Strange Behavior (1981)
- Directed by
- Michael Laughlin
- Genre
- horror film
- Country
- New Zealand
- Runtime
- 1h 39m
- Rated
- R
- Rating
- 5.5 of 10 from 69 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
In a small Midwestern town, teenagers are being murdered in strange ways. At the same time, the local university is running secret mind control experiments on young people. The film feels like an old 1950s horror comic book come to life.
creepypulpishsuspensefulmoodyretrounsettlingmysteriousgory
What happens
Strange Behavior (also known as Dead Kids, Small Town Massacre, Shadowlands, Human Experiments) is a 1981 slasher film written, directed and co-produced by Michael Laughlin, co-written with Bill Condon, and starring Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher and Dan Shor. Its plot follows a series of bizarre murders being perpetrated against teenagers in a small Midwestern town, at the same time that the local university is engaging in covert mind control experiments on the youth. An international co-production between United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia, the film was intended as the first instalment of the Strange Trilogy which was cancelled after the second instalment, Strange Invaders, failed to attract a large enough audience. It is a homage to the pulp horror films of the 1950s. The film is considered a seminal work of New Zealand cinema, being the first horror film produced in the country. It has since attracted a large cult following. While not prosecuted for obscenity, the film was seized and confiscated in the UK under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 during the video nasty panic. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
The Scarecrow (1982)
No One Can Hear You (2001)
Dead & Buried (1981)
The House by the Cemetery (1981)
The Aimed School (1981)
The Howling (1981)
Alison's Birthday (1981)
The Funhouse (1981)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.