NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective disc.

ADDITION: Indicator 4K UHD (April 2026): Indicator have transferred Michael Laughlin Dead Kids (aka 'Strange Behavior') to Blu-ray and 4K UHD. It is cited as "Brand-new 4K HDR restoration from the original negative by Powerhouse Films". Rendered in 2160P Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) with the film’s original 2.39:1 widescreen framing, it beautifully preserves the soft, nostalgic Technicolor-inspired aesthetic - saturated greens, warm daylight tones, and that dreamlike suburban tranquility - while delivering impressively sharp detail, refined grain structure, and occasional depth in both bright exteriors and shadowy interiors. The look of Dead Kids is one of its most distinctive and beguiling qualities - a deliberate, almost hypnotic evocation of idealized 1950s Midwestern Americana filtered through a hazy, off-kilter 1980s lens. Practical gore effects (the infamous needle close-up, scarecrow poses) show vibrancy with greater texture and impact against the pastel palette, and the two cuts (seamlessly-branched) - the longer Australian Dead Kids version and the slightly tighter US Strange Behavior cut - are both included with the exact same HD quality. Minor source issues are minor and we are treated to a film-like presentation that enhances the movie’s uncanny “normalcy” factor. It looks very bright and pleasing on 4K UHD.

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

NOTE: We have added 72 more large resolution 4K UHD captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray and 4K UHD, Indicator use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. The audio is preserved faithfully without unnecessary expansion. While inherently limited by the 1981 production budget, the track remains clean and clear across both versions. Sonically, the film is anchored by a haunting, atmospheric score from Tangerine Dream  - Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, and Johannes Schmoelling - (Thief, The Keep, Sorcerer, Risky Business, Firestarter, Miracle Mile, Heartbreakers, Downhill Racer,) recorded in 1981 but unreleased in full until decades later. It consists largely of dark, atonal electronic soundscapes - droning synth pulses, dissonant ambient textures, and minimalist sequencer patterns - that create a creeping paranoia and sense of psychological dissociation, perfectly mirroring the mind-control theme and the town’s “strange behavior.” These tracks are more moody and unsettling than melodic (with a few lighter acoustic guitar pieces, like the “Romance Theme”), functioning almost as subliminal hypnosis rather than traditional horror stingers; they amplify the film’s detached weirdness without ever becoming intrusive. Dialogue is intelligible throughout, practical sound effects (stabs, screams, doors) land with decent weight, and the isolated score option is a welcome bonus for fans wanting to immerse in the hypnotic soundtrack alone. Diegetic music adds quirky counterpoint: the spontaneous, oddly synchronized costume-party dance sequence set to Lou Christie’s upbeat 1966 hit “Lightnin’ Strikes” stands out as one of the film’s most memorable eccentric touches, blending innocent ’60s pop nostalgia with underlying menace. Occasional post-punk snippets (including a brief nod to Australian band The Boys Next Door) further ground the early-’80s setting. Indicator offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray and Region FREE 4K UHD. 

The 4K UHD and Blu-ray offer many extras. The package is exceptionally generous for a cult title, making this Indicator release a definitive edition packed with new and archival material. It includes two strong audio commentaries (Laughlin with David Gregory from 2014, and Condon with actors Dan Shor and Dey Young from 2008), plus a wealth of 2026 interviews: Michael Murphy (20+ min), Fiona Lewis in Lasting Bonds (10 min), Dey Young in An Actor’s Dream (1/4 hour), and fresh pieces on producer Antony I. Ginnane. Longer highlights include the extensive 2016 A Very Delicious Conversation with Dan Shor (3/4 hour) and 2o-minutes Craig Reardon on makeup effects - from 2014. Additional supplements feature the isolated Tangerine Dream score, theatrical trailers (International and US) with Patton Oswalt’s witty commentary, image galleries, and an 80-page limited-edition book with new essays - by Paul Dunne, Alan Jones, and an interview with Michael Murphy by Vadim Rizov, plus Ginnane memoir extracts, archival interviews (including with Laughlin, and Tangerine Dream), notes on the restoration and full credits. This extensive slate deepens appreciation for the film’s quirky production history emboldening its cult status.

Dead Kids is Michael Laughlin’s 1981 cult oddity - a low-budget ($1 million) international co-production (U.K./New Zealand/Australia) shot in Auckland, New Zealand, that doubles for the sleepy fictional college town of Galesburg, Illinois. Co-written by a then-unknown Bill Condon (who would later win Oscars for Gods and Monsters and Dreamgirls,) the film was intended as the first entry in an aborted “Strange Trilogy” and holds the distinction of being the first horror movie produced in New Zealand. It deliberately channels the pulp sci-fi/horror B-movies of the 1950s while grafting on early-’80s slasher mechanics, resulting in a hybrid that feels both nostalgic and prescient: part mad-scientist paranoia, part small-town melodrama, part deadpan satire. At its core, the story follows police chief John Brady (Michael Murphy - Phase IV, Count Yorga, Vampire, An Unmarried Woman, The Front, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Manhattan, Nashville, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Cloak & Dagger, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial) as he investigates a string of grotesque teenage murders - victims stabbed, dismembered, or posed as scarecrows - while his own son Pete (Dan Shor) unwittingly becomes entangled in covert mind-control experiments at the local university. Professor Gwen Parkinson (Fiona Lewis - The Fury, A Day at the Beach, Tintorera: Killer Shark, Strange Invaders) and her reclusive mentor Dr. Le Sange (Arthur Dignam - The Devil's Playground, Natural Enemies, Harlequin, The Duellists) are conducting behavioral programming on students, using pills, injections, and hypnotic lectures that turn ordinary kids into amnesiac killers. What elevates Dead Kids beyond formula is its eerie, dissociated style. Laughlin and cinematographer Louis Horvath (Strange Invaders, Nurse Sherri) create a flattened, post-Twilight Zone aesthetic - faded Technicolor greens and yellows, long static takes, and an off-kilter “normalcy” that makes everyday interactions (a father and son casually walking past each other naked, a deputy’s fridge stuffed with beer cans, or a costume-party dance number spontaneously syncing to Lou Christie) feel like an alien training film for human behavior. The Tangerine Dream electronic score - creepy synth pulses and dissonant drones - amplifies the unease, while subtle De Palma–esque thriller flourishes (shadowy hallway killings, needle-to-the-eye close-ups) sit alongside Jacques Tourneur-style restraint. The film’s humor is doubly anachronistic: it pokes fun at 1980s slasher tropes from a vantage that somehow anticipates Twin Peaks and Donnie Darko. Thematically, Dead Kids is a psychodrama about control - scientific, parental, societal. It taps 1950s fears of mad science tampering with youth, updated for Reagan-era paranoia about juvenile delinquency and hidden authority. The town’s “strange behavior” extends beyond the killers: everyone seems slightly hypnotized by nostalgia or buried grudges, turning Galesburg into a microcosm of American pastoral rot. As an early-’80s curio, Dead Kids / Strange Behavior remains a quirky, atmospheric gem: not the scariest or slickest horror of its era, but one of the most strangely charming, proving that low-budget eccentricity can outlast polished formula. It’s the kind of film that sticks with you like a half-remembered dream - comparisons to Blue Sunshine are appropriate - eerie, funny, and quietly subversive. Indicator’s 4K UHD world premiere of Dead Kids stands as one of the most satisfying boutique releases for this underrated 1981 oddity - delivering a smart visual upgrade that honors its dreamy, pastel-soaked style, both cuts in 2160P and an embarrassment of riches in supplements that contextualize its mad-science charm and New Zealand-shot Americana. For fans of atmospheric cult horror hybrids, this limited edition (with its beautiful packaging and book) is an easy essential purchase that finally gives the film the high-end treatment its eccentric appeal deserves, turning a quirky B-movie into a collectible gem worth repeated revisits.

Gary Tooze