DISTURBING BEHAVIOUR (M).
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:108 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!