Comportements troublants

In Cradle Bay on Crescent Island, football jock Andy is parked with a girl. His demeanor turns and kills her. Then he kills a cop and Officer Cox (Steve Railsback) lets him go. Gavin Strick (Nick Stahl) watches from afar. The Clarks from Chicago arrive in town after losing the oldest son. Gavin befriends Steve Clark (James Marsden) who explains the school is ruled by a clique called Blue Ribbon. Steve is taken with edgy girl Rachel Wagner (Katie Holmes). Dorian Newberry (William Sadler) is the school janitor and rat catcher. Steve and Gavin discovers the parents working with Dr. Edgar Caldicott (Bruce Greenwood). Gavin is picked to be the next candidate by his parents.

I like the Bodysnatcher feel to the story setup. There are probably too many kills too early and it probably effected the ending. The actors are all good in their roles. However the movie ends badly. I think the writer couldn't figure out a clever way to end the movie. It's too bad because the movie seems to be set up for a tense thriller. Instead, it's done without any finesse and it's unsatisfying.

Steve and his family move from Chicago to Cradle Bay (which based on a road sign is outside Seattle). We later learn his brother Allen died, and that has something to do with the move. At his new high school, he meets Gavin and U. V., who take drugs and listen to depressing heavy metal music. Gavin has the hots for Lorna, but she's a Blue Ribbon, a member of a group of students that help out in the community and help each other study. Gavin wants nothing to do with these people.

It turns out the Blue Ribbons aren't as goody-goody as they first appear. To call them snobs is an understatement. Anyone who isn't a member is treated like dirt, but of course new members are accepted all the time. The organization had its beginning with a deadly car wreck, and Dr. Edgar Caldicott played a large role in getting it started.

This film reminds me of an episode of 'Smallville', except only the villains (who appear to be the good kids) have the super powers. Or maybe they're not actually super powers. This film had its own version of Belle Reve, where all the Smallville freaks seemed to end up eventually. Also, there was the loud alternative rock music in some scenes and the pleasant classical-style background music in others. I really liked the music in Roscoe's Yogurt Shoppe and in the asylum (I'm referring to Barry Manilow).

I actually found the bad kids appealing in this movie--Gavin, Rachel, and Dickie in particular. The real standout character, though, is the demented janitor Mr. Newberry, who comes across as if Gilbert Gottfried had played the Bill Murray role in 'Caddyshack'. Another good though brief performance came from Julie Patzwald as Betty Caldicott.

This was a little on the violent side, but I guess for the type of movie it wasn't too bad. A lot of bad language seemed to have been cleaned up for TV. And I'm not sure whether this is something that was edited out, but in one scene, the position of a girl's head relative to her date suggests something that happened in Bill Clinton's White House.

It wasn't a classic by any means, but it wasn't too bad.

I was a little disappointed when I left this film, but not because of the overall result. I was disappointed because of the wonderful way in which the story was laid out and unfolded itself in the beginning, then seemed to fall away during its 2nd act. The reverse theme of bad kids turning good was fascinating, and the paranoid performance by Nick Stahl was worth watching and intrigued me. But then, as soon as Stahl was converted, the film started to fall apart. For one Stahl was the only character I found to be truly worth watching. Marsden and Holmes were just two pretty faces noticeably void of much talent; I never believed the two as a couple, and I never found any reason to invest myself in hoping for their well-being other the fact they were the lesser of two evils. But most noticeably, I grew disinterested because of the change in aim by the makers. The first half of the film, which by itself I would have given an 8 or 9 out of 10, was more of a grown-up horror movie, where the situation and plot rather than actions dictated the fear of the audience. But after Stahl disappears to the dark side, the film changed into a teen slasher film almost, where blood, violence and screaming is used in a vain attempt to induce fright. This 2nd half was worth a 4 or 5 out of 10. The length did not bother me as much as others (I've seen plenty of effective movies that were under 90 minutes). What bothered me more was the lack of development in some key plot points. I think the entire conspiracy plot behind the conversion of the teens needed to be fleshed out much more, characters needed to be drawn more distinctly, and so on. So I balance out the two halves and come up with a 6 out of 10. Worth renting, but could have been something special.

I caught this film on a late night TV slot (around 1:00). Since it was an evening of surprisingly watchable movies up until then (Michael Chrictons 'Runaway' & Clint Eastwoods 'White hunter, black heart') this mix of teeny horror and x-files type paranoia sci-fi was just the kind of icing on the cake I needed before finally calling it a night.

Even though it obviously suffers from some plot holes and studio interference, I must say that I still found it much better than other late 90's 'Scream' influenced (and included) teen horror revival stuff. Sci-fi element was, even though lacking in any deeper explanation, believable enough, especially the part with problems arising due to puberty related hormone/neurotransmitter surges (i.e. Lorna's sexual turn violent outburst at Steve's house) etc.

All in all, not really a shining example of cinematic art but still bearable enough for a late night entertainment.

I thought the movie was very entertaining, even with the similarities to several other movies in mind. I thought the acting was very good, and we should expect to see a lot more of the young actors/actresses in this film, especially Katie Holmes. I can't wait to see more work from her.