After relocating to an island within Puget Sound, Washington, a Chicago family finds that their new surroundings aren’t quite what they seem. Steve, played by James Marsden, quickly discovers the usual high school social groups, but something feels off about the Blue Ribbon Club—a group of top students who appear to receive preferential treatment from law enforcement even when they misbehave. Nick Stahl portrays Steve's new friend, Katie Holmes a possible romantic interest and Katharine Isabelle his sister. Bruce Greenwood appears as a questionable school psychologist. “Disturbing Behavior” (1998) shares similarities in its initial setup with “Twilight” (2008), though the supernatural elements of vampires and werewolves are absent. I won’t elaborate on the storyline, other than to say it incorporates aspects reminiscent of Dr. Frankenstein and "The Stepford Wives" (1975). This isn't a significant reveal, as the movie essentially lays out all its cards from the beginning, making it somewhat predictable. Despite this, the film’s Pacific Northwest scenery is impressive, the acting is solid—particularly Marsden and Stahl—and the story holds enough interest to keep you engaged. However, it suffers from a feeling of having been done before. Nevertheless, it's considerably better than “The Faculty” (1998), and arguably surpasses other comparable films from that era, such as “Scream” (1996), “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (1997), “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer” (1998), “Urban Legend” (1998), “Jawbreaker” (1999) and “Final Destination” (2000). "Bad Girls from Valley High," released in 2005 despite being filmed in 1999, is of similar quality. The original version ran for 115 minutes—roughly 32 minutes longer than the final cut—but producers deemed it too lengthy and removed scenes intended to clarify the plot. In my view, the film wasn’t difficult to follow, and I never felt confused. However, the conclusion could have benefited from more refinement; it feels somewhat abrupt, with elements like the mental hospital sequence occurring so quickly that you might miss them entirely. The movie has a running time of 1 hour, 23 minutes and was filmed in the Vancouver area of British Columbia, including Bowen Island. GRADE: B

Source on TMDB