The first time I saw this movie, I wasn't impressed. Then I started getting into urban mythology, thanks to snopes.com. I'm not gonna give away the ending, so the review willbe a bit short. The film stars Jared Leto, Rebecca Gayheart, Joshua Jackson, Alecia Witt, and some other people. Like every slasher flick, it starts with a murder. This one is the classic killer in the backseat legend. The victim is listening to her car stereo playing Total Eclipse of the Heart. Don't care much for the song, but it was so appropriate. As she starts singing Turn around! the killer comes up behind her. Pretty subtle humor, I thought. Actually, I failed to mention before the first kill, there's an urban legend reference. There's a call-in sow playing on the radio, and a caller is talking about how she had been stealing her rommate's birth control pills and replacing them with baby aspirin. Now the roommate's pregnant.
Anyway, the school's up in arms about this murder, since the victim was a student there. Natalie, the main character, is especially disturbed because she knew her. To make things more interesting, Natalie is in a class about urban legends (taught by Freddy Kruger himself,. Robert Englund). He illustrates how the old Pop Rocks and soda thing isn't true. Anyway, Natalie and Joshua Jackson drive off into the woods, and he tries to score. He leaves the car to take a leak and never comes back. Natalie hears sme squeaking on the roof. Guess where this is going. Josh dies, and Nat gets away. A body is never found, and everyone knew he had plans to go snowboarding. Oh yeah, the cops arrested the creepy gas station attendant for murdering the girl from the beginning.
Now, it's time for the roommate to go. She's a goth chick, and she regularly yells at Natalie for turning on the lights when her boyfriend is over. They make a lot of noise, if you catch my drift. Anyway, the roomie, Tosh, is chatting with someone online, and leaves the room for a minute. The killer comes in and strangles her. While all this is happening, Natalie walks in and, hearing the moaning and all, assumes that the boyfriend is over. She puts on her headphones and falls asleep. The next morning, Tosh's wrists are slashed and the killer had painted Aren't you glad you didn't turn the lights on on the wall in Tosh's blood. The death is rulesd a suicide, even though there's no way it could have been. First of all, Tosh's wrists were cut horizontally, not vertically. Second, the bloody writing was considered a suicide note, but if she was dying, there's no way she could have written that. Ah well.
Next, it's time for the dean of students to die. He's a big jerk, but he's no idiot. As he's getting into his car, he looks into the backseat a couple times. Unfortunately for him, the killer already did that one. This time it's the slashing the tendonds behind the heel trick. Then the killer runs him down with the car. He lands on the spike strip. You get the idea. Anyway, the killer offs the friends in clever way until it's time for the final showdown. Now, this being a slasher flick, we know Natalie's gonna win, but we don't know how. I think I'll leave it at that.
This wasn't a horrible movie. I enjoyed it this time around. Anyway, here's a list of urban legends in the movie:
Baby aspirin birth control
Killer in the backseat
Bloody Mary
Pop rocks and soda
Scratching on the roof of the car
Roommate in the dark room
Slashing the tendons
Dying woman recorded in Love Rollercoaster
High beam gang initiation
Killer calling from inside the house
Dog in the microwave
Kidney thieves
There may be more. I'd have to look.