Disturbing Behavior

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - 1.33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono)
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - Dolby Digital City
Year Released	1998	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	80:22 minutes	Other Extras	Music Video - The Flys - Got You Where I Want You Cast Biographies
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	2,4	Director	David Nutter
Studio Distributor	Columbia Tristar	Starring	James Marsden Katie Holmes Nick Stahl Bruce Greenwood William Sadler
Case	Transparent Amaray
RRP	$34.95	Music	Mark Snow

    The plot premise and its development seem very promising on paper, but the actual execution of this movie is ponderous in the extreme. You know you are in for a hard time of it when a large chunk of the early part of the movie is spent in unnecessary expository dialogue meant to introduce you to the various factions at Crystal Bay High School. It sounds and looks very clumsy, and sets the tone for the rest of the movie, which requires an inordinate suspension of disbelief to believe that the events depicted are in the slightest bit plausible. Admittedly, towards the end of the movie, it turns more into a slasher flick, which can be enjoyed without your sense of reason and logic getting troublingly in the way.

    Steve Clark (James Marsden) is a teenager whose family has moved to Crystal Bay from Chicago following the suicide of his brother. He enrols at the local high school, where we learn (through the endless expository dialogue mentioned previously) that there are several factions at the school; the petrol-heads, the pot-heads, the skateboard-heads and the Blue Ribbon Club. These are the ones to watch out for because they are all so perfect. Gavin Strick (Nick Stahl) has it all figured out - there is some form of mind control going on involving the Blue Ribbon Club, but one day Gavin is enrolled in the "program" and turns from being a pot-head into a model Blue Ribbon Club member. Steve feels obligated to investigate.

Video

    The transfer was razor sharp and crystal clear. Shadow detail was excellent and there was no low level noise.

    The colours were perfectly rendered, with no tendency towards over- or undersaturation.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. No film-to-video artefacts were seen. The only fault I could pick with this transfer was several large white blotches in the transfer between 53:33 and 53:36, in a scene featuring a long shot of a ferry.

Audio

    The overall level of this movie seemed marginally low, and I increased it a little to listen to the movie. This seems to be a common issue with recent Columbia Tristar DVDs.

    Dialogue was frequently muffled and hard to make out over the background music and ambience, which made the story even harder to follow.

    There were no audio sync problems.

    The score by Mark Snow suited the style of the movie aptly - there was a lot of bass energy in this score.

    The surround channels were used for ambience and for special effects, though most of the effects tended to be placed in the front soundstage rather than being fully enveloping, a minor disappointment considering the style of effects that they were. I felt that there was considerably more potential for the use of the surrounds during this movie.

    The .1 channel got heavy use from the score and from the odd special effect.

Menu

Theatrical Trailer

Cast Biographies

Music Video - The Flys - Got You Where I Want You

• Director's Commentary Track
• Deleted Scenes including Alternate Ending
• Full Frame version of the movie
• Booklet
• Menu Animation and Audio

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good but dialogue intelligibility is somewhat problematic at times.

    The extras are passable.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Michael Demtschyna
10th September 1999