Teenagers randomly being stabbed to death certainly qualifies as strange behaviour in my book. So 1981's Strange Behavior is aptly titled (though it also goes by the equally apt Dead Kids). This New Zealand movie about murder, hypnosis, and confusing revenge is set in a small American town for some reason, though it was filmed in Auckland. It's not bad. It has good cinematography and it establishes its characters and setting in that nice, slow, messy '70s/early '80s way.
Pete (Dan Shor) is the son of local cop John Brady (Michael Murphy). Pete's feeling restless and is secretly attending a college psychology class without his father's knowledge.
This class is taught via video recordings of the sinister, deceased Dr. Le Sange, who demonstrates that he can still hypnotise a chicken from beyond the grave.
Does he have anything to do with the formerly normal teens suddenly going on murder sprees? Yes. Sorry, spoiler (well, the movie doesn't really try to keep the secret).
I suppose it's saying something about the malevolent influence of higher education on the innocent country kids. Not something cogent but something. It's put together with a nice, low key energy with some lovely sunset cinematography of New Zealand countryside. The recently deceased Louise Fletcher gets second billing despite appearing only three or four times. But she's pretty good.
Strange Behavior is available on The Criterion Channel.
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