Urban Legend (1998)

A college student suspects a series of bizarre deaths are connected to certain urban legends.

Director:

Jamie Blanks

Writer:

Silvio Horta

Stars:

Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jared Leto	...	Paul Gardener
Alicia Witt	...	Natalie Simon
Rebecca Gayheart	...	Brenda Bates
Michael Rosenbaum	...	Parker Riley
Loretta Devine	...	Reese Wilson
Joshua Jackson	...	Damon Brooks
Tara Reid	...	Sasha Thomas
John Neville	...	Dean Adams
Julian Richings	...	Weird Janitor
Robert Englund	...	Professor William Wexler
Danielle Harris	...	Tosh Guaneri
Natasha Gregson Wagner	...	Michelle Mancini
Gord Martineau	...	David McAree
Kay Hawtrey	...	Library Attendant
Angela Vint	...	Bitchy Girl

Storyline

Urban Legend tells the story of a group of pretty college students at a remote New England university. The focus of the story is Natalie, a beautiful, academically-gifted student at the fictional Pendleton University. Natalie and her friends are all involved in the Folklore class being taught by Professor Wexler. Wexler regales his class with urban legends, which include Pendleton's own urban legend about a Psych professor who murdered six students at Stanley Hall 25 years ago. Natalie is the first one to suspect there's a killer on campus, especially after she has ties to all of the victims. No one, including her friends, Wexler, Dean Adams and security guard, of course, believes her until it's too late. Now she finds that she and her friends are part of the killer's ultimate urban legend.

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Plot Keywords:

urban legend | college | goth girl | mysterious murderer | murder of roommate | 

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Taglines:

Never Talk To Strangers, Never Answer The Phone, Never Flash Your Lights, Never Leave The Car, And Always Believe, What You're Told

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence/gore, language and sexual content

Did You Know?

Trivia

Alicia Witt and Loretta Devine share the same birthday, August 21.

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Goofs

In the opening sequence, near the end the woman is driving away and the vehicle is moving at high speed along the road, yet when the axe crashes through the window, the vehicle is sitting still. This is impossible; a stop that abrupt would have sent anyone not wearing a seat belt through the windshield and regardless, it would have taken some time for the car to come to a complete stop anyway.

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Quotes

Nerdy Guy: Hey, listen.
[an audible scream in the middle of a song emits from the speaker]
Nerdy Guy: That scream, that's an actual cry for help by a girl being murdered.
Sasha: [feigning interest] You're kidding me!
Nerdy Guy: No! That's why it sounds so real. Because it was lifted off a 9-11 tape.
Sasha: [sarcastically] That's great.

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Alternate Versions

The version of the film shown on the USA network keeps onscreen violence to a minimum. All violence is shown very quickly, while the sound effects during killings have been removed entirely, and any shots of a dead body have been trimmed to show only a flash of what the body looks like.

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Connections

Referenced in Jersey Girl (2004)

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Soundtracks

Summer Days
Written by Bernie Meisinger and Charles Gigliotti (as Charlie Gigliotti)
Courtesy of MasterSource Music Catalog

User Reviews

You Can Only Rate Them On Laughs.

"Urban Legend" is just like all the other horror movies ever made. How can any horror movie copy another when they all have exactly the same story and plot? This is what "Scream" was telling everyone throughout the whole movie. In the end all horror movies are just comedies with very few jokes.

"Urban Legend" was just as good or bad as all the other recent horror movies. You can only go on the number of laughs you get which is usually three to five in a decent horror flick.

I enjoyed "Urban Legend" 3 Laughs out of 10.

Details

Country:

France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Urban Legends

Filming Locations:

Humber College - 3199 Lake Shore Blvd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,515,444, 27 September 1998

Gross USA:

$38,072,438

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$72,527,595

Company Credits

Production Co:

Phoenix Pictures, Canal+ Droits Audiovisuels, Original Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1