Butchered by the MPAA, Disturbing Behavior was Katie Holmes first hiatus
effort and despite it’s huge success in the united states, it did not
quite get the treatment it deserved here in the UK.
After the death of his brother Allen, Steve Clark and his family move to
Cradle Bay to start anew. Upon arrival everything seems to be perfect,
until Steve begins to notice strange things about the students at Cradle
Bay High.
Steve’s new stoner friend Gavin has conspiracy theories about mind control
and naturally Steve is sceptical, that is until Gavin turns up at school
with a new clean cut look and positive attitude.
Essentially an extended episode of the ‘X-Files’ the film is quite good
but is far from scary. The cast including Katherine Isabelle and Chad
Donella are very good and have all gone on to work on big Hollywood
projects.
Director David Nutter creates a good paranoid atmosphere for his young
cast but there ultimately just isn’t that much for them to do, so certain
characters appear to just pop up at moments of high drama, which are few
and far between.
There are some weird scenes that may unerve slightly but there aren’t many
scares. This film is a classic example of what good publicity can do for
a mediocre movie. If only this film hadn’t been trimmed by the MPAA it
could have been a lot better.
OVERALL SUMMARY
There ultimately isn’t anything that scary here, but it is entertaining
enough and it’s nice to see so many of the ensemble cast have all made
major marks on the Hollywood circuit in subsequent years.
