| Director | David Nutter |
|---|---|
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $17.5 million |
High school senior Steve Clark is new to Cradle Bay, a picturesque island community in Washington state's Puget Sound. His family has moved from Chicago after the suicide of eldest son Allen, a loss Steve still struggles with. On his first day of school, Steve befriends three outcast students: Gavin Strick, U.V., and Rachel Wagner. He also meets school psychologist Dr. Edgar Caldicott, who suggests he join the Blue Ribbons program, a "motivational workshop".
The Blue Ribbons, a clique of preppy, clean-cut overachievers, attempt to recruit Steve, but Gavin steers him away, claiming they are a murderous cult that has been "brainwashed and lobotomized" by Caldicott. Steve is skeptical of the theory but keeps his distance from the Ribbons.
Outside a grocery store, Rachel is approached by Chug, a Blue Ribbon who is attracted to her. When he catches sight of Rachel in her midriff-baring outfit, he flies into a rage and savagely beats up a man inside the store. Chug nearly kills him while the town's police chief, Officer Cox, simply looks on. When Steve asks what just happened, Rachel deduces it must be "roid rage". Gavin again insists on his mind control theory, producing photos of former burnout friends who were "reprogrammed" into Blue Ribbons.
Gavin takes Steve to a school hideout where they eavesdrop on a parents' meeting hosted by Caldicott. After Gavin hears his parents signed him up for the Blue Ribbons, he shows Steve a gun he plans to use on potential brainwashers. Steve calls him paranoid and wrestles the gun away from him. The next day, Gavin shows up to school with a totally transformed look and attitude befitting the Blue Ribbons.
Steve tries to reach Gavin, but other Blue Ribbons impede. He is beaten up by the clique, with Gavin landing the final blow. At home, he finds Blue Ribbon member Lorna in his living room, having just tutored his younger sister Lindsay. Lorna attempts to seduce him, but in her arousal, she flies into a violent rage. Repeating the words "wrong, bad", she smashes a wall mirror with her head and attacks Steve with a shard, but he subdues her, and she snaps out of her episode.
One day, Rachel is cornered in the school boiler room by Chug, when a device that is used to repel rats by emitting a soft, high-pitched whine goes off, sending Chug into a frenzy. Rachel escapes as Chug finds the device and destroys it. The incident is witnessed by Mr. Newberry, a janitor who has befriended Steve.
Steve and Rachel venture to a nearby mental hospital in search of answers. They learn Gavin was right: Caldicott is implanting brain microchips on teenagers with the approval of their parents, who want to reprogram their children from juvenile delinquents into well-behaved model citizens. However, Caldicott could not turn off the teenagers' hormones, resulting in violent fits whenever the subjects' sexual urges act up. Steve and Rachel return home to get Lindsay but are ambushed by Caldicott and Steve's parents, who reveal their intention to sign Steve up for the program.
Steve and Rachel are incapacitated and wake up at the programming place. Before he can be reprogrammed, Steve gets hold of a scalpel and injures a technician, escaping with Rachel. On their way out, they encounter Chug, but Rachel strikes and kills him with a pipe. U.V. and Lindsay arrive in a truck and the group rushes to catch an outgoing ferry but run into a roadblock where Caldicott and the Blue Ribbons are assembled. Newberry drives up in his car and activates the multiple rat-catching devices strapped to his vehicle, scrambling the mind control tech inside the Blue Ribbons' heads and sending them chasing after him.
While U.V., Lindsay, and Rachel head for the ferry, Newberry, gravely wounded by a gunshot from Caldicott, drives his car off a cliff and takes most of the Ribbons down with him. Steve and Caldicott engage in a struggle, ending with the doctor being pushed off a cliff. After defeating Caldicott, Steve rejoins his friends, and the four teenagers leave Cradle Bay to begin a new life.
A class at an unnamed high school is acting rowdily and playing loud music when the principal walks in to introduce a new student teacher. The teacher reveals himself as a still-alive Gavin, still programmed with the Blue Ribbon technology.