Jimmy Olsen: Lucy Brown gets around!
Billy the Kid: She's only 13, for chrissakes!
Jimmy Olsen: No problem there!
...yikes
This sparkling dialogue, co-written by future Oscar-winner Bill Condon and expressed by Dan Shor and Marc McClure, whose most famous roles could be interchanged with Tron and Back to the Future respectively, is typical of the occasionally amusing but tonally wonky and fatuous Strange Behavior, aka Dead Kids.
Credit where credit is due: I thought my assumptions about this being an 'Ozploitation' film were unfounded due to the impressively believable production design. It really feels like we're in the heartland of America, but that's just good ol' New Zealand, patiently waiting for hobbits and orcs to grace its vast plains.
I initially found it a little odd that the title for producer-turned-director Michael Laughlin's follow-up to this sci-fi slasher was the cute but tiring Strange Invaders, but the internet claims that this was all part of a grand scheme to create a 'Strange' trilogy of films, a feat which never came to pass. We all gotta strive for something, I suppose. Sometimes, Laughlin's photographic flourishes are mighty impressive, including a lengthy crane shot and 360° camera moves, but this decision also reveals the inherent dangers in allowing a scene to play out in one take. Here, the problems waffle between actors who seem to be searching for their lines and bits that take far longer than they would if there were some cutaways to tighten things up.
Despite a clever conceit that could've birthed any number of sinister scenarios, Strange Behavior is let down by a script full of plot holes and inconsistencies as well as a disparate cast featuring solid work from the more well-known lead performers but stilted, wooden acting from most of the supporting players. The fact that local kids are committing brutal, multiple murders is pretty much forgotten by the end after the main baddie is dispatched. The lack of consequences as well as a truly baffling decision by one of the female leads to cover up the conspiracy at the center of the plot and then appear to be unaware of any improprieties is frustrating and annoying.
Michael Murphy, a member of Robert Altman's stock company, delivers a committed performance, particularly when he yells at an evil scientist: "Quit stalling and open the FUCKING DOOR!!!" You really feel that shit. Who knows what would've happened had Louise Fletcher not won that Oscar? She certainly got a career out of it, but she's not especially good here, although she doesn't have much to work with either. Scott Brady's character is also a waste.
A missed opportunity if there ever was one. Even the death scenes lack spark. The movie feels like it's being directed under water; not a good look for a would-be 1980's slasher.
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