| Reviews & Columns |
|
Reviews DVD TV on DVD Blu-ray 4K UHD International DVDs In Theaters Reviews by Studio Video Games Features Collector Series DVDs Easter Egg Database Interviews DVD Talk Radio Feature Articles Columns Anime Talk DVD Savant Horror DVDs The M.O.D. Squad Art House HD Talk Silent DVD
|
 DVD Talk Forum |
|
|
| Resources |
|
DVD Price Search Customer Service #'s RCE Info Links |
|
Columns
  
 
|
|
|
Disturbing Behavior: Special Edition
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"Disturbing Behavior" was an interesting failure. I saw it in theaters when it came out last Summer, and simply thought that it was unwatchable. I still think it's not a very good picture and one of the year's worst, but thanks to DVD, we get an insight on how it came to be the picture it is.(more on that later.)
The film stars Katie Holmes("Dawson's Creek") and James Marsden as two kids fighting against the rest of the teens in their town being taken over. By what? One by one, the teens become "Blue Ribbon" members, perfect in every way. They enjoy studying, organized sports, and nights at the malt shop. Creepy, isn't it? Well, not really. Although there's definitely some good ideas lurking in "Disturbing Behavior", the film is cut to shreds. At 84 minutes, there's not much left. No characters, not too much plot, and not too many scares since the film is so fractured.
One by one, the imperfection in the brainwashing of the students begins to show up, and when they can't supress their natural urges, they become violent. So, of course, it's up to our heros(Mardsen and Holmes) to find all the answers to who is brainwashing the teens and why before they become clones themselves. Director Nutter is a veteran of many episodes of "The X-Files", and this film, in its final version, plays like "The X-Files" on a very bad week. MGM had the option of final cut, and this movie was taken from the director. It's an example, I think, of a studio underestimating the intelligence of the crowd they intended to market to.
Notes about the disc:
Again, to talk about the DVD, I think it's just another wonderful example of gaining an insight about what went wrong on a film. Director David Nutter provides an incredibly engaging commentary that, after I gave it a listen, sort of led me down his vision; it's not a bad vision, but, on the other hand, what finally ended up on screen for this film was not his vision at all. Apparently, Nutter did not have approval over final cut of the film, and MGM saw fit to take out "minor" things like character development, plot points, etc. Without it, the movie falls flat. I will go a little bit more into detail during the "extras" portion of the review, but I thought that it was fit to make a mention of how outstanding it is that DVD is able to offer the filmmakers insight. To be absolutely honest, I found the picture more enjoyable after listening to what Nutter wanted for this picture. Watching the deleted scenes lets us know the full story, and, if the film was put together with these scenes, I think you'd have seen quite a different picture. These aren't little snippets or outtakes. These are full, important scenes that the studio saw fit, unfortunately, to leave out.
THE DVD:
Picture: Near 100% in terms of picture quality. MGM has done a wonderful job with this 16x9 enhanced 1.85:1 transfer. The cold daylight and sort of blue tinted cinematography looks absolutely outstanding on this disc. Colors are saturated perfectly, and there are few discs in recent memory with image quality that is so wonderfully sharp; again, this is another disc that looks, to my eyes, a little better than when I saw it in the theater.(If you don't know, my theory is that the quality of prints in theaters is going downwards, but anywyays..) There are little or no instances of compression artifacts, and the dark scenes(of which there are plenty) even look outstanding. There are a few instances where the deleted scenes don't look quite as good, but overall, the film itself looks outstanding.
Audio: Wonderful, enveloping sound mix with plenty of ambient sounds to bring the viewer closer into what is going on. Mark Snow's score is absolutely wonderful, especially the piece that plays during the opening credits and it's all captured with a "live" feel and like any great sounding DVD, it brings the viewer closer to the action and provides for a more enjoyable viewing experience than really any other format you'll find out there. The dialogue is also captured excellently, providing for an excellent overall experience.
Extras: During the commentary for the deleted ending, Nutter describes the movie itself as a "tragedy". After watching the deleted scenes and listening to the commentary, the movie itself could be described as such as well. There really is a good, or at least decent movie that was left, by MGM, on the cutting room floor. There are 11 deleted scenes on this disc, including the original ending of the picture which is quite different from both the theatrical and the home video version as well as a few other scenes(especially deleted scene 10) that really would have helped to bring this closer to what would be a successful motion picture and something that would rise above the rest of the usual teen horror films that have come out. Some of the deleted scenes are even in the trailer. Although sometimes Nutter's commentary gets into a little too much of "these actors are really great", you can sense that he is sincerely unhappy with the fact that this is not his vision. The people at the home video division are thanked by Nutter for allowing these deleted scenes to be added, and I think I'm thankful as well that there may have been those at MGM who understood that Nutter was wronged. After listening to his commentary and watching the deleted scenes, I can honestly say that I think that Nutter is a director with good instinct that just got cut short on this film, which was his debut. It's a sad thing, and I think it's a warning and a wake-up call to all future filmmakers out there what can happen when you don't have approval over the final cut of your film.
Menus: Nicely animated and easy to navigate. Main menu's animated, but not the scene selection.
Overall: It's not a good film, but I think that if you're interested in filmmaking or the art and process of putting a film together or how one falls off the tracks in the process, this is a really interesting disc to watch. If you're just interested in whether or not I give it a basic recommendation, I think that you should rent it and take a look, maybe you'll find it interesting, like I did, to see what could have been. I wouldn't recommend an out-and-out purchase, but if you see it at your local video store, pick it up. It's a disc that tells an interesting story. A tragedy, really.
The film stars Katie Holmes("Dawson's Creek") and James Marsden as two kids fighting against the rest of the teens in their town being taken over. By what? One by one, the teens become "Blue Ribbon" members, perfect in every way. They enjoy studying, organized sports, and nights at the malt shop. Creepy, isn't it? Well, not really. Although there's definitely some good ideas lurking in "Disturbing Behavior", the film is cut to shreds. At 84 minutes, there's not much left. No characters, not too much plot, and not too many scares since the film is so fractured.
One by one, the imperfection in the brainwashing of the students begins to show up, and when they can't supress their natural urges, they become violent. So, of course, it's up to our heros(Mardsen and Holmes) to find all the answers to who is brainwashing the teens and why before they become clones themselves. Director Nutter is a veteran of many episodes of "The X-Files", and this film, in its final version, plays like "The X-Files" on a very bad week. MGM had the option of final cut, and this movie was taken from the director. It's an example, I think, of a studio underestimating the intelligence of the crowd they intended to market to.
Notes about the disc:
Again, to talk about the DVD, I think it's just another wonderful example of gaining an insight about what went wrong on a film. Director David Nutter provides an incredibly engaging commentary that, after I gave it a listen, sort of led me down his vision; it's not a bad vision, but, on the other hand, what finally ended up on screen for this film was not his vision at all. Apparently, Nutter did not have approval over final cut of the film, and MGM saw fit to take out "minor" things like character development, plot points, etc. Without it, the movie falls flat. I will go a little bit more into detail during the "extras" portion of the review, but I thought that it was fit to make a mention of how outstanding it is that DVD is able to offer the filmmakers insight. To be absolutely honest, I found the picture more enjoyable after listening to what Nutter wanted for this picture. Watching the deleted scenes lets us know the full story, and, if the film was put together with these scenes, I think you'd have seen quite a different picture. These aren't little snippets or outtakes. These are full, important scenes that the studio saw fit, unfortunately, to leave out.
THE DVD:
Picture: Near 100% in terms of picture quality. MGM has done a wonderful job with this 16x9 enhanced 1.85:1 transfer. The cold daylight and sort of blue tinted cinematography looks absolutely outstanding on this disc. Colors are saturated perfectly, and there are few discs in recent memory with image quality that is so wonderfully sharp; again, this is another disc that looks, to my eyes, a little better than when I saw it in the theater.(If you don't know, my theory is that the quality of prints in theaters is going downwards, but anywyays..) There are little or no instances of compression artifacts, and the dark scenes(of which there are plenty) even look outstanding. There are a few instances where the deleted scenes don't look quite as good, but overall, the film itself looks outstanding.
Audio: Wonderful, enveloping sound mix with plenty of ambient sounds to bring the viewer closer into what is going on. Mark Snow's score is absolutely wonderful, especially the piece that plays during the opening credits and it's all captured with a "live" feel and like any great sounding DVD, it brings the viewer closer to the action and provides for a more enjoyable viewing experience than really any other format you'll find out there. The dialogue is also captured excellently, providing for an excellent overall experience.
Extras: During the commentary for the deleted ending, Nutter describes the movie itself as a "tragedy". After watching the deleted scenes and listening to the commentary, the movie itself could be described as such as well. There really is a good, or at least decent movie that was left, by MGM, on the cutting room floor. There are 11 deleted scenes on this disc, including the original ending of the picture which is quite different from both the theatrical and the home video version as well as a few other scenes(especially deleted scene 10) that really would have helped to bring this closer to what would be a successful motion picture and something that would rise above the rest of the usual teen horror films that have come out. Some of the deleted scenes are even in the trailer. Although sometimes Nutter's commentary gets into a little too much of "these actors are really great", you can sense that he is sincerely unhappy with the fact that this is not his vision. The people at the home video division are thanked by Nutter for allowing these deleted scenes to be added, and I think I'm thankful as well that there may have been those at MGM who understood that Nutter was wronged. After listening to his commentary and watching the deleted scenes, I can honestly say that I think that Nutter is a director with good instinct that just got cut short on this film, which was his debut. It's a sad thing, and I think it's a warning and a wake-up call to all future filmmakers out there what can happen when you don't have approval over the final cut of your film.
Menus: Nicely animated and easy to navigate. Main menu's animated, but not the scene selection.
Overall: It's not a good film, but I think that if you're interested in filmmaking or the art and process of putting a film together or how one falls off the tracks in the process, this is a really interesting disc to watch. If you're just interested in whether or not I give it a basic recommendation, I think that you should rent it and take a look, maybe you'll find it interesting, like I did, to see what could have been. I wouldn't recommend an out-and-out purchase, but if you see it at your local video store, pick it up. It's a disc that tells an interesting story. A tragedy, really.
|
| Popular Reviews |
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Release List | Reviews | Shop | Newsletter | Forum | DVD Giveaways | Blu-Ray | Advertise |
|
Copyright 2024 DVDTalk.com All Rights Reserved. Legal Info, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use,
Manage Preferences,
Your Privacy Choices 
| |||||||