Dead Man on Campus

Dead Man on Campus is a 1998 black comedy film starring Tom Everett Scott and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. It centers on the urban legend that a student gets straight As if their roommate commits suicide (see pass by catastrophe). Two failing friends attempt to find a depressed roommate to push him over the edge and receive As.
To boost ticket sales, the film's U.S. release was timed with the start of the new college school year in late August 1998. It was the first film by MTV Films to have an R rating. The film was shot at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
==Plot==
Josh gets into college on a scholarship, and Cooper is assigned as his roommate. Cooper does little work and instead spends all the time partying and consistently fails his courses, but his father continues to pay his tuition. The normally studious Josh is led astray by Cooper's lifestyle, and spends the first half of his first year partying instead of studying, and consequently fails all of his midterm exams. To his horror, he then finds out that a condition of his scholarship is a passing mark average each year, and that with his poor midterm score, he needs an A+++ in all of his courses or he will lose his scholarship.
Meanwhile, Cooper's father finally realizes Cooper is not trying to pass his course at all, and threatens to pull his funding if he does not get a passing mark this year, leaving him in a similar position. They find out about an obscure academic rule that states that if a student's roommate commits suicide, then the roommates get perfect marks for that year, regardless of any previous academic standing. Cooper and Josh set out to find roommates who are likely to commit suicide; their first potential roommate, Cliff O'Malley, is more likely to get himself (and any one with him) killed than commit suicide. They soon realize that he will likely get them killed or arrested and jump out of his moving car when he is being chased by the police.
Next, they try Buckley Schrank, a computer geek who thinks Bill Gates wants his brain. After they move Buckley in, they try to help push him over the edge. First, Cooper poses as a suicide hotline volunteer, and when Buckley calls, he tells him that he is Bill Gates and wants his brain. Then, Cooper buys equipment that may assist in a suicide (rope, daggers, prescription drugs) and as Josh and he are trying to plant the items around the dorm room, Buckley discovers the pair hiding from him with a noose and knife in hand. Buckley, who thinks that they are trying to kill him, and that the conspiracy to kill him and steal his brain is real, runs away.
Finally, Josh and Cooper move in with Matt Noonan, a moody rock musician. Later, Cooper catches him singing show tunes and learns he was voted Mr. Happy in high school, leading them to believe that he is only pretending to be depressed to impress girls and make a name for himself in music. Facing the loss of his scholarship, Josh stands on the edge of a bridge, about to commit suicide himself. Cooper tells Josh he is not a failure and talks him down. When Josh comes down from the bridge, he reveals to Cooper that he was faking his suicide attempt so the school would not fail him, and Cooper would look like a hero to his father. The film ends with Josh narrating that he was given an additional semester to improve his grades, in which he saved his scholarship, and that Cooper became a more serious student, but did work summers cleaning toilets for his father's business to learn how to eventually take over.
==Cast==
*Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Cooper Frederickson
*Tom Everett Scott as Josh Miller
*Poppy Montgomery as Rachel Gillmore
*Lochlyn Munro as Clifford "Cliff" O'Malley
*Randy Pearlstein as Buckley Schrank
*Corey Page as Matthew "Matt" Noonan
*Alyson Hannigan as Lucy
*Shelley Malil as Biology Professor
*Mari Morrow as Kristin
*Dave Ruby as Zeke
*Mark Carapezza as Hank
*Jeff T. as Jerry
*Jason Segel as Kyle
*Linda Cardellini as Kelly
*Aeryk Egan as Pickle
==Filming location==
Scenes were shot on the campus of University of the Pacific (Stockton, California), Modesto's 7th Street Bridge, and outside the campus of University of Southern California.
==Reception==
Dead Man on Campus received negative reviews from critics. The movie has a 15% rating on the aggregate film review site Rotten Tomatoes based on 46 reviews. The New York Times said the film was "predictably dumb", but praised Mark-Paul Gosselaar's performance, saying, "Mr. Gosselaar is so good, however, that his performance as Cooper sometimes overrides the film's adolescent tone." The film grossed $15,064,946 domestically against a $14 million budget.
==Soundtrack==
==Theatrical Trailer==
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Category:1990s black comedy films
Category:American black comedy films
Category:American buddy films
Category:1990s English-language films
Category:Films about fraternities and sororities
Category:Films about suicide
Category:Films based on urban legends
Category:Films set in universities and colleges
Category:MTV Films films
Category:Music Score films
Category:Paramount films
Category:Paramount Pictures films
Category:Films scored by Mark Mothersbaugh
Category:Films with screenplays by Mike White
Category:1998 comedy films
Category:1990s teen comedy films
Category:Films shot in California
Category:University of the Pacific (United States)
Category:1998 directorial debut films
Category:Films on VHS
Category:Films on Laserdiscs
Category:Films on DVD
Category:Pages containing Mature Content
Category:1:85:1 Aspect Ratio Films