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In 1998, two films based their premises on the campus legend that if your roommate dies during the school year, you'll be consoled with automatic straight A's.

One was "The Curve," a forgettable thriller about a series of mysterious college murders meant to take advantage of the rule. The other was "Dead Man on Campus," an uproarious comedy that no one saw, maybe because people were scared away by "The Curve," which flopped at that year's Sundance Film Festival and never saw a theatrical release.

Poor "Dead Man on Campus," which is a wonderfully classless tale about two pals on the verge of being kicked out of school, determined to land a suicidal suitemate who will kick the bucket and grant them perfect grades. The movie had to pay for the sins of "The Curve" and sits lonely on rental shelves, a cult film without a cult to worship it. It's up to those who love the movie to evangelize on its behalf, get the flick seen and talked about, with the goal to one day be rewarded with a better DVD than the bare-bones 1999 release.

Maybe someday Criterion will resurrect "Dead Man on Campus" the way it did the college comedy "Kicking and Screaming" (1995) with a full slate of making-of documentaries, featurettes and cast and filmmaker commentary.

It would be a pleasure to hear wildman Lochlyn Munro talk about getting into character to play Cliff O'Malley, an out-of-control frat guy whose pastimes include instigating high-speed chases with police and setting freshmen's hair on fire. It would be illuminating to listen to director Alan Cohn's commentary, which would explain how he was able to calibrate the rhythms and timing of his unending flurry of sight gags, sharp dialogue and off-the-dorm-wall surprises.

The viewer's wide-eyed entry point is Josh (Tom Everett Scott), a pre-med freshman who moves into a raucous dorm filled with booze, drugs and loud music. At an opening-day party, Tom's math award is mistaken for a sex toy, then passed around to his embarrassment.

He's determined to stay on track until he meets Rachel (Poppy Montgomery), a creative-writing major who takes Josh's virginity and causes him to re-evaluate his outlook, concentrating on having fun rather than studying. That makes his roommate, Cooper, happy.

Cooper is played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, best known as Zack Morris in the TV series "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" (1987-89), which later became "Saved by the Bell" (1989-93) and finally "Saved by the Bell: The College Years" (1993-94). Since then, Gosselaar has worked regularly in TV, notably in "NYPD Blue" and "Commander in Chief," but he hasn't been able to get much of a film career going. Maybe because "Dead Man on Campus" ground out only $15 million in domestic box office on a $14 million budget.

That's a shame, because Gosselaar is definitely leading-man material, especially for comedies. In "Dead Man on Campus," he perfects the conniving, smooth-talking party maniac he inhabited for nearly a decade. Gosselaar's verbal quips play well off Scott's nebbish straight-man act.

After midterms, Josh and Cooper realize they have neglected their schoolwork to the point where they're in danger of being kicked out of school, so they go on the hunt to befriend a suicidal guy who will move in with them before he checks out. Cooper gets a job at a suicide-prevention center, which he uses to scout potential clients. The targets include a computer dork who's convinced Bill Gates is trying to kill him, a goth rocker who sings of offing himself, and, most entertainingly, the self-destructive Cliff.

"Dead Man on Campus" is amazingly rewatchable, and hasn't lost a bit of its edginess in the years since it's been released. The movie is remarkable for the way it manages to capture the feel of college life and the desperation to look for loopholes to success. "Dead Man on Campus" is an education in cheap, easy laughs.