Urban Legend

"What you don't believe can kill you."

1998 1h 40m EN

😐

5.9

MID

🥫

31%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.6

IMDB

★5.9TMDB · 1,600🥫31%Rotten Tomatoes●35Metacritic★5.6IMDB · 77,244

HorrorMysteryThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A college campus is plagued by a vicious serial killer murdering students in ways that correspond to various urban legends.

“What you don't believe can kill you.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

fuboTVSubscription

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Alicia Witt
Natalie Simon
Jared Leto
Paul Gardener
Rebecca Gayheart
Brenda Bates
Tara Reid
Sasha Thomas
Loretta Devine
Reese Wilson
Michael Rosenbaum
Parker Riley
Joshua Jackson
Damon Brooks
John Neville
Dean Adams

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jamie Blanks
Writers: Silvio Horta, Jason Shultz
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.2× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

28 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Urban Legend Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jamie Blanks, shot by James Chressanthis. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Christopher Young. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jay Cassidy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Alicia Witt and Jared Leto and Rebecca Gayheart carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "What you don't believe can kill you.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jamie Blanks directs. James Chressanthis behind the camera. Christopher Young scores. Jay Cassidy cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 5.2× over at the box office.
228 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Urban Legend Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Jamie Blanks, shot by James Chressanthis. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Christopher Young. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Jay Cassidy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Alicia Witt and Jared Leto and Rebecca Gayheart carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "What you don't believe can kill you.".
9IMDB entry: tt0146336 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 11 themes, including "college", "twist", "murder", "urban legend".
11Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: James Chressanthis
Original score: Christopher Young
Editing: Jay Cassidy
Production design: Charles William Breen
Costume design: Mary Claire Hannan
Makeup / hair: Leslie Sebert
Sound: Mark D. Fleming
Stunt coordinator: Matt Birman
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $14,000,000
Box office: $72,527,595
Return: 518% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Urban Legend (1998)
Rotten Tomatoes: 31% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 35/100
IMDB rating: 5.6/10 · 77,244 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 2 nominations total

Part of

Urban Legend Collection

These films revolve around urban legends, featuring sinister murders, deadly spirits, and ominous conjurations, typically set in educational institutions like college campuses and high schools. The stories involve protagonists struggling against evil forces to avert deadly phenomena. Antagonists, often students familiar with the legends, use them as templates for murder or to evade detection. The films appeal to thriller and horror fans, with suspenseful and frightening elements. Common tropes include the "final girl" protagonist, the revelation of urban legend truths, and ominous atmospheric cues. These films, though entertaining, may be intense for sensitive viewers. Overall, the collection offers a darkly thrilling exploration of urban legends and their deadly consequences, blending horror and suspense to captivate audiences.

Also by

Jamie Blanks

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

slayrrr6662017-03-18
★ 9/10
Following a series of strange murders, a group of students at a college campus set out to investigate the crimes and their seeming connection to the killer when they find out the killer is basing their crimes on urban legends and set out to stop the rampage. This is far better than its reputation would have it. Among the better features here is the fact that back when this movie came out the gimmick of using the deaths based on urban legends allowed for some pretty inventive and original kills. The opening backseat driver decapitation is a great one to open a film on, the dead boyfriend suspended over a fleeing car in the woods offers some rather nice suspense with the killer appearing and continually trying to break into the car and the sex/strangulation misidentification is really cool mainly because the circumstances needed to make it true, from the back-story needed to make sure she shouldn't see anything, the killer gaining access to the room without violent means, and the actual sounds of the incident, are all mixed together and makes a marvelous scene. These here really work nicely due to the way they incorporate the whole mythology of the premise into their stalking and work incredibly well at bringing these together. Other great scenes, where she watches someone in the killers known attire stalk one of her friends in a swimming pool while she is helplessly trying to get her attention or the tense stalking of the DJ in the radio station during the thunderstorm make for some additional tense, thrilling scenes, and the way it works out due to knowing what the killer is dressed like is effective enough. That also leads into the twist about the identity of the killer and how their secret is kept, as the way there are so many different red herrings involved and all of them given good alibis to clear them, so by gaining more clues to their identity, it broadens the suspense by making an extra clue for the people to solve. These here really work nicely for the film as there isn’t a whole lot really to dislike here. The main problem with this film is that it was aimed for the masses to consume, so it has a lot of toned-down gore. Many of these killings should've been gorier, and it will probably disappoint many out there looking for a good gory slasher film. It also falls into the realm of those films where they're trying to poke fun of the genre at the same time as trying to scare, and here is one example that having a ton of cheap scares aren't that frightening. What makes it worse is that many of the jokes aren't funny, so it is a bit flat in some places. The pacing is a little off in the first half with all the build-ups to the class and what they all mean, but there’s not a whole lot else wrong here. Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, some alcohol use, a scene with a dog drinking and a brief mild sex scene.
jon992019-02-01
★ 9/10
Urban Legend is a movie I watched during a long weekend marathon of older slasher movies that seem to have been forgotten, or at least aren't as heralded as the more well-known movies of the genre (Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, etc.). Among these lesser known movies, I would have to say that Urban Legend deserves to stand above, as it is more entertaining, more enjoyable, and more slick than you would expect. The concept here is more important than the story. Whereas Scream created a slasher movie where the characters and the killers were horror movie obsessives, Urban Legend does the same for...well, urban legends. The concept is inherently clever, as urban legends are stories and bedtime tales that are meant to induce a sense of fear and paranoia about whether they're true. As our final girl learns the hard way, convincing people to believe in these stories is a difficult task. The main attraction here apart from the premise is the cast. Ignoring their late-90s star power, the cast is still packed with beautiful people knowingly playing up the qualities that the audiences will enjoy the most. Fans of Jared Leto will enjoy guessing whether his mysterious character is the killer or just a red-herring. Alicia Witt and Rebecca Gayheart prove to be believable and relatable best buddies who each keep a dark secret from each other. Meanwhile, Joshua Jackson shows up long enough to deliver the movie's best laughs and a fresh-faced Tara Reid gives the teenage boys bouncing cleavage while she runs. Lastly, Loretta Devine gives us an authority figure who is absolutely worth rooting for. The movie is not shy about its self-awareness. It knows it's silly, it knows it's preposterous. It knows that you know this as well, and it takes that knowledge and runs, well aware that you can keep up. And the kills are fun, exciting, and clever, which is what everyone wants most of all from a slasher movie, right?
JPV8522019-08-29
★ 4/10
One of many lame slashers that sprouted in the late 90s thanks to the mega success of 'Scream'. Good cast utterly wasted with stilted dialogue and a nonsensical story, a half-assed motive and tame kills that weren't all that memorable.