This spooky season, Galesburg’s Orpheum Theatre has again curated a host of scary movies to show on the big screen with its After Dark Fright Film Fest.
But this year, one of the movies hits pretty close to home.
“Strange Behavior” – a 1981 horror movie filmed in New Zealand – will show as part of a free double feature at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Orpheum.
Local horror aficionado Brian Godsil worked with the theater and Severin Films to make it happen.
By trade, Godsil works in healthcare. He said he’s worked in a lot of older buildings in the Galesburg area that are haunted.
But Godsil, the co-host of the I Like It Spooky Horror Podcast, said paranormal is his least favorite sub-genre. He’s more of a black comedy and slasher guy.
“It’s not for everybody, it’s not everybody’s cup of tea but not everybody is sophisticated enough to like tea. This is my tea,” Godsil said. “It’s an escape for a lot of us.”
And Godsil is an expert. In one year alone, he watched 336 horror movies.
In that mix, Godsil came across “Strange Behavior,” which despite being filmed on another continent, is set in a town called Galesburg.
At first, Godsil was sure it had to be one of the other Galesburgs – in Michigan or Kansas. But as he watched, the setting came into focus.
“No, I’m pretty sure that’s the sheriff in Galesburg, Illinois,” Godsil said.
In the film, the son of the sheriff of Galesburg wants to make some money. He has a friend who goes to Galesburg University where scientists are paying $100 a day for experiments. No spoilers – but trouble ensues.
“Strange Behavior” had the significantly more morbid title of “Dead Kids” in New Zealand. The cast members are all Americans, including Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher, and Dan Shor.
“They wanted to film in Australia, but it didn’t look Midwestern enough,” Godsil said.
The film was written and directed by Michael Laughlin, who was raised in Minonk, a small town in Woodford County about 80 miles from Galesburg. Laughlin went to Stanford University and later Principia College in Elsah, near St. Louis.
Laughlin died of complications of COVID-19 two years ago in Hawaii.
While his exact connections to Galesburg are still an unexplained phenomenon, he likely at least went through town a few times. And it’s clear to Godsil that the “Galesburg University” in the film is a fictionalized Knox College.
To Godsil’s knowledge, “Strange Behavior” – which was not a box office hit – has never before been shown in Galesburg, despite those connections.
“At the time in ’81 when it came out, you would have had the Orpheum showing first-run movies and the West downtown that’s no longer there,” he said.
And if you’re curious about other Galesburg connections in the movie, Godsil said to look for the Steak n Shake – which doesn’t bear much resemblance to the one on Henderson Street in the real Galesburg.
Godsil and the Orpheum secured the rights and funding for the free showing of “Strange Behavior.”
The other movie in the double feature is “Next of Kin,” a 1982 psychological horror film, also filmed in New Zealand.
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