Interesteg What makes it different from others?

BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Leofwine_draca Very similar in feel to the same year's THE FACULTY, this teen movie is professionally made (if a little too "slick") and well-directed by David Nutter. Thankfully, instead of making yet another clichéd slasher movie, the producers opted for a STEPFORD WIVES-style conspiracy full of paranoid behaviour and brainwashing. The result is a mixed combination of science fiction and thriller films with plenty of horror content thrown in too. Although plenty clichéd, DISTURBING BEHAVIOUR proves to be a harmless enough evening's entertainment with some nice ideas and good performances, but far from a classic. After a brilliant plot set-up the film gradually falls to pieces at around the halfway mark, becoming an action-orientated film with one climax after another. Whilst the first half of the movie concentrates on building atmosphere and suspense - something it does very well - the second half is a plot less, predictable, and shallow viewing experience.The flaws are too numerous to mention and typical for the genre. Bad, "teeny" style music playing loudly at inopportune moments and lots of would-be subtle in-jokes and references to other, better films. Then there's the lack of explanation as to the brainwashing experiment itself, which is just kind of glossed over without any real depth. The action scenes are well-staged and stick to being realistic without any glossy special effects, which is good, although the silly ending (which owes a debt of inspiration to the Pied Piper story) lets it down.James Marsden (X-MEN) and Katie Holmes (THE GIFT) take the leads as the unconventional lovers and are seemingly cast for their good looks rather than their talent, as both are wooden and unconvincing at times. Luckily Nick Stahl (TERMINATOR 3) is around to show them how its down with a fine edgy performance as the paranoid loner. Veteran support comes from Steve Railsback, underused as a sinister cop, and William Sadler, who plays a somewhat silly character (although, in a moment of inspired cheesiness, he does get to utter the immortal line "Teacher, leave those kids alone!"). Nevertheless, DISTURBING BEHAVIOUR is surprisingly entertaining attempt considering the amount of flaws it has and the clichéd story, although hardly brilliant. A mindless and occasionally brilliant movie which tends to hit more than it misses.

ersinkdotcom Katie Holmes takes on the role of rebellious Goth teen Rachel Wagner in "Disturbing Behavior." She was doing her best at the time to break free of her good-girl typecast in "Dawson's Creek" where she played near-perfect Joey. What that means is she grimaces a lot and dresses up in half-shirts and rocker boots."Disturbing Behavior" has all the tropes you could ever want in a genre film from the late 1990s. You get over-the-top performances and bad acting mixed with hints of tell-tale talent. A melodramatic electronic soundtrack is mixed well with an alternative rock soundtrack and clothing styles that defined the decade. The lesson to be found in "Disturbing Behavior" is that you must fight for your identity and individuality. Don't run with the crowd just to be accepted. There's a lot more social commentary here than what you would expect from a Hollywood teen flick.The visual effect used to show the brainwashing really ages the movie as well. They're a sort of fractal imagery that would have looked advanced in a Pre-CGI world, but comes across as hokey today.The movie is rated R for strong violence, sexuality, language, and drug content. There's nudity in a couple of parts and one definite scene suggesting something is going on out of frame. As usual, it's really all needless and might have been the reason the movie wasn't as successful as it could've been were it accessible to a PG-13 crowd. "Disturbing Behavior" manages to provide some great thrills and chills. The best way to describe it is as a sort of teen slasher mixed with "The Stepford Wives" and "A Clockwork Orange." The ending seems rushed and comes with some cheesy one-line and a tacked - on finale that would lead you to believe they're might be a sequel in the works. Unfortunately, the movie didn't make enough money at the box office to merit such a thing.

Screen_Blitz In the 1990s, when the teen horror genre was on the brink of obscurity with fans growing tired of same horror clichés repeated over and over; Wes Craven shocked audience with his highly original horror flick 'Scream' and later came a new original horror film 'I Know What You Did Last Summer', both of which reignited the teen horror genre to fandom. However, this thriller directed by David Nutter who is responsible for the hit science-fiction television series 'X-Files' attempts to imitate a teenage version of 'The Stepford Wives', but suffers from a dull execution and absurdly ineffective thrills. This movie follows young teenager Steve Clark (played by James Marsden) who moves with his family to a coastal town in Ohio after the suicide of his younger brother Allen. Upon arriving at his new school, he meets a few social misfits including Gavin (played by Nick Stahl), U.V, (played by Chad E. Donella), and Rachel (played by Katie Holmes) who warn him against a sinister group called "The Blue Ribbons", an organization run by Dr. Edgar Calicott (played by Bruce Greenwood), of academically perfect and socially flawless students. Little does he know, this heinous group has a plan to overrun their town with a sinister plot of brainwashing individuals, and his only hope is the help of Rachel and the eccentric school maintenance man Dorian (played by William Sadler)The basis of the plot is that the students of this mysterious organization have power over pretty much ever social figure including the law enforcement. In one scene, a student from the Blue Ribbon group murder a man at a supermarket and the cops watch and do nothing to intervene. As the title suggests, the movie deals with teenagers who are brainwashed into committing violent and disturbing behavior, but the only thing really disturbing about this movie is how dull and incompetent it is. The film falls in a shallow ground of flaccid thrills and a complete lack of substance, pulling the audience into an atmosphere that is supposed to create a sense of eeriness, but fails to formulate even one effective scare. The scenes of the Blue Ribbon students hunting down the characters try make us believe that that teenagers running around in strange, zombie-like manners or erotically threatening the characters is supposed to be scary, but the results are just weak. And without any suspense or even jump scares to support its tone, what viewers are left with is a total scare-free environment. The biggest redeeming quality may come from the fine performances and a few mildly developed characters. Overall, these are buried under the a painfully executed plot, ineffective scares, and Bruce Greenwood playing a villain that feels all too one-dimensional. Disturbing Behavior is a pretty forgettable film, and an utter disappointment, a movie that had so much potential with David Nutter, the mastermind behind X-Files directing it, but wasted it on such a thrill-free fare. If you are looking a decent teen horror film from the 90s, you may better off looking elsewhere, unless you are more than willing to give this one a try.

tieman64 Like "The Faculty", released the same year, "Disturbing Behaviour" is a shameless amalgamation of "The Thing", "The Stepford Wives" and "Invasion of The Body Snatchers".The plot: a small town high school is slowly taken over by scientists who brainwash the local students. It's up to our band of heroes, led by James Marsden and Katie Holmes, to stop them.The film may be derivative, but it embraces its trashy nature, revelling in gore and nudity, the camera leering over Holmes' body and the director keeping the pace frenetic. The film contains an interesting score by Mark Snow, a cross between John Carpenter's 70s horror scores and "The Terminator" soundtrack, whilst the film itself plays like a middle tier John Carpenter movie, with several interesting compositions (a well lit gas station scene) and moody florescent bulb lit night sequences occurring every now and then.7.9/10 – With Holmes pursued by and sucked into a crazy cult in real life, this film, which involves her being chased by cultists determined to brainwash her, now seems prophetic.