{"id":16536,"date":"2011-04-04T12:37:19","date_gmt":"2011-04-04T19:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16536"},"modified":"2023-09-25T13:38:18","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T20:38:18","slug":"strange-behavior-dead-kids-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16536","title":{"rendered":"Strange Behavior \/ Dead Kids (1981)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;This is no ordinary professor &#8212; he&#8217;s dead!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Poster-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-16537\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Poster-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Poster-671x1024.jpg 671w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA police chief (Michael Murphy) investigates a rash of murders which may be linked to mind-control experiments conducted by a local university&#8217;s psychology department.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Horror<\/li>\n<li>Louise Fletcher Films<\/li>\n<li>Mad Doctors and Scientists<\/li>\n<li>Michael Murphy Films<\/li>\n<li>Mind Control and Hypnosis<\/li>\n<li>Murder Mystery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nI am largely in agreement with Peary&#8217;s assessment of this &#8220;low-budget horror film&#8221; that was &#8220;photographed in New Zealand but is set in America&#8217;s Midwest&#8221; &#8212; and, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s841behav.html\">as noted by DVD Savant<\/a>, &#8220;has an engaging appearance and an odd tone&#8221;. Peary writes that he finds &#8220;the script by Bill Condon and Michael Laughlin pretty witty and inventive&#8221;, but argues that the &#8220;direction by Laughlin is weak&#8221;, given that he &#8220;has no sense of timing during suspense scenes&#8221;. Indeed, the film&#8217;s pacing is noticeably <em>off<\/em> during more than just the suspense scenes: in her review of the film for the <em>New York Times<\/em>, Janet Maslin notes that Laughlin&#8217;s &#8220;timing with his actors is often dangerously slow, allowing many more pregnant pauses than his players can comfortably handle&#8221;. I disagree with Peary, however, in his assessment that the script is at times &#8220;so offbeat that&#8230; it becomes confusing&#8221;: while there are definitely some narrative inconsistencies, and a number of scenes (particularly the murders) are handled sloppily, the plot is always comprehensible, up until its final revelatory moments. <\/p>\n<p>The performances throughout <em>Strange Behavior<\/em> are a mixed bag, given the mostly amateur, low-budget cast. Murphy &#8212; one of the film&#8217;s few &#8220;big names&#8221; &#8212; is solid but not particularly compelling in the lead investigative role; Dan Shor as his teenage son is more intrinsically charismatic, and his character should probably have been given even more screentime. Louise Fletcher provides typically excellent support in a tiny role as Murphy&#8217;s long-suffering girlfriend, but she is mostly &#8212; as Peary puts it so bluntly &#8212; &#8220;wasted&#8221;. Fiona Lewis gives the most memorable performance: she&#8217;s clearly having fun as the film&#8217;s unabashed villainness, a woman who takes great delight in puncturing her &#8220;subjects&#8221; in the eyeball with an enormous syringe. (A bit of trivia: apparently her futuristic hairstyle here influenced the vision for Sean Young&#8217;s character in <em>Blade Runner<\/em>.) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Laughlin and Condon&#8217;s follow-up to this film was the alien flick <em>Strange Invaders<\/em> (1983), also included in Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A few effectively creepy sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Creepy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Creepy-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-16538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Creepy-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Creepy-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Creepy-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Strange-Behavior-Creepy.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; despite its erstwhile cult status, this one isn&#8217;t must-see. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0082243\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1981\/10\/16\/movies\/a-taste-of-the-50-s-in-strange-behavior.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s841behav.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/horror\/strange-behavior-1981-dead-kids.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This is no ordinary professor &#8212; he&#8217;s dead!&#8221; Synopsis: A police chief (Michael Murphy) investigates a rash of murders which may be linked to mind-control experiments conducted by a local university&#8217;s psychology department. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Horror Louise Fletcher Films Mad Doctors and Scientists Michael Murphy Films Mind Control and Hypnosis Murder Mystery Response to Peary\u2019s Review: I am largely in agreement with Peary&#8217;s assessment of this &#8220;low-budget horror film&#8221; that was &#8220;photographed in New Zealand but is&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16536\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16536"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92079,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16536\/revisions\/92079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}