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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: March 11th, 2014.
Director: Michael Laughlin
Cast: Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher, Dan Shor, Fiona Lewis, Arthur Dignam
Year: 1980
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The Movie:
A small Midwestern Illinois town called Galesburg may look peaceful and serene on the outside but it isn't quite as picturesque as it seems. You see, Galesburg has been the site of a recent rash of murders where a serial killer has been offing some of the local teenage populace for kicks. The local sheriff, John Brady (Michael Murphy), is obviously none too pleased about this turn of events and he launches an investigation which soon reveals that the murderer might be connected to the psychology department at the town's high school.
The school has quietly begun a rather unorthodox research program meant to unravel the mysteries of 'behavioral control' that seems to be using some of the students as guinea pigs with rather adverse effects. Could this possibly tie in to the murders?
An enjoyable blend of psychological horror and, well, genuinely strange behavior (Strange Behavior being a common alternate title for this picture and the title that it was released under previously on DVD), this is a film that should have found a bigger audience that it has. With a cast made up of the aforementioned Michael Murphy and luminaries like Louise Fletcher, Dey Young and Dan Shor, it's a well cast picture that builds nicely to a satisfying conclusion. Those with short attention spans might find that the movie is a bit on the slow side but really, it isn't so much slow as it is deliberate. Things happen in the film for a reason and the filmmakers wisely choose to take their time telling the story properly and with a few welcome subtle nuances that make the finale all the more enjoyable.
A few grisly murder scenes and some nice, thick tension ensures that the picture delivers what horror fans want while some layered psychological explorations put some meat on the bones of the film. On top of that is a fairly odd Tangerine Dream score that further adds to the quirky atmosphere that makes this one stand out from the pack. Throw in an almost surreal party scene in which the eighties era teenagers attend dressed as sixties television icons and all dance around together, some unsettling scenes of experimentation (the syringe to the eye scene still hurts to watch!) and you're left with a movie that has stood the test of time quite well. It's a slick looking picture with some good performances and some really interesting ideas. Dead Kids remains an entertaining watch and a nice example of classic suspense.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Dead Kids debuts on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer taken from the original negative and framed at 2.35.1 widescreen. The though opening scene is a little rough as it's just not lit very well the rest of the movie looks very good. There is some softness here and there that stems back to the photography but detail is much stronger than it has been in the past and colors fare nicely here too. Black levels and shadow detail are also much stronger and there are no noticeable issues with any major compression artifacts, edge enhancement or noise reduction. The movie, for the most part, looks great on Blu-ray.
The English Mono audio track is clean and clear and free of any hiss or distortion. A couple of scenes are a tad flat but that's to not surprising for an older low budget picture. Generally, the mix sounds good. The score has some punch to it and the dialogue is always easy enough to follow. There are no alternate language or subtitle options provided.
The main supplement on this release is a commentary track from director/co-writer Michael Laughlin and a moderator. Though it was recorded over a Skype conversation, it's a good talk in which he talks about how he came onboard to direct, casting the film with people he'd known and worked with already, and critical reception to the movie after it played. He also talks about why the scene where the partygoers dance was shot the way it was, what it was like working with co-writer Bill Condon, how Dey Young was hired on the spot after the writers found her standing in line at a bank and how they didn't do auditions for this movie but instead went with their original casting plans that they came up with while writing the picture. He notes how and why some of the more suspenseful scenes in the film were designed around ideas that Hitchcock originated, the use of classic mad doctor motifs and what it was like moving in and out of the Los Angeles/Hollywood filmmaking circles throughout his career. There's a little bit of dead air early in the track but once Laughlin starts talking, even if he goes off on some tangents that aren't necessarily related to this picture, it's a good and very informative track that does a good job of relaying his side of the story in regards to the making of this film.
Also found is a commentary track from writer Bill Condon (who co-wrote the film with director Michael Laughlin) and two of the actors, Dan Shor and Dey Young. This track, along with most of the other extras, was carried over from the previous DVD releases from Elite Entertainment and then later Synapse Films. This is a fairly active track that does a good job of delving into the history and the making of the film with a good bit of detail. Condon seems to have the most to say about the project but it's good to hear from Shor and Young about what it was like working in front of the camera here.
A new featurettes entitled The Effects Of Strange Behavior is a twenty-minute interview with makeup effects artist Craig Reardon. He talks about how he came onboard to work on the project at the last minute, five days before it was to start principal photography, and what it was like plying his trade in the various facility rooms used for the location shooting. He then goes on to talk about some of the pressures he was under given that he didn't have much time to prepare for this, and how he went about doing his job on the set and why he chose to do the effects in the way that he did for this movie. Reardon comes across as smart and knowledgeable and he has no problems at all recounting the time he spent on the film and the work that he performed. The interview is quite well done and pretty interesting.
Severin rounds out the extras are an international theatrical trailer for the feature, a US theatrical trailer and the film's isolated score from Tangerine Dream. Animated menus and chapter selection are also included. The deleted scenes that were included on the previous DVD releases are not included on this Blu-ray but those scenes have been put back into the movie (which now runs roughly two minutes longer than it did on that DVD release).
The Final Word:
An eerie and atmospheric Australian thriller, Dead Kids gets a nice Blu-ray debut from Severin. The transfer shows some serious improvement over the DVD releases from years back and the additional extras included on this release add some further interest. The movie itself holds up well and remains an entertaining horror picture.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
