“We are the future! …and
nothing can stop us."
An exploitation film that explores real issues and problems
in our society.
Sounds like an oxymoron,  doesn’t it? But as
the great George Romero has proved time and again in his career,
it can be done and done well. By ‘well,’ I
mean that the issues aren’t hammered down anyone’s
throats and all the elements of a good exploitation film are
front and center. In fact, the issues are sometimes
discussed so subtly, the average tits ‘n gore hound
could very well miss them entirely.
Like Romero, director Mark L. Lester has made a career of
walking this fine line in the exploitation world. The
highpoint of his balancing act is the spectacular, and vastly
underrated, Class Of 1984.
 Class Of 1984 begins with an idealistic
young music teacher (Perry King; The Day After Tomorrow, Riptide)
starting his first day at the tough, inner city, Lincoln High
School.
Greeted by throngs of unruly students and lines at the airport-style
metal detectors manned by a security force, King’s Andrew
Norris suddenly realizes that he has just entered an educational
facility like none he has ever encountered before. Norris,
obviously in over his head, is befriended by long-time Lincoln
teacher, Terry Corrigan (Roddy McDowall; Planet Of
The Apes, The Poseidon Adventure). Corrigan
instructs Norris how things work around Lincoln. Essentially,
the students are in control and the administration (as well
as the local police) is hampered by rules, fearful of lawsuits,
and essentially ineffective.
 The main student in charge of Lincoln is Peter Stegman (Timothy
Van Patten; The White Shadow). Stegman
runs the school like an evil genius mafia boss, controlling
everything from drugs to protection to prostitution. When
Norris takes notice of Stegman and his cronies as troublemakers,
he immediately jumps to the top of Stegman’s enemies
list. Norris’ combination of idealism and true
naivety sparks a war with Stegman that escalates quickly and
spirals far out of Norris’ control.
What starts as a fairly standard but interesting low-budget
drama, Class Of 1984  moves with ease and
believability into the realm of exploitation and climaxes
into a Grand Guignol blood fest that seems to be
quite a realistic conclusion to the events as they unfold.
I remembered Class Of 1984 from the heyday
of video rental and I also remembered that it really seemed
to stand out from the dreck that was the usual rental fare. This
was a highly anticipated DVD release for me for two reasons: One,
I wanted to see if this film really stood up after all these
years; and two, there were countless false starts and blown
release dates for this title. Finally, earlier this
year, Anchor Bay released Class Of 1984 on
DVD.
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Not only did this title hold up, it actually improved with
age. The performances, considering the intent and budget,
by King, Van Patten, and McDowall were just spot-on and fantastic. Each
grounded their characterization on different, but quite appropriate
levels of both realism and theatricality. The only cast
member who really hits a sour note was Merrie Lynn Ross who
played Norris’ wife, Diane. She was just a horribly
bad actress and came across as pathetically stupid. During
the scene where her character is brutally raped, not only
did I feel no pity for her, I actually rooted for the rapists. That
bitch deserved it, even if her character didn’t. I
found later, during her interview on the documentary, why she
was cast. It seems that she was a producer and was responsible
for bringing in the majority of the investors. I’ll
keep further rude comments to myself, although if George Lucas
would like to have her digitally removed and replaced by another
actress, I would probably raise my rating by another full
pant.
 The most amazing thing about Class Of 1984 is
how it really senses what is on our horizon and is a dark
prophesy into what our crumbling public education system has
become. In 1982, when the film was made, it was slaughtered
by critics and derided for being too over-the-top. Sadly,
the critics’ complaints hold no weight as current events
have shown us.
A fun bit of trivia: This was Michael J. Fox’s
very first film. Shot in Canada (yet you will swear
this was shot in LA or New York… a perfect job of mimicry)
they cast Fox simply as a way to fulfill their Canadian employee
requirements. In a humorous bit on the documentary,
the director always assumed that the star to rise from this
film would’ve been the dynamic Van Patten (who later
moved on to a very successful career directing television,
the most recent being The Sopranos) not the
young, cherubic Fox.
In 1990, Mark L. Lester made a sequel of sorts called Class
Of 1999. I never had the opportunity to see
this one and sadly, it has yet to be released on DVD.
Picture and Sound
While not the greatest transfer in the world, the print
is certainly leagues above the master used for the old VHS
editions. In addition, this appears to be a complete
and uncut version of the film… a film savaged by censors
around the world for years. The sound is crisp and clear,
with all dialogue easily heard, even on the most low-end systems. Neither
the picture nor the sound would be considered something used
to show off your home theater, but then again, this film was
never intended as such.
Extras
 Thanks to the fine package put together by Anchor Bay, this
release has been well worth the wait. There is certainly
a nice selection of extras, and a real level of care here
for a film that has been out of the public eye for so very
long.
Lester’s commentary is engaging and full of interesting
ancedotes regarding the film. He still remembers details
vividly after nearly 25 years, and his love for Class
Of 1984 certainly shows.
Blood And Blackboards includes a sampling of much
of what Lester discussed in the commentary, but it is still
interesting and worthwhile. I was surprised and pleased
with Perry King’s participation in the doc. He
is also proud of his accomplishments on the film, and rightly
so. In addition, both King and Lester had some really
wonderful things to share about the late McDowell. The
major flaw in this doc, the same major flaw as in the film,
was the inclusion of Merrie Lynn Ross. I could certainly
see why her character in the film was such a dolt, because
evidently, so is she. Her interview, like her performance,
would force a lesser man to take his own life… she
sucks the energy right from the screen. While it was
not surprising that they couldn’t get an interview with
Michael J. Fox, I was shocked and disappointed that they couldn’t
score Timothy Van Patten. He was such a vital and blazing
part of the film and his reminenesces would’ve really
complimented the piece. Outside of most of my bitching,
the doc is certainly worth your time, but be warned, it is
chock full of spoilers (Anchor Bay being good enough to warn
the viewer at the beginning.)
 I am always interested to see how a film was sold to audiences
prior to its release, so the inclusion of both the theatrical
trailer as well as the TV spots are always appreciated. To
add to my joy, they also included a healthy pile of stills,
photos from the premiere, poster art, lobby cards, and even
some international art and VHS box art. If you are in
to this sort of thing like I am, it is some really great stuff.
In addition, there are trailers for:
Heathers -
A rare film loved by both teenage girls and exploitation
fans.
Bad Boys - The fantastic, 1984 Sean Penn film, not
noisy, sun-drenched Will Smith one.
Vice Squad - Some awesome Wings Hauser crap (he plays
a character called ‘Ramrod’) that I must see!
As an added bonus, the Alice Cooper song from the soundtrack, “I
Am The Future” plays in its entirety over the main menu
screen and a portion of “Ain’t Got No Sense” by
Teenage Head plays over the extras menu screen.
Wrap-up
 The perfect combination of the “teenagers gone wild” genre
of the ‘50s (Blackboard Jungle), the
revenge films of the ‘70s (Dirty Harry, Death
Wish), the nihilism of A Clockwork Orange,
and far closer to the elements of a prison film than a high
school flick, Class Of 1984 is one of the
finest exploitation films to come out of the ‘80s. It
would be a disservice to marginalize this film, because to
do so, you deprive yourself of a story that works, performances
that satisfy, and an overall conclusion that stays will you. Anchor
Bay did a great job in putting this together and the presentation
certainly compliments the feature. Rent this, buy this,
whatever… just be sure to watch it. You won’t
be sorry.
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