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| The new guy in town suffers harassment from the popular kids, until he and several other outcasts discover that something sinister is being done to the minds of the kids in the school--and he and his friends might be next.
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Subgenres: "mad" science, social commentary
Director: David Nutter
Starring: James Marsden, Katie Holmes
3 reviews | ||||||||||||
I did know that this film was directed by an X-Files director before I watched it, but even if I hadn't, I like to think I would have noticed on my own. For Disturbing Behavior is an XF progeny in every way, from the cinematography to the plot points. Unfortunately, it lacks the series' subtle intelligence; the movie strongly reminded me of a monster-of-the-week episode of The X-Files; it's watchable but uninspiring. (It's also like a hypercharged kiddie version of the definitely superior The Stepford Wives.) Disturbing Behavior is also a little too cool for its own good, which lends it a certain degree of shallowness that the sometimes confusing script doesn't help. What does help is the good performances from almost all of the cast, including William Sadler (who does an at-times hilarious William Hickey impression) and the supremely talented Bruce Greenwood. What ultimately limits Disturbing Behavior's effectiveness is that its central conflict is also its primary misstep--the film's philosophical problem should be the mind control itself, not the conversion's violent side effects. (Jan 20, 2000/Aug 17, 2000) philjohn.com - approaching the unexplained 
Of all so-called teen horror films, this is the one I surely cannot really find an opinion for. I am still sort of perplexed about this one, mostly because of its length, or rather, because of its brevity. 83 minutes of running time is something which almost has to be called an act of bravery in these days. But I couldn't watch it in cinemas, for here in Berlin it wasn't shown in English, and I refuse to watch an American movie in a dubbed version when there might be the slightest chance to watch the original. Dubbing destroys the atmosphere of a movie. Nevertheless I got hold of a DVD of this movie, and it actually proved worth it; and I really am glad not to have seen it in the theater. The reason being the wonders of DVD technology: More of a dozen deleted scenes, the original ending and the director's commentary being on the DVD. The movie so both loses and gains with having access to these deleted scenes. It loses for I am totally perplexed how so many really important scenes could have been cut out of the movie; but it gains because these scenes give the film its depth. Brevity is something which might seem a worthy approach for a horror film, but it only works to increase the suspense in a slasher manner. But both atmosphere and horror can be lost. Brevity is the ideal choice when the concept behind the movie is simplicity - working well for movies like those in the Halloween series; but with something like this movie, it has been very much the wrong choice. From some of his commentaries I understand that the final cut was not originally intended by the director, and he is right - the film fell victim to an act of mutilation. I can clearly see why extensive cutting sessions could be in place with the resulting movie still having well above 100 minutes of running time, but to truncate it that much - 'nuff said. Still the movie holds great potential, the acting of the protagonists being extraordinary, only surpassed by the visuals, by the truly X-Filean atmosphere created by this X-Files director. But all of this is even outdone by the main titles, which simply are the utmost best I have ever seen. The theme of the movie though was similar to that of The Faculty, and with both movies having come into theaters at almost the same time, this one somehow was on the losing end. That's sad, for it could have done better - it would have been better in a less shortened form. 
To my surprise, I thought this movie was very good! Seems like, from other reviews I've read, people were going to it to see "a horror movie like Scream" but it's not really a "horror movie" per se; more sci-fi/suspense. A new kid moves to town and finds something very strange going on with the other kids in school. More and more of them seem to be turning to the Blue Ribbons, the group of perfect kids in the school. They're just too nice to be believed . . . and unfortunately, they also have a tendency toward violence when they're sexually stimulated. So the new kid Steve (Jimmy Marsden) has to do what he can to get out of becoming a Blue Ribbon himself. Ok, so the idea isn't entirely original (the Stepford thing) and most of the cast isn't really very well known. Big deal. So the ending was somewhat predictable. Ok, show me a movie with a real shocker of an ending. I've seen very few in my lifetime. Disturbing Behavior is just a lot of fun, a little disturbing, and the acting was very good. If you feel like watching an entertaining mind-controlled teenager movie, it's worth the price of a rental :) (Oct 4, 1999)
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Has several cut scenes which are included on the DVD version of the film.
