Strange Behavior

I've never been to historic Galesburg, Illinois, but it seems like a interesting place, from what I've heard...there's a railroad museum, a Carl Sandberg historical site, the Galesburg Civic Art Center, the historic Orpheum Theater, the Stockdale Soldier Citizen Museum, a chocolate festival, the historic tram tour, and more...an interesting aspect, though, is I find nary a mention of the events depicted in this film, Strange Behavior (1981) aka Dead Kids, in any of the tourism literature, but then again, I suppose serial killings aren't something one would generally promote when trying to draw in visitors (and their dough). Co-written by Michael Laughlin (Strange Invaders, Town & Country) and Bill Condon (Strange Invaders, Gods and Monsters, Kinsey), and directed by Laughlin, the film features Michael Murphy (Count Yorga, Vampire, Batman Returns), Dan Shor (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure), and Fiona Lewis (Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Tintorera). Also appearing is Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Cheap Detective), Arthur Dignam (The Devil's Playground), Dey Young (Rock 'n' Roll High School), Charles Lane (The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Gnome-Mobile), Marc `Jimmy Olsen' McClure (Superman, Back to the Future), and Scott Brady (The Mighty Gorga, The Cycle Savages), who was once offered the role of Archie Bunker on the television show "All in the Family", but turned it down...The film, set in Galesburg, Illinois, wastes little time as, within the first five minutes, someone dies from a serious cases of puncturitis (i.e. stabbed with a knife one too many times)...and from there we meet aspiring college student Pete Brady and his father John, who happens to be the sheriff in the small town. Pete wants to go to the local college, but his father wants him to pick an out of state school for the purpose of broadening his horizons, but that's not the main reason...seems there was some unpleasantness at the local college involving strange experiments facilitated by a now deceased scientist named Dr. Le Sange. Pete's determined to attend the local college, but needs some dough for registration fees, to which his friend Oliver (McClure) turns him on to a gig within the college psychology department, run by Ms. Parkinson (Lewis). That's right, Pete is now a guinea pig, participating in some sort of behavioral modification experiments, which include, among other things, taking a `smart' drug and getting a six inch needle in the eyeball (ouch!). As Pete puts the moves on Caroline (Young), a student/receptionist at the school lab (who smokes like a chimney), his father is struggling to make sense of the recent spate of murders, ones which appear to be serial killings, but not necessarily performed by the same loony tune. John, seeing he's in over his head, calls Chicago for help, and homicide detective Shea (Brady), bad comb over and all, makes the scene...just as John's girlfriend Barbara (Fletcher) dumps a heaping, steaming load of exposition in our laps, things really begin to pick up as Galesburg's top cop thinks he knows the score, and Pete begins exhibiting, yep, you guessed it, strange behavior.Despite its weaknesses, I enjoyed this film and thought it was pretty well done, especially considering it was a first effort for both Michael Laughlin and Bill Condon, whose next project would be Strange Invaders (1983), a decently creepy, underrated science fiction film. The cast was certainly professional, except for the guy playing the coroner...that guy was just plain awful. I like Fiona Lewis as I think she's really easy on the eyes, but I wasn't sure what was going on with that retro hairstyle she was sporting...still, it didn't detract my desire to be one of her test subjects, although the aspect of having to get a giant needle stuck in my eyeball did...slightly. The movie features some well-done suspense, but veers off into odd, uncharted waters at times, particularly the choreographed dance sequence, to the tune of Lou Christie's "Lighting Strikes", during the costume party. Also, the storyline does drag in a number of spots, something which probably could have been mitigated had the makers lopped off about ten or fifteen minutes of the running time. Also, it felt like there were just a few too many characters running around, so what happens is not enough focus is dedicated towards those characters that should have been predominate in the actual storyline, but, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. A perfect example of this is Brady's character of Detective Shea...what was the point of his character, other than to relay how the events transpiring were nothing new to him to which he goes into a lengthy bit about how, during a past case, he witnessed a grisly scene involving a serial killer and the chopped up bodies of his female victims? It was kinda funny, in a macabre sense, but really had no relation to the story itself. Some of the elements in the story required a bit of an intuitive leap from the audience, but I'm not sure if that was the intent, or if it was more due to lackadaisical writing...I'm leaning towards the latter, especially considering the awkward expository sequence about three quarters in where Louise Fletcher's character spills the proverbial beans. And why did the various murders involve all sorts of mutilation? There seemed little sense to this particular aspect, especially after the motives behind the crimes are revealed (did someone order up a cold plate of revenge?). I did like the well-crafted musical score provided by Tangerine Dream, as it set the mood appropriately, and made the creepy sequences even more so...there are some brutal scenes, but these are few and sprinkled throughout the running time, as the film seems to focus more on trying to develop a continual sense of unease, rather than slop on the gore. I did like the neat, little twist near the end, as it was something I felt I should have seen coming after the fact, but didn't...Elite Entertainment provides a good-looking anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) picture on this DVD release. There are some minor flaws, but nothing to lose any sleep over. The audio, presented in stereo, I believe, comes through clean and clearly. There are a number of special features included like two theatrical trailers for the film, two deleted scenes (with commentary), a photo gallery, extensive filmographies, an isolated musical score track, a commentary track with writer Bill Condon and actors Dan Shor and Dey Young, and trailers for other releases including Patrick (1978), Thirst (1979), and Syngenor (1990).Cookieman108By the way, if you're ever in the Galesburg area, be sure to stop at the Steak `N Shake...you can't miss it...it's the place with the huge, pink neon sign out front. Hopefully they've managed to clean up all the blood in the men's washroom by now...

Warning: Spoilers!I viewed Strange Behavior the other night on Amazon streaming (via ShudderTV). The reviews on it were quite good, both from viewers and the original newspaper/magazine reviewers when the film was released in 1981. While I think it was well crafted and definitely VERY well acted for a low budget film, I never quite connected with it.I'm not a Millenial. In fact this film was released while I was in college (which is probably why I didn't see it at the time). I can appreciate a slow build to climax - and I even appreciate it; and I can very much appreciate a film that keeps me a bit on edge due to slight bits of missing information (Phantasm and A Nightmare on Elm Street come to mind). However, Strange Behavior seemed to be leaving out some information/content that would greatly have improved its impact. Tension. There's very little tension built up. There's a vague back story, but we're not given enough information to understand how it relates to the present time of the film. And then there is the WHY. Evil scientists I can understand, but even Dr. Frankenstein let us know that the reason he was creating a living being from dead bodies was to aid in preventing death from disease and disaster. Here, it makes no sense why the scientists are creating murderers.With those criticisms out of the way, I want to tell you that Dan Shor as the protagonist is absolutely believable and pitch perfect. He's a young college student whose father happens to be the sheriff (or chief of police - it's never really explained and he does not wear a uniform so....).As a former stage director, I love many parts of the film:1. For instance, there's a scene early in the film that let's us know that there is no mother or other siblings in the household. It is not explicitly stated, rather it is a scene of the father (Michael Murphy) shaving in the bathroom while talking on the phone. In walks - naked as the day he was born (rear) - Dan Shor, the son, who waits until his father finishes shaving and talking on the phone. Once his father is off the phone - without any acknowledgement of each other - Shor gets in the shower and the father leaves the bathroom. It is not titillating in a gay way in the least (except that Shor has a great build), but it lets the audience know this is a house with just men in it.2. Shor and his best friend go to a party at a friend's house and gab about what's going on at the party and the girls at the party. It's all very natural and it feels completely real. Then Shor starts flirting with a girl and then they begin to dance. This dance scene is so completely natural and real - the guys are dancing the way we really danced in 1981 (which is to say not very well but completely real - doing the pogo and just jumping around and goofing). Add to that, the music is an early 1960's song Lightning Strikes and you get a sense that the song is sort of a favorite of the whole group. The whole party scene works well.Actually it's the scenes in the laboratory and the ones with Louise Fletcher that seem strained.I didn't dislike the film, but I didn't really like it either. I can see myself going back and watching the dance scene a couple more times - it's really fun, but beyond that, the film just sort of peters out.

Make no mistake, this is purely a low budget horror flick. I first got acquainted with is a midnight movie on the local independent TV station. It's cheesie goodness, and kinda scary too in places.This film follows the story of a group of teenagers in a small mid-western town whose lives are interrupted by a series of brutal and inexplicable murders. Meanwhile, a local pharmaceutical company is conducting secretive experiments. But all of this is lost on the son of the local Sheriff who has started dating the night receptionist at the pharmaceutical company where his late mother worked. Confused yet? Don't worry it all comes together in the film.The characters are likable, the music is catchy... Top 40 actually. But this isn't a low budget horror film in the tradition of Plan 9 from Outer Space or Ankle Biters, this is a quality film. The plot may have holes here and there, but the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.In it's own way, Strange Behavior, (Originally titled "Dead Kids") is an artifact of the 80's... or maybe the 70's... it came out in '81. This is part of the appeal. In an era of slasher films, and Strange Behavior had its share of slashing, this film offered an element of mystery and depth that it's contemporaries lacked.This is not Shakespeare, it's not Edgar Allen Poe, but it's an enjoyable romp through the post grindhouse low budget film landscape. Absolutely worth the few bucks you'll spend on it instead of schlepping your way to the local movie house to watch another overpriced re-make.

The best part of this movie is the dance scene. Let's admit it: that's the only reason I bought it. Lightening Crashes is the best song!