Strange Behavior

dead kids is very well made and unusual addition to horror cinema. it is an australian/new zealend production, and was made with the intention to sell it to an american market. so you get a film that looks very much like an american film, is shot and crafted like an american film with american actors (who are often better than any australian actor that gets into this kind of film, neighbours and home and away are rarely good casting grounds) but the script has a definite australian feel to it. from the odd, sly humour, to the way it deals with the murders and the almost complete lack of morality in the film. not to say it is immoral, but themes of morality never come into it, which is not often seen in american horror.

for the most part, it is wonderfully directed, one that has to be seen in widescreen to appreciate. however, the murders are somewhat lacklustre, they are directed with very little bite. it is obvious that the director has no idea of hot to show "action". most of the time it does not drastically effect the overall film as this is not a typical slasher film. in a few scenes however, this "relaxed" view of violence heightens the horror, such as the final murder and the "human experiments" carried out on the main character. as mentioned above, the script is quite interesting and entertaining. however, there is a 2 minute ending tacked on after the final showdown which drastically decreases the power of the film.

while not being a classic, it is still one of the better and more interesting horror films of the 80s that deserves a far wider audience than it has recieved.

Not quite the underrated masterpiece other people are talking about, I'm afraid. It begins well enough, with an atmospheric, out-of-this-world Tangerine Dream score and hypnotically slow direction, but the story tips its hand too early; the basics (if not the particulars) of its plot become rather obvious to us well before they do to the characters. Still, this is above average for an early-80s horror film. (**)

Overall, Strange Behaviour is a fairly lame sci-fi/horror hybrid with seemingly ordinary kids making a few bucks at a research facility and turning out a little bit...wrong. There are a few decent shocks here and there, but mostly it seems like there's just something missing - like the filmmakers lost part of the script on the way to the shoot and just went with it.

Cinematic ally, there's no real reason to watch it, but there's also no real reason not to.

However, our hero goes to a party (for no reason) and it's a costume party (for no reason) and eventually everyone breaks out into a synchronized dance to Lou Christie's "Lightning Strikes." That's quite possibly the greatest scene in a movie ever.

A small town Sheriff (Michael Murphy) finds himself involved in a deadly mystery while investigating a string of brutal murders.

Mixing slasher sensibilities with sci-fi, STRANGE BEHAVIOR is ultimately a novel, entertaining horror film. Turning teens into mindless killing machines, the mad science aspect is preposterous, but allows for some nice, eeevil characters to emerge, like Gwen Parkinson (Fiona Lewis), complete with her perfect, (pre-) Sean Young in BLADE RUNNER hairstyle! Murphy is, as always, solid in his role, bringing a believable, down-to-earth feel to his character. One always senses that he's just being himself.

This Aussie / Kiwi co-production was the template for the pallid American remake decades later...

"Strange Behaviour" is a lot better than I'd expected it to be. It has some startling imagery, some genuinely frightening scenes, and finally manages a sense of atmosphere.

It is also an original twist on the slasher formula that was probably stale even in 1981 - at least if the parody film "Student Bodies", made that same year, is anything to go by. Seasoned horror junkies have seen hundreds of slashers at least. We all know the trope of the killer wearing a distinctive mask, which is often removed in the final moments to reveal the killer's identity. But in "Strange Behaviour", the movie has more than one killer, and in fact deals with the question of mind control. In this movie, any of the younger characters can kill at any time, so it's not a question of whodunit. It's more like who's going to go crazy next.

For its cool ideas, occasionally shocking imagery and at least one frightening scene, "Strange Behaviour" is a winner. Unfortunately it is held back by some narrative incoherence and charisma-less lead performances. I still say check it out.

Lastly, I want to say something about the movie's unusual pedigree. It's an American production that was meant to be filmed in Australia, but when the filmmakers couldn't find any cities in Aus that resembled the screenplay's setting in Illinois, they moved the production to New Zealand! How is NZ any more or less Midwestern USA than Australia? And, to top it all off, the movie is considered an "Ozploitation" flick?

No wonder the plotting is a little confusing. The cast and crew probably didn't know where the hell they were, or were supposed to be, or what they were actually making.