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.

---

Plot Keywords:

urban legend | college | slasher flick | orchestral music score | goth girl | 

---

Taglines:

At Pendelton Univ., Urban Legends are coming true!

---

Genres:

Horror | Mystery

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Country:

USA Canada

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

If you look behind Natalie and Parker in the auditorium, you will see Screenwriter Silvio Horta acting as a college student.

---

Goofs

While it was probably added for tension and to introduce a greater conflict, the dean's actions to both Paul and Natalie would likely have cost him his job. Her 'criminal record' -- clearly stated to have been an action in high school -- would have been cleared upon her 18th birthday and majority, as per juvenile offender regulations. The dean would have had some difficulty even discovering such information unless he had been looking specifically for it (and likely violating a number of laws), but in any case it not only would have put his position at risk, it also was utterly irrelevant to the allegations Natalie had brought against Wexler and may have been a violation of Natalie's rights. Another instance in the film where involvement of the authorities was conspicuously ignored and characters seemed to happily overlook the very obvious problem with the situation.

---

Quotes

Bitchy Girl: [watching 'Tosh's' dead body being carried out on a stretcher] You should check her pulse, she's been like that for years.

---

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.

---

Connections

References Halloween (1978)

---

Soundtracks

Tortured
Written & Performed by Annette Ducharme

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.