Urban Legend

Urban Legend is a 1998 American psychological slasher film directed by Jamie Blanks, written by Silvio Horta, and starring Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, and Tara Reid. Its plot focuses on a series of murders on the campus of a private New England university, all of which appear to be modeled after popular urban legends. In addition to its younger cast, the film features supporting performances from Robert Englund, Loretta Devine, John Neville, and Brad Dourif.

Filmed in Toronto in the spring of 1998, Urban Legend was released in the United States on September 25, 1998, and grossed over US$70 million worldwide. The film has been credited by both cinema and folklore scholars as being one of the first major films to redistribute the urban legends and folklore depicted within it to the public.

It was followed by two sequels: Urban Legends: Final Cut, which was released theatrically in 2000, and the direct-to-video film Urban Legends: Bloody Mary in 2005.

Plot
Late one evening, college student Michelle Mancini is decapitated by a stranger in the backseat of her car. Meanwhile, local Pendleton University students Natalie Simon and Brenda Bates are told by their classmate, Parker, how Stanley Hall, an abandoned campus dormitory, was the site of a massacre in 1973. Paul Gardner, a journalism student, discredits it as an urban legend. News of Michelle's murder quickly spreads throughout the campus, but the dean Adams and campus police officer Reese seem determined to bury the story, much to Paul's frustration. Damon, a jokester fraternity member, attempts to console Natalie, who is notably disturbed by the murder, and they drive to a bluff. After Natalie rejects Damon's subsequent sexual advances, he goes outside to urinate, but is attacked by an assailant in a hooded parka who hangs him from a tree. Natalie flees on foot and returns to the campus, where she notifies Reese. However, upon returning to the area, Damon's car and body are gone.

The following day, Parker and his girlfriend Sasha assure Natalie that Damon has pulled a prank. Later, Natalie's Goth roommate Tosh is attacked while alone in their dormitory; Natalie returns during the attack, but assumes Tosh is engaging in sex, leaves the light off, and goes to sleep. In the morning, she awakens to find Tosh's corpse and the message "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?" written on the wall in blood. Distraught, Natalie confides to Brenda that Michelle was her high school friend, and that the two had received probation for causing a fatal car accident after driving with their headlights turned off and pursuing the first driver who flashed them. Paul meanwhile investigates local urban legends, and discovers that the Stanley Hall massacre was in fact real, and Professor Wexler, a psychology professor, was its only survivor.

Later that evening, Dean Adams is murdered in the campus parking garage, and Reese finds Wexler's office in disarray and covered in blood. Meanwhile, Natalie, Brenda, and Sasha attend a fraternity party coinciding the massacre's 25th anniversary. Sasha stays briefly before returning to the campus radio station, where she hosts a late-night talk show. During the party, Parker is confronted by the killer, who murders him by forcing pop rocks and bathroom chemicals down his throat. Sasha is subsequently attacked by the killer at the station, and her screams are broadcast on air; the partygoers assume it is a prank referencing the massacre, but Natalie fears Sasha is in danger. She rushes to the radio station, where she witnesses the killer murder Sasha with an axe.

Natalie soon finds Paul and Brenda on campus. Paul, convinced that Wexler is responsible, escorts them away in his car. They stop at a gas station, and while Paul is inside, Natalie and Brenda find Wexler's mutilated body in the trunk, and flee through the woods back toward campus. The two become separated, and Natalie flags down the university's janitor passing by in his truck. He picks her up, but their car is forced off the road by the killer, who pursues them in a separate vehicle. The crash kills the janitor, but Natalie leaves unscathed and flees on foot.

While passing Stanley Hall, Natalie hears Brenda screaming, and breaks into the building, where she finds several corpses, and Brenda lying on a bed. Natalie assumes Brenda is dead, but she awakens and knocks Natalie unconscious. Natalie regains consciousness and finds herself bound and gagged. Brenda reveals herself as the killer, enacting revenge for her fiancé David Evans, the fatality in the road accident Natalie and Michelle caused. Brenda attempts to perform a nephrectomy on Natalie, it is thwarted when Reese arrives and holds Brenda at gunpoint. Brenda manages to slash Reese with a switchblade, and Paul comes upon the scene during the melee. Natalie gains control of the gun, and shoots Brenda, who falls out a window. Natalie and Paul leave to get help for Reese, who is injured but still alive. As they drive away, Natalie and Paul talk about how this will later be an urban legend and all the facts will be misconstrued. Paul asks, "Well if this is an urban legend, where is the twist?". At this moment Brenda appears in the back seat and attacks them with an ax. Paul crashes the car on a bridge, causing Brenda to go through the windshield and into the river below.

Later, a group of students at a different university have recounted the events of Brenda's killing spree, during which they say that her body was never discovered. Most of them disbelieve the tale with the exception of one young woman, who is revealed to be Brenda. She claims that the story was incorrectly told, and begins to tell them "how it really goes."

Cast

 * Jared Leto as Paul Gardner
 * Alicia Witt as Natalie Simon
 * Rebecca Gayheart as Brenda Bates
 * Tara Reid as Sasha Thomas
 * Michael Rosenbaum as Parker Riley
 * Loretta Devine as Reese Wilson
 * Joshua Jackson as Damon Brooks
 * John Neville as Dean Adams
 * Julian Richings as Weird Janitor
 * Robert Englund as Professor Wexler
 * Danielle Harris as Tosh Guaneri
 * Natasha Gregson Wagner as Michelle Mancini
 * Stephanie Anne Mills as Felicia
 * Brad Dourif as Michael McDonnell