Strange Behavior

Strange Behavior
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Laughlin
Written by	Bill Condon Michael Laughlin
Produced by	Antony I. Ginnane John Barnett
Starring	Michael Murphy Louise Fletcher Dan Shor Fiona Lewis Arthur Dignam
Cinematography	Louis Horvath
Edited by	Petra von Oelffen
Music by	Tangerine Dream
Production companies	Hemdale Fay Richwhite South Street Films Gupta Film Services Flavius Films Endeavour Productions Bannon Glen
Distributed by	GUO Film Distributors (Australia) Endeavour Productions (New Zealand) World Northal (US)
Release dates	16 October 1981 (1981-10-16) (U.S.) 17 June 1982 (1982-06-17) (Australia)
Running time	94 minutes
Countries	Australia New Zealand United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$1 million[1]

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.