Disturbing Behavior (1998)

Starring - James Marsden; Katie Holmes; Nick Stahl; Steve Railsback & Bruce Greenwood Director - David Nutter MPAA - Rated R for strong violence, sexuality, language, and drug content. Disturbing Behavior is your typical teen oriented horror flick. It's certainly not going down as one of the classics in the genre. To be perfectly honest, probably the only reason it will be remembered is because of the presence of Katie Holmes. While her performance isn't quite as good as fans of her TV show Dawson's Creek might have come to expect from her, she does make the most of the material that she has to work with. As do the rest of the fairly talented, if not exceptional, young cast. Steve Clark (James Marsden) and his family move to a small Pacific Northwest community where something seems just a little too good to be true about some of the local high school students. They are high over achievers and very community oriented. They also have the tendency to become homicidal on occasion (nobody's perfect). Like every school, this one also has its less than perfect students. They are the leather clad, drinking and smoking (not necessarily cigarettes) bunch, who aren't exactly on the honor role. Their numbers seem to be diminishing slowly as many of them are joining the ranks of the preppy elite in the school. This is all due to the influence of the school guidance counselor who is doing a little experimenting on his students. The basis of this movie is how Marsden and his new friend the leather-clad Katie Holmes run head on into the preppies. First, I should start by saying that Katie Holmes in leather is more than an adequate reason for me to recommend this movie. If that isn't enough for you (and I can't see why it wouldn't be), I'll give the movie a couple of more points in the win column. As I've already alluded to, the acting is solid, and is certainly better than most films of this genre, although not quite up to films such as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. This is a good looking film, very well photographed, and the Pacific Northwest scenery is used to full advantage. At least to the extent that it looks god in the daylight shots. Which, as horror fans know, are few and far between in horror flicks. The basic premise of the movie is a pretty tired one. The population slowly being converted into something else has been done more times than I care to imagine. There are really not a great deal of new twists that make it considerably different from other films of this type. Even though it's not particularly original, it does add enough twists to keep your interest through the whole movie. Not exactly ringing endorsements, but considering the horror films of just a few years ago (pre Scream), this could almost be considered a masterpiece. If taken for what it is, a formula horror flick, Disturbing Behavior isn't half bad. My guess is 10 years from now the only reason that anyone will remember this is for the fact that it was one of the very talented Katie Holmes' first starring roles. 7/10 Reviewed January 19, 1999 by Joe Chamberlain