure out who the villain is, who he/she will kill and even how they are gonna bite it. The film is okay to watch if you are a fan of horror, but do not expect Halloween standards. The only thing good about this film were that a few of the scenes were inventive, but still predictable. Don't see this film, watch Scream instead.
Rating:
Summary: Typical Teen Horror Flick
Review: Following in the path of the late 90's teen horror flicks (such as "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and the Scream trilogy), "Urban Legend" sets out to create a new kind of serial killer movie, one where the deaths mimic urban legends. Some of the legends played out in this movie are the gang high beam initiation, the kidney heist, the dog "drying" in a microwave, and the killer in the backseat, just to name a few. My favorite part in "Urban Legend" would have to be the opening scene (minus the singing bit) with the young female college student (played by Natasha Gregson Wagner) driving around with the killer in her backseat. Pretty creepy. From there, the movie follows Natalie Simon (played by Alicia Witt), a student at Pendleton University who is the targeted victim of this urban legend serial killer. Natalie was also the above-mentioned girl's friend in high school. These two share a past accident that will come back to haunt them (or, at least, just Natalie), so pay attention to the clues and you may be able to guess the killer beforehand, even though s/he is kind of unexpected. There is some sex and profanity in "Urban Legend", but the gore ultimately wins out. (The queasiest moment for me: the botched kidney heist. I hate scalpels, especially after watching the killer use it so haphazardly.) Recommended for younger adult viewers who like horror films. There is a sequel to "Urban Legen" ("Urban Legends: Final Cut"), but it's not quite as good as the first.
Rating:
Summary: No Need to be Compared
Review: In almost every review anywhere of Urban Legend, it has been compared to the Scream trilogy (WHICH IS AWESOME!). Sure, maybe there is little comparison (the teen cast, killer having a costume), but the plot is way different. And is very good (couldn't think of a good adjective). Natalie is a student at a New England college, and her friends are beginning to drop off one by one according to Urban Legends. And Natalie is a witness to each murder that is done by the parka wearing ax carrier. But noone will believe Natalie. Of course, there is one more simliraity to Scream, the "Everybody's a suspect" thing, but who the killer actually is, is a total surprise! And he/she plays the best psycho I've seen in a while! The only thing I've found wrong with this movie is the casting of the lead Natalie. Alicia Witt wasn't just too believable. Only in the ending sequence was she. But all the other stars (Rebecca Gayheart, Michael Rosenbaum, Tara Reid, Loretta Devine) did some great acting. Now let's just hope the seqeul to be released this fall is as good.
Rating:
Summary: Urban Legend (1998)
Review: Director: Jamie Blanks
Cast: Alicia Witt, Jared Leto, Rebecca Gayheart, Joshua Jackson, Tara Reid, Robert Englund.
Running Time: 108 minutes.
Rated R for violence, gore, language, and mild sexual situations. With the success of "Scream" (1996) and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997), director Jamie Blanks cashes in on this second wave of slasher-hyseria with this slick, innovative angle towards the genre. The opening scene sets the tone for the entire film: a lone traveling college woman stops at a gas station to fill up, only to be harrassed by the sales clerk. Little does she know that the clerk is only struggling to warn her about the murderous maniac wielding an axe is hiding in her back seat. This, of course, is an urband legend that has been passed down from generation to generation. Alicia Witt stars as a normal student adjusting to college life, only to have her friends being knocked off by a killer in strange fashion--all die similarly to famous urban legends. With the help from the sly journalist Leto, they attempt to track down the killer before it is too late. Certainly a film that is better than expected, with an intense, smart script and suitable acting. Blanks does a fine job using certain camera angles and shots to portray the killer as mysterious and unknown. Look for Robert Englund, who plays Freddy Krueger in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" films, in a brief cameo as a college professor--he is almost as scary in this flick as his others. Rivals both "Scream" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" in style and authenticity.
Rating:
Summary: Well if You're Gonna Watch a Slasher Flick---This is It
Review: Urban Legend is probably the best teen slasher flick since the early 80's. I know that's not saying much but the acting was surprisingly good in this film. Finally the producers picked young actors and actresses because they had some acting ability and not because of the way they looked. Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Jared Leto and Tara Reid are all familiar faces now though they weren't that familiar then. Witt, Leto and Gayheart all got their starts on television and obviously it trained them well. Urban Legend does follow the slasher-predictable path to the T but it is not at all as corny and sickening as past films. It is very violent and moves fast. I found it ten times more entertaing than Scream which to me was about as scary as a child's fairy tale book. If you don't have the patience I do to sit through films that aren't top, award-winning material, don't waste your time with this. But if you like to just watch movies and take a load off, I suggest you get Urban Legends. It's the best teen horror of the 1990's.
Rating:
Summary: DISTURBIN URBAN
Review: URBAN LEGEND is definitely a cookie cutter slasher movie, but Jamie Blanks directs with an intense fervor; the cast plays and/or overplays its roles with thespian gusto. The identity of the killer is sly; early on, I suspected this person, but got lost in the other red herrings, so that only when it became obvious who the killer is, did I pat myself on the back and say "I told you so." The use of the urban legends as a stimulus for the killings is unique, and there are some tense scenes. Robert Englund looks a little lost in the rather docile role of the professor who is an expert on "urban legends." Alicia Witt and Rebecca Gayheart, in particular, do nice jobs as the teeny bopper girls screaming and running. Loretta Devine as the campus security cop is very "cool" in the you go girl arena. Joshua Jackson, Michael Rosenbaum and Tara Reid fare less effective, but fortunately do not hinder the movie. The "Halloween" syndrome occurs again in that we never know if the killer is really dead???
I've definitely seen worse thrillers, so this one isn't the dud some critics assert.
Rating:
Summary: Cable viewing only
Review: While not flat-out 'bad', Urban Legend really ammounts to nothing more then an untimately unfulfilling 'Scream' clone. It has it's moments, there are scenes where UL is at least trying to be clever. That's about the nicest thing I can say about it though. Unless you know someone actually in the movie, I can't possibly reccommend buying a copy. However, you could catch it on cable without feeling like you've been cheated.
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