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 & 1 nomination.

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 | gothic | goth girl | characters murdered one by one | 

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Taglines:

It Happened To Someone Who Knows Someone You Know... You're Next.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Country:

USA France

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, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$38,072,438

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$34,455,157

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Julian Richings, Loretta Devine, Alicia Witt, and Robert Englund have all appeared in one or more episodes of "Supernatural". They played Death, a psychic, an angel, and a back room doctor.

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Goofs

There is not only no way that Natalie's roommate could have written such a lengthy note without collapsing from blood loss, but also no way that anyone would have assumed that 'no foul play' had taken place; additionally, a security guard from the school would not be sufficient to make that sort of pronouncement in any case, and actual police investigators would be involved in the case of any such violent death. Natalie even mentions the message, which would seem to showcase a tremendous oversight in writing.

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Quotes

Brenda: [after hearing about the news of Michelle Mancini's death by decapitation] Hey, did anyone here know her? She roomed in Daly.
Sasha, Parker: No.
Brenda: [Natalie seems lost in thought. Brenda snaps her fingers] Hello? Space cadet.
Natalie: Oh, no. I didn't know her.
Damon: Actually, you know, I did know her.
Sasha: You did?
Damon: Yeah, and I'll miss her, too. Girl gave great head.

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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

References Halloween II (1981)

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Soundtracks

Total Eclipse of the Heart
(uncredited)
Written by Jim Steinman
Performed by Natasha Gregson Wagner

User Reviews

Let's get our slasher on!

Ah our precious 1990's, so many great things came out of this memorable decade, including a streak of teen slasher films. Let's face it, after the mega success of Scream which opened the doors once again after Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street, we needed a new classic. So naturally all the screen writers who were a bit scared to present their ideas on the table, thanks to Kevin Williamson, the clever writer of Scream and Dawson's Creek. After that, every teen slasher film was released: the Scream sequels, I Know What You Did Last Summer, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, etc. But we didn't stop at that, we were now presented with Urban Legend.

The film begins on a dark and stormy night as college student Michelle Mancini realizes she is near empty while driving in her car. There's someone in the back seat as Michelle drives, a figure in a dark coat with a fur trim around the hood sits up in the back seat and, with a swift blow from its axe, decapitates Michelle. The same night, on campus, a group of friends listens to Parker Riley tell an old story about one of the campus halls, Stanley Hall. According to the story, in 1973, an abnormal psychology teacher went crazy and killed all the students living in an on-campus residence hall. Paul, a school paper journalist thinks the story is bogus. Still, the story sticks in their minds, especially for Natalie, and Brenda. The next day, the front page of the campus newspaper has an article about Michelle Mancini's murder written by Paul but the papers are quickly confiscated by school officials. Later that night after going into a secluded area of woods to talk, Natalie reveals to Damon that she knew Michelle, but they hadn't spoken in years. Damon, playing on Natalie's vulnerability, tries to make a move on her but she rejects him. Upset, Damon goes into the woods to urinate but is attacked by the killer. He then is hung from a tree in a noose with the rope attached to the bumper of his car. The next day, no one believes Natalie's story due to Damon's penchant for pranks and tricks. Realizing both Damon's death and Michelle's murder closely resemble famous urban legends, Natalie goes to the library to read up on urban legends. Not realizing the terror has just begun to scare her and her friends even more.

Basically, Urban Legend didn't stand out against it's competitors, it has every cliché in the book. Not to mention no memorable actors that had the same chemistry as the cast of Scream. It's over written at times and has every predictable moment: the friends don't believe in a ghost story, a couple people get killed off but everyone thinks it's a prank/fake death, a classic chase scene with a big breasted girl in a skimpy costume, the creepy janitor, the smart girl that no one believes is all of a sudden right about all the murders and of course a mega twist ending that no one will ever see coming! OK, Urban Legend isn't a horrible movie, while it has all these predictable moments and clichés, it's still actually fun to watch and a good part of the memory of good teen slasher films that came out of the 1990's.

6/10