Blyss's Movie Review for:
Main Cast of Characters:
Rebecca Gayheart.........Brenda Bates
Alicia Witt.........Natalie Simon
Natasha Gregson Wagner.........Michelle Mancini
Michael Rosenbaum.........Parker Riley
Jared Leto.........Paul Gardner
Tara Reid.........Sasha Thomas
Joshua Jackson.........Damon Brooks
Robert Englund.........Dr. William Wexler
Loretta Devine.........Reese Wilson
Danielle Harris.........Tosh Guaneri
1998. Rated: R. Genre: Horror, Thriller; 100 minutes
Some stories actually do come true..........
As the story begins, we are presented with a typical urban legend killing. A young girl, Michelle Mancini is out in the middle of nowhere singing with the car radio when she runs out of gas in the rain. She pulls into a gas station and tells the attendant to fill it up. The creepy gas attendant takes her credit card and fills up her car. He goes inside and then comes back out and tells her that the credit card company want to talk to her on the phone. She gets out and goes inside only to find out that no one is on the phone. He tries to grab her and stutters but she hits him, maces him, and runs away. Finally she knocks him down with her car and speeds away only for us to hear: "Wait, there's someone in the back seat.". The killer is hiding in the back and kills her before she reached the school: Pendleton University. The next day, reporter Paul has reported the killing and the dean takes all of the papers off of the rack and says he will not have him spreading gossip and causing alarm. Paul knows Michelle's death was a reality and is angry at the dean. A bunch of friends: Brenda, Paul, Parker, Natalie, and Sasha all sit around and discuss the killing. All of them say they do not know the deceased, except Natalie is lying. She and Michelle went to high school together until they pulled a prank and killed someone. After Natalie goes out for a ride with practical joker, Damon Brooks, he is caught by the killer, a noose tied around his neck around the tree and his toes touch the top of the car. When she moves, he dies because the other end of the rope is tied to the car and he is hung. His body then falls on top of the car. She gets security but there is no body. It is dismissed but Natalie is convinced there is a killer out there: an urban legend killer. People she cares about start dying around her. Is she next?
This movie has two great things going for it: horror and comedy. That is a mixture I always enjoy. We have great and creative murders which keep us in suspense and we have a little comedy in some scenes to break the tension. I enjoyed seeing Michael Rosenbaum not being Lex Luthor in this film and playing a bit of a different and less stuffy Parker. Josh Jackson played a good prankster but his hair! He does not make a nice blond! I also thought Sasha's radio show was hilarious. It just seems strange that the University would let her conduct such a show and yet they pull all of the papers when news of a murder breaks out on campus. I don't know many universities that would have let Sasha get away with that. That must be one of the fictional aspects. Robert Englund, one of my favorite horror actors, played a rather dormant role in this film. That was disappointing. I really did not have a favorite character in this film though. The characters were kind of dull and what you would expect in such a film.
I hate to sound sickening but the murders in this film were probably the most interesting parts of the whole movie. Whoever thought of making an urban legend killer was a genius! I think I most enjoyed the killing scene with Damon getting hung at the beginning of the film. Also, Sasha's chase through the radio studio was thrilling when you realized everyone on campus could hear her screams over the radio and they thought she was just playing around because of the massacre. The first time I watched this film, I also appreciated the fact that I did not figure out who the killer was until right before it was revealed. That is how I like a film to go! Overall, I was impressed by this film even with the characters. For that, I give it this rating:
I rate this film: 8
Blyss