Nostalgia Kinky

For fellow refugees from the nineties and nostalgia lovers in general, MVD is re-releasing its special edition of the cult-horror/sc-fi classic Disturbing Behavior in a unique slipcover edition. This limited release will be available for VSD, October 17th. More information on Video Store Day can be read about here. The original MVD Rewind Collection edition of Disturbing Behavior can be ordered here. The slipcovered edition will be availbale in stores next month.

For any fellow film lovers who happen to be on the younger side. Allow an old-head to tell you a secret. You never know what your favorites will turn out to be. You’ll watch something today, fall in love with it and then never watch it again. Then there will be other films, not necessarily favorites but films that’ll become comfort food as time goes by. You can’t predict this stuff. No point trying. You never know exactly what your future self will and won’t respond to.

Like a lot of Gen-x kids I saw Disturbing Behavior when it hit theaters in the late spring/early summer, 1998.
I dug it but didn’t love it.
That seemed to be the general response. Kids at the time pretty much liked Disturbing Behavior but, it certainly didn’t feel like one of the best post-Scream teen-horror films. We knew from the pages of Fangoria and the like that the film had a troubled production history and director David Nutter hadn’t had the best big-studio experience, to say the least. Running shy of 80 minutes without credits, Disturbing Behavior has always felt a bit compromised which, by matter of fact, it is.

Back in ’98, a lot of us knew David Nutter from The X-Files. Film-wise, we’d seen maybe a couple of the Trancers sequels he shot but Disturbing Behavior very much felt like his big introduction to the big screen. Viewed nearly thirty years later with all of the knowledge of the studio-interference, altered-ending, cut-scenes etc, Disturbing Behavior is still pretty freaking good. This has become real comfort watch for me and this Stepford Wives like film continues to age very well.

Nutter’s skillful and solid direction is part of Disturbing Behavior’s light-success, as is the wonderfully quotable screenplay by Scott Rosenberg. Still just in his thirties, Rosenberg made quite a splash with early screenplays Things to Do In Denver When You’re Dead and Beautiful Girls. His Disturbing Behavior is a ‘tribute script’, packed with allusions and nods to past works. Like Tarantino’s early works, this devotion to earlier films actually works in Disturbing Behavior’s favor and doesn’t wear thin.

Nutter and Rosenberg’s work behind the scenes is clever but Disturbing Behavior mainly works because of its wonderful cast. This might not ultimately be one of the best post-Scream works but it is one of the best cast ones. This is, I believe, the big-screen debut for star James Marsden, and he is a very charismatic and appealing lead as the new kid at school who discovers something is seriously wrong with his weirdly conforming classmates. Even better is the awesome Nick Stahl, who was just a couple of years away from his ferocious turn in Larry Clark’s extraordinary Bully. Stahl is quite terrific in Disturbing Behavior, showing a lot of invention and variety in his acting.

Best of all is the marvelous Katie Holmes, who transforms what might have been just ‘the girl’ into something special. This was sandwiched between her debut in The Ice Storm and her incredible turn in Go. People forget how exciting Katie Holmes’ early career was. She had a habit of stealing every film she appeared in and she’s still the best part of Disturbing Behavior.
I wouldn’t count her out all these decades later.

Packed with a post-grunge soundtrack and an attractive marketing campaign, Disturbing Behavior should have been a bigger hit than it was. Critics were overly harsh and the film barely made back its budget. It is a shame because Disturbing Behavior is a good movie. Would it have been a great film had the studio left Nutter and his team alone? No clue, but despite everything, Disturbing Behavior is a fine little film from a period very much lost to time.

Even though I didn’t love Disturbing Behavior back in 1998, I knew walking out of that Lexington, KY theater that warm night with my movie buddy Dave that I’d watch it again. That was the nature of the beast for Gen-X horror kids, and watch it again I did, on VHS and DVD. We got to see some of the much deleted footage from the film on that original DVD edition. That essential deleted scene reel, with Nutter’s original ending, is ported over by MVD for this Blu-ray release. Same with Nutter’s commentary tracks. There aren’t any new extras, save for a poster, but this is still a fine presentation of a fine little film.

In the wake of the troubled Disturbing Behavior’s creation and release, David Nutter returned almost exclusively to the world of television. He has found much acclaim and success. Disturbing Behavior remains a bit of an odd duck out in his career. Pity, as Disturbing Behavior has its solid fan base for a reason. This ‘good not great’ film is actually pretty damn good at that.

-Jeremy Richey, September 2026-