Disturbing Behaviour is a hidden gemTM made in the 90s. It capture the zeitgeist of teen thriller demonstrated by successful films like Scream (1996) and quirky loveable films like Robert Rodriguez' The Faculty (1998), Gossip (2000) a little known, production design heavyweight for the genre featuring a young Norman Reedus.
In the film, a group of wealthy families make their 'jock' and 'preppy' teenage children enroll in a behaviour modification program ala Stepford Wives. Reminiscient of the era's anxieties surrounding legal performance enhancing drugs like ADHD meds and other pharmaceutical novelties. The story revolves around new to town Steve Clark, played by James Marsden, who falls in with a group of outcasts. One of the outcasts theorizes something evil is happening with the socially dominant Blue Ribbon clique.
" After filming was completed and director David Nutter edited his director's cut, MGM took the film away from him and had several different versions re-edited and shown to test audiences. Eventually, an 83 minutes long version was the one selected for theatrical release. Many cut scenes from the film focused more on plot and character development. Cuts made to the film were so severe that Nutter thought about having his name removed from the credits.
Although a director's cut was never released, there is a fan edit version of the film available, which runs 103 minutes and uses the DVD's deleted scenes, including the film's original ending. A few other deleted scenes were not released, while the real director's cut ran 115 minutes. " -From wikipedia
I've always felt like this movie holds a special place in the teen thriller genre of the 90s, it typifies so much of that MTV sleek consumerist vibe. This is a hollywood film, a commercial film with the underbelly of a much better concept lurking beneath the surface. Released to mixed critical reviews, the theme of the social hierachy of high school having a seething irrational violence makes this worth checking out.
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