Disturbing Behavior

Disturbing Behavior
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Nutter
Produced by	Armyan Bernstein
Written by	Scott Rosenberg
Starring	James Marsden Katie Holmes Nick Stahl Bruce Greenwood William Sadler
Music by	Mark Snow
Cinematography	John S. Bartley
Editing by	Randy Jon Morgan
Studio	Village Roadshow Pictures
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	July 24, 1998
Running time	83 minutes
Country	Australia United States
Language	English
Budget	$15,000,000
Box office	$17,514,980

Disturbing Behavior is a 1998 thriller science fiction film starring James Marsden, Katie Holmes, and Nick Stahl. The film was released on July 24, 1998. The plot follows a group of high school outcasts who are horrified by their "Blue Ribbon" classmates. Director David Nutter was a director and producer of The X-Files as well as a director and co-executive producer of Millennium.

Plot

Steve Clark (James Marsden) is a high school senior whose family moves to Cradle Bay, a picturesque coastal town. Steve soon befriends three outcast students, Gavin Strick (Nick Stahl), U.V. (Chad E. Donella), and Rachel Wagner (Katie Holmes).

Gavin tries to tell Steve that he believes there is something evil about the "Blue Ribbons"—students taking part in a program led by the school psychologist, Dr. Caldicott (Bruce Greenwood). Steve is understandably skeptical. The following day at lunch, Gavin walks in looking like a Blue Ribbon. When Steve tries to confront Gavin, he gets punched in the stomach for his impertinence. Now Steve and Rachel must try and save the rest of the school before its too late. They find a disc that Gavin hid for them in the boiler room, before his "transformation," which tells them about the club.

During this, Steve also befriends Dorian (William Sadler), the school janitor, who appears to be mentally handicapped and hunts rats for the city. Dorian demonstrates a device called an E-Rat-icator which emits a soft, high pitched whine that is supposed to be innocuous but annoying to rats, which is an abysmal failure. Steve discovers that Dorian is actually highly intelligent, and carries classical literature pieces with him, and that he's hiding because he wishes to be left alone. During an encounter where a Blue Ribbon assaults Rachel, the E-Rat-icator goes off, and immediately sends the student into a psychotic fit, driving him away.

They try to find out what has been happening to these kids, which leads them to a mental hospital called Bishop Flats. They learn that mind control was used to make depressed and awkward teens become perfect so they can function properly in life, but the programming has some glitches that lead to momentary relapses. Also at Bishop Flats, they find Caldicott's daughter, Betty (Julie Patzwald), who spends her time repeating the same phrase: "Meet the musical little creatures that hide among the flowers".

When Rachel and Steve return, they plan to get out of town along with Steve's little sister, Lindsay (Katharine Isabelle), but when they get back, Steve's parents (Terry David Mulligan and Susan Hogan) reveal they had him signed up for the program. Steve and Lindsay try to get out but they get ambushed by a group of blue ribbons waiting for them. They drag Steve and Rachel to the programming center, but Steve escapes and rescues Rachel. They try to get out of town again with Lindsay and U.V., but the Blue Ribbons and Caldicott are waiting for them near the ferry out of town. When hope seems lost, Dorian the school janitor drives up, his car hooked up with E-Rat-icators that scramble the mind control tech inside the blue ribbons' heads. They chase after him and try to destroy the E-Rat-icators, but, having been fatally wounded by Caldicott, he drives off a cliff with the blue ribbons on it. This leads to a final battle between Steve and Caldicott, which Steve wins by kicking Caldicott off the cliff. Steve and Rachel then leave town.

The final scene shows a classroom in an urban high school with kids playing loud music, cursing, and acting up. They are informed that they have a new teacher. The well-kept sub turns around, and it's Gavin, with the blue ribbon "twinkle" still active in his eye.

Cast

• James Marsden as Steve Clark
• Katie Holmes as Rachel Wagner
• Nick Stahl as Gavin Strick
• Bruce Greenwood as Dr. Edgar Caldicott
• William Sadler as Dorian Newberry
• Steve Railsback as Officer Cox
• Chad E. Donella as U.V.
• Tobias Mehler as Andy Effkin
• Katharine Isabelle as Lindsay Clark
• Ethan Embry as Allen Clark
• Terry David Mulligan and Susan Hogan as Nathan and Cynthia Clark
• Peter LaCroix and Lynda Boyd as Dan and Lucille Strick
• Jay Brazeau as Principal Weathers
• A.J. Buckley as Charles "Chug" Roman
• Derek Hamilton as Trent Whalen
• David Paetkau as Tom Cox
• Daniella Evangelista as Daniella
• Julie Patzwald as Betty Caldicott

Box office

The film opened at #7 at the North American box office making $7 million USD in its opening weekend. It had a 57% decline in earnings the following week, falling to #12.

Alternate versions

The DVD release features 11 deleted scenes featuring more story and character development, including a deleted love scene between Steve and Rachel (which was present in the theatrical release), an alternate ending where Gavin meets a different fate than the theatrical ending and the revelation the program is assisted by a shadowy government organization. In the film commentary, the director complained that he objected to the particular scenes being removed from the film, but that the editors overrode his objections and removed the scenes anyway.

U.S. cable network Syfy Universal has been known to air a somewhat unofficial director's cut of the film with the deleted scenes reinstated (though the film is still shown with the theatrical ending).

Love scene

As they are leaving Bishop Flats, Steve makes the decision to return to Cradle Bay to rescue his sister, which upsets Rachel. Rachel then tells Steve that all her ambitions of escaping Cradle Bay and going to college have now evaporated with their new revelations about the blue ribbon program, and implores him to simply escape with her. When he insists on returning for his sister, Rachel relents and goes with him.

This scene was removed from all subsequent versions of the film, after the 2000 DVD release; however, it was included on VHS copies and the theatrical version of the film. On the ferry back to Cradle Bay, Steve and Rachel use the time to have sex in Rachel's truck.

Alternate ending

Gavin is not affected by the E-rat-acator, because he is wearing his headphones. He confronts Steve and his group on the ferry. Still a friend, Steve pleads with Gavin that they need to get him some help. Gavin refuses on the false belief that everything helped him without the realization of the program's effects which cause him to react. He tries to shoot Steve with a shotgun and UV shoots him three times with his own gun that Steve took away from him. As he lay dying on the ground, Gavin escapes out of his hypnosis to chastise a heartbroken UV (for not being able to kill him in fewer than three shots) while the others tend to him. His dying words are a sarcastic remark that his death will prevent him from meeting his pre-transformation idol, Trent Reznor. Despite having survived the events that preceded them, the group is reminded that they still lost a friend in the process as everyone starts to tear up.

External links

• Disturbing Behavior at the Internet Movie Database
• Disturbing Behavior at Box Office Mojo