Which film featured a woman being decapitated in a car?

The film featuring a woman being decapitated in a car is Urban Legend. Its opening sequence introduces Michelle Mancini, a college student driving alone at night, who is attacked by a killer hiding in the back seat.

The scene draws directly on the “killer in the backseat” urban legend, in which a driver is unknowingly followed—or warned about an unseen attacker concealed inside the vehicle. Urban Legend turns that familiar fear into a graphic slasher set piece, using rain, darkness, a nearly empty fuel tank, and a sudden axe attack to build suspense.

Released in 1998 and directed by Jamie Blanks, Urban Legend is a campus horror film in which murders imitate well-known urban legends. Michelle's death establishes the movie's central idea: stories that people casually repeat can become deadly when recreated by a real killer.

A common mix-up is confusing this scene with later car-related deaths in the film, including Damon Brooks's hanging and the climactic attack involving Brenda. Michelle's decapitation is the film's opening murder.