AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Micitype Pretty Good

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

gavin6942 A scientist is experimenting with teenagers and turning them into murderers.Although this movie is supposed to be taking place in suburban Illinois (the home state of director Michael Laughlin), it is actually the first horror film shot in New Zealand. Not until many years later, with Peter Jackson, would such horror films (notably "Bad Taste") really showcase the New Zealand scenery.The cast is impressive, with the Oscar-winning Louise Fletcher ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") in a small role and a young Dan Shor (perhaps best known as Billy the Kid from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"). Shor makes a great leading man, and it is a shame he never seems to have risen above supporting actor.The song "Lightnin' Strikes" was included because the writer (Bill Condon) was a big fan, but it also happens to be very appropriate for a horror film with its imagery of a stormy night. Heck, it also makes for a great group dance (surprisingly). Condon, incidentally, became a director in the late 1980s, and went on to direct some huge successes, including two films in the "Twilight" series.Severin has released the film on Blu-ray under the alternate (and inferior) title "Dead Kids". The disc is packed full of special features, including multiple commentary tracks. Even those who have enjoyed this film many times will be able to find something new here.

GL84 A string of strange deaths in a small-town lead the sheriff to a rather obscure mystery he was involved with years earlier that has resulted in several youths running rampage over the residents that may have a more ghastly ulterior motive.Not really too sure what to make of this one, as there's a lot to work with that really shines through. The initial part of the murder mystery is pretty decent with a couple fun and admittedly enjoyable stalking scenes that definitely give off a tense vibe from time-to-time, and the finale offers some pretty interesting revelations that are definitely unnerving, but the fact that the film is just so slow-going and dragged-out that it really loses a lot of it's steam just by dragging out the investigation and doing nothing with what should've been a tense scene beforehand. Add to that a low number of kills which result in a tame amount of blood, a lot of broad comedy that really isn't funny and shouldn't be in the movie and a far more complex plot that normal really doom this one significantly.Rated R: Language and Violence.

loomis78-815-989034 In a small town in Illinois, the local teenagers have found a new way to make after school cash. They have been volunteering as test subjects at the local University in the psychology department run by Dr. Gwen Parkinson (Lewis). Parkinson is secretly doing the work of Dr. Le Sange (Dignam) who is believed to be dead after the crazed doctor was caught doing mind experiments on the kids which resulted in the death of the wife of local sheriff John Brady (Murphy). John's son Pete (Shor) has now began to volunteer and starts showing psychotic tendencies. Also known as "Strange Behavior", this film was shot in New Zealand and passed off as Illinois. Essentially it's the mad scientist behind the evil in this unbalanced horror film. There are a few effective sequences like when a mind controlled girl chases an old woman through a house and when twisted Oliver (Marc McClure) puts on a Tor Johnson mask and stalks and slashes a girl at a party. Unfortunately there are plenty of dull moments spread throughout and both the action and actors seem bored. This movie flicks to life in a few flashes which makes it watchable but it just never catches any momentum and in the end is quite forgettable.

Tender-Flesh Slasher fans will have fun with this offbeat thriller filmed in New Zealand. It boasts a score by Tangerine Dream which is only occasionally effective. Several of the actors either went on to have a considerable body of film work afterwards or they arrived on set with it already under their belts. This has something going for it that so many slashers of the time did not: an adequate director. Michael Laughlin isn't an amazing director, but he does know how to make the camera his and our friend. He doesn't just turn the camera on and have people walk around in front of the lens and die as so many other abominable pictures of the time tended to do. He used some unusual angles and had items and hands coming from off camera at odd times. There's plenty of creepy shots to go around.An Illinois(ahem) college has a psychology department where students are paid to go through several sessions of new experimentation with behaviors. And some strange behavior results, of course. A woman in a lab coat with "librarian hair" who went to the Rachel Ward/Kelly LeBrock school of acting sets up the experiments, following in the footsteps(ha) of a doctor who used to work for the college. Enter young Brady, who wouldn't mind making some extra scratch, and he signs up for the program. Along the way, we discover that the research performed is making the guinea pig students into killers who stalk and stab. Rather unusual slasher fare, but it's quite good.Some highlights include the hilarious old cruster Donovon, who "will find the fat ones" and some of the worst dancers you've ever seen but somehow it's still fun to watch them. Possibly because this has one of the most tubular like awesome homemade Batman(and Robin) costumes you're likely to find around. Oh yeah, they're dancing, too! You may be disappointed to learn that the female doctor neither gets naked or gets the blade for a butchering she richly deserves. The last scene seems to cut to the credits rather abruptly. I was trying to recall where I'd seen Brady before and afterwards saw that he'd been in Tron. He has a young Steve Guttenberg appeal.Recommended for the great camera work, bloody stabbings, and fairly good acting almost all the way around(something of a rarity for these sorts of films). One of the better Aussie offerings. Of note, an alternate title is "Dead Kids." Now, really, isn't that just the best horror title around? Almost as appropriate as Strange Behavior for a title.