# Disturbing Behavior (1998)

### reviewed by
Greg King

    DISTURBING BEHAVIOUR (M).
    (MGM/Columbia Tristar)
    Director: David Nutter
    Stars: James Marsden, Katie Holmes, Nick Stahl, Steve Railsback, Bruce
    Greenwood, William Sadler,
    Chad E Donella, Katherine Isabelle, A J Buckely, Tygh Runyan, Crystal
    Cass, Ethan Embry, Tobias
    Mehler
    Running time: 83 minutes.

    The Stepford Teens?

In this mildly diverting thriller, a group of troublesome teens are tamed through brainwashing techniques developed by Cradle Bay High School psychiatrist Dr Caldicott (Bruce Greenwood, from The Sweet Hereafter, etc). He has created a group of well behaved, diligent students, known as the Blue Ribbons, who pursue excellence both at school and within the community. However, there is a fatal flaw in his technique. Every time one of these seemingly perfect adolescents develops sexual urges, they go ballistic, erupting into erratic and violent behaviour. The town's sheriff covers up most of the damage, while Caldicott soothes anxious parents with lots of psycho-babble.

Steve Clark (James Marsden, from the mini-series Bella Mafia, etc), the new kid in town, becomes suspicious of their unnervingly docile behaviour and sets out to expose Caldicott's sinister experiment. He receives help from some fellow misfits, including the paranoid geek Gavin Strick (Nick Stahl), the pigmentally challenged UV (Chad E Donella), and the tomboyish Rachel (Katie Holmes, from the popular tv soap Dawson's Creek).

Disturbing Behaviour's simple plot reads like an adolescent version of Ira Levin's 70's thriller The Stepford Wives, with judicious borrowings from other, far superior films (A Clockwork Orange, Village Of the Damned, etc) thrown in for good measure. Actually, it also reads like something from a novel by John Saul, a best selling American horror writer whose unsettling, but formulaic, thrillers are set in small, picturesque towns like Cradle Bay, and primarily deal with troubled teens threatened by strange and sinister events.

Screen writer Scott Rosenberg (Beautiful Girls and Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead, etc) makes little attempt to disguise his influences, but he lacks the flair and reverential, knowing style that gun writer Kevin Williamson would have brought to the material. The film obliquely raises the question of which is the more disturbing behaviour - that of the teens, rebelling against authority and struggling to establish their own identity, or the sinister machinations of Caldicott to produce mindless robots, lacking any sense of individuality, who systematically conform to an imposed code of discipline?

First time feature director David Nutter hails from a background on spooky tv series (The X Files, Millennium, etc), but he fails to bring much tension or sense of unease to this film. Nutter brings virtually every cliché of the genre into play here, and the film displays precious little originality or imagination, even down to the soundtrack. Even the obligatory sting in the tale reeks of desperation, and lacks credibility. The contemporary teen horror film genre, which largely began with Scream, seems to have run its course if this inferior, feeble effort is any indication.

The film will hold a modicum of appeal for its targeted teenage audience, most of whom will be drawn by the presence of Holmes. Disturbing Behaviour features a cast of hunky new comers, who work well within the limitations of a horribly clichéd script. However, performances are not of great importance here. Worst of all is William Sadler (Die Hard 2, etc), whose horribly cheesy performance as the school's janitor, who is not quite as simple as he seems, is reminiscent of Billy Bob Thornton.

Disturbing Behaviour is mercifully brief, and, at a brisk 83 minutes, doesn't outstay its welcome. Nonetheless, audiences would be better off waiting for the far superior and more sophisticated teen drama Cruel Intentions. Catch this one on video if you must! ** greg king http://www.netau.com.au/gregking

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