Late in this wannabe teenage horror film, the main character -- who's discovered the sinister secret concerning some "perfect" students in the new town into which he's moved -- responds to an inquiry about his recent actions by stating that he's making up his plan as he goes along. That must be what the filmmakers of "Disturbing Behavior" said while making this uneventful, poorly executed horror film.
The most disturbing behavior concerning this film -- beyond it making it to the big screen in the first place -- is that it got a coveted summer slot in which to open. Obviously MGM and the film's producers are hoping to capitalize on the recent success of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and the "Scream" movies, but this pale, rip-off imitation of "The Stepford Wives" should only find limited success at the box office.
Clocking in at a ludicrously (but mercifully) short running time of just more than eighty minutes (shorter than most animated films aimed at younger kids' short attention spans), this film clearly should have gone straight to video. Certainly not as clever as the "Scream" movies and providing a surprisingly minute supply of attempted, let alone successfully scary moments, this film is about as weak an effort at making a feature film as I've seen in years.
Essentially stealing and marginally modifying the plot from the 1975 film, "The Stepford Wives" (where Katherine Ross discovers the technologically sinister secret behind all of the pleasantly dutiful and docile married women of Stepford), this film features a tepid plot, horrible pacing with nearly no suspenseful buildup of genuine scares, and only adequate performances from its predominantly teen cast.
The only suspense generated by the movie concerns the mystery behind the collectively perfect personalities of the Blue Ribbons, and there's just barely enough there to keep one from nodding off in the darkened theater. Once the technological secret is revealed, however, the little bit of hot air that was holding up this film escapes and we're left with a picture that goes flat faster than a punctured balloon. Without any supernatural or genuinely scary moments, the film simply turns into a near farcical examination (I use that term loosely) of the haves and have nots of high school "society."
Like any well-intended technology, things obviously go wrong with the transistor enhanced students, but neither their occasional violent outbursts nor their zombie-like demeanor is frightening or unsettling in the least. One never gets the eerie (and needed) feeling that everyone in the town is on this plan -- which is oddly true because not everyone is, a fact that diminishes the potential horror -- and both the parents and their silicon chip controlled kids are far too normal and two-dimensional to give the film a much needed dose of spookiness.
Likewise, and despite the isolation implied by the ferry ride to the town, we never feel any intimidating isolation or believe that the main characters are trapped in a town that's completely ready to bring them in -- the sinister "plan" seems too haphazard. Whatever happened to the plot devices of the ferry not running, the phones not working, etc... to rev up the suspense?
Director David Nutter, who makes his feature film debut after cutting his teeth on episodes of TV's "The X-Files" and "Millennium," and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg ("Con Air," "Beautiful Girls") obviously know the basic elements required for this sort of story, but deliver them in ways that are anything but spooky. The plot is full of holes and inconsistencies, and the ending is about as predictable as they come -- a fact that's worsened because the "solution" arrives at the last minute, was telegraphed early in the story, and isn't executed by the main character, but instead by a supporting one.
The performances from the cast are likewise uneventful. James Marsden, who makes his feature film debut after an early career on TV, has the appropriate teen look for the part, but isn't given much to do with his character. Katie Holmes ("The Ice Storm," and TV's "Dawson's Creek") should entice some teens into the theaters, but her character is even less developed than Marsden's. The only bright spot is William Sadler's ("Die Hard II") goofy take as the enigmatic janitor, although it's never explained why a man "who just wanted to disappear" would take a job as a basement dwelling janitor obsessed with killing rats.
Hoping to be effectively spooky without much effort or intelligence, this film is sloppily executed, boring, and anything but scary like a good horror film should be. Although it may score well at the box office in its opening week, its core target audience of teens should be wise enough to smell this stinker long before the end credits roll, thus ensuring a quick trip for it to the video stores. We give "Disturbing Behavior" a 1 out of 10.