Disturbing Behavior | | Cast : | James Marsden, Katie Holmes, Nick Stahl | | Director : | David Nutter | | Studio : | Mgm/Ua Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | July 24, 1998 | | DVD Released Date : | July 17, 2001 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | April 03, 2005 | | Summary | Good start, terrible ending. | Content
 | Risen from the Dead of 1998 Direct to DVD hell the cast of Katie Holmes, Nick Stahl, Steve Railsback, Bruce Greenwood and William Sadler make an entrance here in this bit part movie that copies "The Faculty" without trying to be very different - drug themes, school themes, monster themes, bullies as football players, it is all the same. NO CGI or special effects, this is acting driven... but off the cliff, its sudden appearance in 1998 as a shelf space filler does not do it any more credit now. Watch another film with these fine actors in it, certainly the "The Faculty" instead, or even William Sadler in "Demon Knight". |
| Rating | | | Date | November 27, 2004 | | Summary | Decent plot and acting meet poor writing | Content
| This film starts out well enough, with a family moving to the odd little town of Cradle Bay seeking a fresh start, and an escape from the haunting memory of a son and brother who committed suicide. When the family arrives, the town seems eerily too-good-to-be-true. The "kitschy" small town flare, complete with that "everybody knows everybody else" sentimentality, is almost nauseating. How very cliché (can we say "Stephen King?").
When the family's two remaining children (one of them being James Marsden's character, Steve Clark) head out for their first day of school, it becomes easy to discern, to the viewer at least, that something is horribly awry. Sure, the usual high school cliques are present. However, they seem far too exaggerated. For example, the omnipotent "Blue Ribbons" (a.k.a. "jocks") are the school's best athletes, as well as the school's most academically inclined students. Few exceptions aside, is this generally the case? I think not. Furthermore, these students hang out at a yogurt shoppe. It's no longer the 50's, and most high schoolers have other various hang-outs. Yet another clue that should give the new arrivals some insight as to the odd goings-on in Cradle Bay. However, when Nick Stahl's character (Gavin) attempts to inform Steve Clark of the evil plot that is behind the Blue Ribbons and their oddly uniform characters, Steve remains clueless. It takes Gavin becoming a Blue Ribbon himself to spark the light bulb in Steve's head, and he then decides to discover the root of the evil.
With the help of a fellow student, Rachel (Katie Holmes), and a very cheesily written but well acted school janitor (Dan Zudovic), Steve uncovers the extremely "Stepford Wives-esque" plot. The mad scientist behind it all is unveiled just before Rachel and Steve are themselves to become Blue Ribbons. Together they must find a way out of their predicament before it's too late. Thus, the movie comes to it's extremely harried "grand" finale.
This film seems well-conceived, and probably could have been much better than it was in actuality. It would have been interesting to see more of the teenage angst, rebellion, and struggle for individuality yet desire to fit in developed in some of these characters. Perhaps then they would not have seemed so soulless and one-dimensional. The plot, though cheesy and cliched, began with some decent build up. However, the ending was a bit of a let down. Furthermore, some of the plot elements never quite seem to come to fruition, and the deleted scenes included on the DVD extras only partially solve this problem. Many of the scenes were also far too unrealistic. For example, the creepy, dank atmosphere at the asylum and the completely incoherent nature of every patient there seemed far too over-the-top. Not all of those institutionalized mumble, drool, and traipse around like zombies.
Overall, this film is decent for a rental, but not worth the money to purchase. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 01, 2004 | | Summary | TEEN ANGST | Content
| While DISTURBING BEHAVIOR is a notch above many of the teen slasher movies, what's most disturbing are some of the deleted scenes they left out, which would have fit nicely into the sometimes confusing film.
James Marsden who would go on to X-MEN, plays the handsome young student who is still suffering from the untimely death of his older brother. His family moves him to Cradle Bay, where a group of students called "The Blue Ribbons" epitomize the perfect teen---they hang out in a yogurt shoppe, for instance! But since they are merely under the mind control of dastardly Bruce Greenwood (always the bad guy it seems), they go out of control and eliminate anyone who stands in their way. Katie Holmes is around for the beauty aspect, but she is a good actress, too. Nick Stahl (Terminator 3) does well in his role as Gavin until he becomes one of the Blue ribbons and its downhill for his performance, too. William Sadler does great in his role as the seemingly ignorant janitor, and Tobias Mehler once again shows his potential in a rather thankless role.
Director David Nutter keeps things eerily spooky, but I wish these directors would stop using songs to bolster their box office. So many times the vocal background songs merely get in the way.
All in all, a tidy little thriller. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 30, 2004 | | Summary | Technolagy Anyone? | Content
| Great...!
This film isn't just another robot/teen/slasher film.
It's way more.
Watch it and find out what i mean.
Also, KI great work in this film. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 23, 2004 | | Summary | Thriller or Comedy? | Content
| OMIFG! This was one of THE worst movies ever made! Me and my cousin watched it last night, and were crackinig up, the script is hilarious! Who actually talks like that?! We watched it for a half hour only because we wanted to see if it would get any better, uhhh...sadly, no. We watched "American Beauty" instead *brilliant.* I really loved James Marsden in "Gossip"-which was an excellent movie, but the only thing 'disturbing' about this was the writing. Like James, l also liked his weird friend in "Wasted" but not at all in this. I love Katie Holmes, but even she couldn't help this project, talk about a WASTE OF FILM MONEY AND TIME! |
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