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 | mysterious killer | college | slasher flick | orchestral music score | 

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Taglines:

Just because it didn't happen, doesn't mean it can't

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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

Reese drives a, 1992 Ford Crown Victoria.

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Goofs

In the final scene, the lead character's abdomen is seen being cut open with a scalpel. We then see her scream in pain. Minutes later, she is no worse for wear, considering the major incision in her stomach. There is no more mention of this "pain" for the rest of the film because the scene was added at the last minute.

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Quotes

Sasha: Wait a second. This is definitely not a myth!
Natalie: What?
Sasha: The gang high-beam initiation. It happens all the time. Gang members drive around with their headlights off, and when someone goes and flashes their high-beams to warm them, they kill them! That's why I never warn anybody about anything when I drive.
[Natalie seems uncomfortable about this topic]
Sasha: Anyways, I've gotta go. I've got some homework.
[Sasha picks up her Kama Sutra book and Natalie laughs]
Natalie: See you later, Sasha.
Sasha: Bye.

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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

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Horror Movie Chase Scenes (2015)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Yet another teen slasher movie, but this one better than some

This is yet another teen slasher movie, one of the many to have come out recently. I don't think this one quite ranks up to the SCREAM movies, but I think it was better than the I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER movies.

College student Natalie Simon, (Alicia Witt) mourning over the recent murder of an old friend, finds herself in great danger after a large number of students are being murdered. Each murder is performed in the style of an urban legend, which many of the kids know. Everyone is a suspect, including the best friend Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart), love interest Paul (Jared Leto) and friend/prankster Damon Brooks. (Joshua Jackson)

The premise of this movie is fairly cool, but the rest of the movie is basic slasher-movie type stuff. It's pretty predictable too, as are most movies like this one. The acting is not especially great, but some of it is fair. Alicia Witt does a good job as the star of this movie. Rebecca Gayheart probably does the best acting job of all, especially at the end.

Most all of the characters are boring and flat, aside from the main one. Many are simply there to get killed, and some that are more important are not as interesting. Still, this movie is better than I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and probably worth a rent.

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