Netflix adds underrated mystery thriller perfect for fans of Scream and Longlegs

Stephen Porzio

It’s one of the few movies where we’d argue a reboot may be necessary.

Earlier this week, JOE wrote about Longlegs – in our opinion, the absolute scariest movie of 2024 – being added to Prime Video.

And those who have seen the mystery horror thriller will know that a standout of the film was Alicia Witt’s deeply unsettling and haunted performance as the lead character’s devoutly religious mother with whom she has a strained relationship.

This wasn’t Witt’s first mystery horror thriller, as she was also the star of Urban Legend – an underrated 1998 slasher that has just been added to Netflix.

In the movie, the actress plays Natalie – a student at the fictional Pendleton University, where pupils and staff start dying in mysterious ways.

Natalie comes to suspect that the college is being targeted by a serial killer, who is murdering people through methods inspired by grisly urban legends – “contemporary folklore passed on as a true story”, a professor played by horror legend Robert Englund explains.

As Natalie begins investigating, she turns to journalism student Paul (Jared Leto) for help.

Who is the culprit and who will survive? Also part of the story is Natalie’s best friend Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart), their shock jock campus radio presenter pal who often disseminates urban legends Sasha (Tara Reid), Sasha’s bro-ey boyfriend Parker (Michael Rosenbaum), Parker’s prankster pal Damon (Joshua Jackson) and campus police officer Reese (Loretta Divine).

Alicia Witt and Rebecca Gayheart in Urban Legend

It’s worth noting that aside from Witt’s involvement and the fact that they are both horror mysteries, Urban Legend is tonally very different to Longlegs.

In fact, its main inspiration seems to have been the 1996 modern classic Scream – having arrived in the wake of both it and its 1997 sequel.

All three are slasher whodunnits with starry young casts and a meta element to their stories – with knowledge of urban legends being key to survival in Urban Legend as opposed to horror cinema in Scream and Scream 2.

It’s these similarities that probably led to Urban Legend being dismissed by critics upon release as a derivative, slightly more vulgar take on Scream – it’s true that many of the supporting characters lack the charm of those that appear in the 1996 flick.

But watching Urban Legend nearly 27 years after its release – away from the immediate aftermath of Scream – it certainly holds some pleasures.

These are mostly Witt’s likeable lead turn, a clever central idea by screenwriter Silvio Horta (who would go on to create the hit series Ugly Betty), a handful of stylish tense set pieces from director Jamie Blanks (Valentine) and a mystery that keeps you guessing right up until the enjoyably heightened finale.

It’s these elements that probably led Urban Legend to be a big box-office success despite the negative reviews, with it earning a sequel titled Urban Legend: Final Cut two years later.

While the follow-up was less successful, it still made more than triple its budget in theatres. It was then followed up by a direct-to-DVD third entry in the franchise called Urban Legend: Bloody Mary in 2005.

In recent years, there has been talk of a reboot, though plans seem to have stalled.

We’d argue though that in a post-internet era where conspiracy theories are rife, there could be more stories to be told in the franchise.

How to watch Urban Legend

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Urban Legend is now available to stream on Netflix in Ireland and the UK.

If you want to watch it but want to save the cash, you could use this technique with an Amazon Fire Stick to save money.

The trick is something called ‘leapfrogging’, which is a way to skip between shorter, cheaper subscriptions to watch what you want to watch without signing up for expensive year-long contracts.

For example, you can get a basic Netflix package for €8.99, and stream what you want to watch via your Fire Stick and cancel it before your next bill.

You can then take advantage of the free trials of other services without signing up for them, all from the same place on your Fire Stick, so it’s super easy and convenient!

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