Disturbing Behavior (Blu-ray Review)
In Cradle Bay it doesn’t matter if you’re not perfect. You will be. On March 22, 2016, Scream Factory presents Disturbing Behavior in its Blu-ray debut with new and existing extras, including deleted scenes and an audio commentary with director David Nutter.James Marsden (the X-Men films), Katie Holmes (Batman Begins) and Nick Stahl (Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines) star in this pulse-pounding sci-fi chiller from director David Nutter (Game Of Thrones, The X-Files). The release carries over some of the bonus materials from the previous DVD release(s) of the film. You can pre-order this title now to have on new release day March 22nd!
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Film 
In the halls of Cradle Bay High School, something sinister is happening… something dark… something disturbing. Sure, the “Blue Ribbons” – the clique that’s at the top of the food chain at Cradle Bay – appear perfect in every way. But underneath their clean-cut, well-mannered facades lurks a shocking secret – one that a group of Cradle Bay High’s outsiders and rebels must uncover in order to save their school, their town…and their own lives.
I remember when this one came out! Disturbing Behavior was one of the many films that came out of the Scream-inspired teen horror resurgence in the latter half of the 1990s. Basically, we got the type of movies that were popular in the 70s and 80s, but now hipper, featuring name teen television stars being self aware and spouting out trendy dialogue. These movies were both the same and a completely different experience altogether.
Disturbing Behavior came from X-Files fave David Nutter. And being as it is, this sort of feels like it could have been a tossed out episode of the show. Maybe not the lead in the film, but certainly taking some top tier attention is Katie Holmes, hot off of Dawson’s Creek. In addition, we are treated to a young James Marsden, Nick Stahl, and Katharine Isabelle. Funny enough, one of the big “gets” for this film is to have brief flashback sequences and photos featuring Ethan Embry.
Back when I saw the film in 1998 opening night, I didn’t care for it much at all and haven’t seen it since. Apparently not many were interested as I remember it being the hot new horror title and the Friday opening night crowd was empty. The marketing campaign was based off of Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta” playing during action stuff happening. Returning to it has brought a little bit of nostalgia and realizing that the film still isn’t anything special, but its all right. For anything, its something that’s different compared to a lot of the other output at the time. I’m not sure we missed anything the first time around, but those curious to venture back may look on it with kinder eyes than before.
Video
Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Clarity/Detail: Disturbing Behavior debuts on Blu-ray with a pretty impressive looking transfer, given what it is and all. The image is sharper and crisper than expected. It isn’t rife with details, but what we are given has plenty of texture and patterns visible.
Depth: Its all right. Not flat by any means. Motion is smooth and cinematic.
Black Levels: Blacks are deep and rich. There is no crushing witnessed and only a hair of murkiness. Given the age of the film, the shading and sharpening done with the blacks are kinda impressive.
Color Reproduction: Blues and reads are obviously standouts here. There are also green and blue filters used throughout too that come across with precision.
Flesh Tones: Skin tones are a hair cool and maintain a consistent appearance throughout. Detail looks best in close-up shots as opposed to medium and long.
Noise/Artifacts: Some grain and light dirt/specs.
Audio
Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English 2.0 DTS-HD MA
Subtitles: English
Dynamics: Disturbing Behavior comes with a better than “gets the job done” 5.1 track that is solid but only has a couple moments of impressing. There is a good balance of vocals, effects and score woven through out the film’s duration. The songs that play in the film are pretty terrific sounding too.
Low Frequency Extension: Car engines, doors shutting and crashing from action gets the most from the sub as well as getting bass hits in the music.
Surround Sound Presentation: While having a few impressive moments, this is your business as usual track with good placement and tracking in the front speakers while mainly ambiance hedges in the rear.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is clean and clear.
Extras
Audio Commentary
- By Director David Nutter
Deleted Scenes With Audio Commentary By Director David Nutter (HD, 24:42)
Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:31)
Summary
Disturbing Behavior…a nice little time capsule look back at the 1990s horror that came in the wake of Scream’s rejuvenating success for the genre. Not good, not bad either, just kinda some here and there entertainment with some real strengths to it. This Blu-ray looks and sounds good while porting over the extras from the previous DVD edition. Its a solid release.
