Nerdly » HorRHIFFic 2024: ‘Behave’ Review

06th Mar2024

HorRHIFFic 2024: ‘Behave’ Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Georgia Viero, Christian Vit, Stacy Thunes, Ema Kosac, Lauren Pepler, David Bourne, Washim Abdul Gafoor, Eleonora Bindi, Nicolas Vaporidis, Gabriel Constantin | Written by Dan Sproson | Directed by Francesco Gabriele

Directed by Francesco Gabriele, Behave tells the story of a group of eccentric young adults taken to a villa on the outskirts of London following the death of their friend, they are shocked to discover a mysterious entity appears to have followed them to their luxurious getaway.

Villa Helen contains a deep mystery that the group must explore to discover the reasoning for the strange happenings during their ‘relaxing’ holiday. A creepy Gardener, a world-famous TikTok star and a lonely old Landlord all come into question as the entity starts to make its presence known to the group. Follow Keira, Andrea, Callum, India, Lily, all chaperoned by Andrea’s mother Polly, as they aim to survive their mysterious surroundings. Brought here to learn how to behave in modern society, the group must learn about each other, and who not to trust.

Let’s get this out of the way first. If you’re a fan of slasher movies you’re going to love this film. It reminded me very much of the latter wave of slashers that came post-Scream but didn’t delve too deep into the whole “meta” of slasher characters knowing they’re in a slasher movie scenario – films like Valentine, Urban Legends 2: Final Cut (yes, the second UL film NOT the first), and in particular Cry Wolf – which featured a band of characters you both wanted to see survive AND wanted to see slaughtered… Just like the cast of Behave!

As a slasher movie, Behave has a huge cast of possible suspects, from the gardener who skulks around the villa tending to its plants whilst seemingly traumatised by something in his past, to the teacher, Polly, who’s brought the group here. Then there’s the etiquette teacher, Nancy, who gives as good as it gets when it comes to bantering with the kids… hell, even the kids themselves are teased as possible culprits!

Also as a slasher movie, there are not a lot of kills – there are plenty of shocks as the kids make each other jump, one has a bad dream… or was it? It’s not until 53 minutes into the film that things start to happen, with India (Lauren Pepler) the first to disappear, at the hands of the “killer” who is teased in the film’s pre-credits sequence. This means there’s more mystery than horror to Behave, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Especially when, up until that point, whether or not there WAS a killer/stalker/ghost at the property or if it was all in Keira’s (Ema Kosac) mind.

It’s that question – what’s real and what’s not; and are the kids actually in danger? – that keeps you watching because there’s little else to hang the audience’s interest on. The cast of characters are stereotypical cliches and mostly unlikeable. In fact, outside of Kiera, none of the cast – adults included – are likeable, which means Behave is light on the kind of empathy needed to make audiences care what happens to anyone, which means you start rooting for the killer to off each and every one of the cast!

Unfortunately, when the killer is revealed a mere 13 minutes after it’s confirmed this film DOES have a killer, it feels like a total letdown. Why? The killer’s motivation is such a huge cliche. It’s been done to death in the genre and Behave does nothing to give it a twist or a new take. Shame