Urban Legend (1998)

I saw this at the cinema with a group of friends. I remember enjoying it. I couldn't imagine watching it now.

Is this the one where Tara Reid has a call-in sex advice hotline, called "Under the Covers" ? Lol. I loved this as a late 90s teen 😂 (The main girl is so frumpy though, haha - wish Rebecca Gayheart was the lead)

R2 Yes it is!

R1 I find it nostalgic.

Favorite line: "Ugh, Rent-a-Cop to the rescue!"

R4 YES! Rebecca Gayheart was a bitch in this

Didn't Gayheart kill someone through reckless driving or am I confusing her with someone else?

R6 Yes, she did in real life after this movie. I think like 2005

This was Silvio's big break. He'd go on to create the American version of Ugly Betty.

RIP old friend.

I actually loved URBAN LEGENDS 2 even more! It takes place at a different location, a film school I think located in Canada. It has an entirely different cast and lead, and Hart Bochner in the cast.

Alicia Witt has the charisma of a cold sore in this. Jared Leto never looked better.

This movie made me realize that Alicia Witt, who I loved on Cybill and in Fun wasn't a leading lady.

We haven't heard from her in a while, have we?

I liked Alicia Witt in this

But she is a slice of Wonder Bread lol

Watching it now. This ancient and stuffy college dean is ludicrously miscast. Not even the deans/dons at Oxford 1840 acted like this dude. Passing off an obvious murder scene as a "tragic suicide," sipping tea, overseeing a library so broke it still uses candles in 1998.

He was better as the villain with a soul in The X-Files.

R15 That ancient dean is Sir John Neville.

He was a revered actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was also in Billy Budd, A Study in Terror, Crime and Punishment, Topkapi, The Shaggy Dog, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fifth Element, The X Files, Spider, and Sunshine.

One of my favorites. I rented it from the video store when I was in 5th grade in the late-‘90s (I was precocious and obsessed with horror movies from a young age). I have rewatched it many times as an adult and I think it holds up well. Definitely in the league of “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, which, although a slightly better movie overall, is not nearly as rewatchable to me. “Urban Legend” has a great gothic atmosphere and is more playful and inventive. Tara Reid’s chase/murder scene is classic.

R17 I agree with you! Of the late 1990's slashers, I would rank it:

Scream

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Sleepy Hollow

Candyman

Urban Legend

Halloween H20

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Scream 2

Scream 3

Another thing this film benefits from is that is populated with a plethora of eccentric characters/performances: Rebecca Gayheart's insane overacting at the end is amazing (and her HAIR!), and Loretta Devine is a hoot as the "Foxy Brown"-obsessed campus security guard. You also have horror alumni like Robert Englund playing the creepy psychology professor, and Danielle Harris as the cunty, lithium-addicted goth bitch who loathes Alicia Witt (who I actually like in this, by the way—her meekness in the role works fairly well). Tara Reid is funny and loveable too as the slutty campus radio host with her live sex show, and Michael Rosenbaum as her boyfriend never looked hotter.

R11 -- Alicia Witt on "Cybill" was a grade A cunt, which pretty much sums up her acting range.

I liked Alicia Witt in Cecil B Demented, and as a little girl on the original Twin Peaks (Donna Hayward's little sister).

Roger Ebert, who had a harsh track record when it came to slasher movies, surprisingly did not excoriate it in his review. He fully acknowledged it for what it was, but noted some positive points and did not rip it to shreds. He gave it two stars in his review—"I Know What You Did Last Summer" only got one.

R22 I usually agree with Roger Ebert, but I disagreed with his "Summer" review

R21 me too. This line is still, to this day, one of the funniest things I've ever heard in a movie:

She dressed like a secretary in this film

Hart Bochner (sigh)

R26 he's not in this?

I'm watching it now! It's on Hulu!

R28 are you enjoying it?

Seeing Michael Rosenbaum with hair is always weird. But at least it wasn't a wig like in Sorority Boys.

This is always on my Halloween play list.

It really sets a mood, with the thunder and lightning, the dark setting, the New England university background, and the great cast.

I was surprised to discover that Joshua Jackson was the youngest main cast member in this movie.

[quote] I liked Alicia Witt in this

So did I. She was completely adequate.

Alicia even cradled her mug, in one scene!

And R19, don't forget the guy who played the creepy janitor!

He's in a lot of horror movies, and he was great in this one.

The only thing I didn't like about this movie was the cute dog in the microwave.

I could definitely have done without that scene.

I liked Danielle Harris as the goth roommate from he'll.

Sequel is great. Hot male lead bares his ass.

How did Silvio Horta’s big break happen?

The gays in power today don’t help the younger gays anymore. They just help the trans and bipoc and women.

Has anyone seen the third movie? Is it worth checking out?

[quote] I was surprised to discover that Joshua Jackson was the youngest main cast member in this movie.

Jared Leto was by far the oldest of the entire cast of "students."

I think he was 37 or something.

R9 Urban Legends 2 is such ridiculous fun. What film school has access to a life size plane set, lol.

R34 I saw it but all I remember is that it's very cheap looking.

R36 so in other words it's not scary?

It is a fun late 1990's slasher. The production definitely copied Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Besides the likes of Neve Campbell, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe, you have Alicia Witt, Jared Leto, and Joshua Jackson.

Joshua Jackson read as gay in this film. Was it the bleached blond hair?

R39 he was good as a bitchy blonde twink in Cruel Intentions.

R40 The film that launched a thousand boys firmly into faggotry!

Cruel Intentions is Dangerous Liaisons for teens

Sweet Christ! Luv that fur!

Michael with hair is just wrong.