phanthinga
The impact of Class of 1984 when it first came out in 1982 is undeniable and looking back at all the school shooting and bullying we still have to deal with today exaggeration or not Class of 1984 deserve the cult status as one of the best movie of the 80s and a must see for trash cinema fan.
Adam Baehr
Holy Smokes. I will start off by saying that I just finished watching this movie today for the first time and I fell in love. I'm reviewing this film from the perspective that this is a cult classic film through and through and so I shall begin. The story is about a teacher who gets a job at a school that is known to be full of gangs and a plethora of other misfits. He then starts to have trouble with the main school gang which are basic Neo-Nazi punks. The story is simplistic but does the job. The acting was great for a film that was made in 1982 not that there were not a ton of phenomenal actors back then either to say. The teacher Mr.Norris played by Perry King is Outstanding and the other highlight is his enemy Peter Stegman played by Timothy Van Patten who was truly mesmerizing. The other actors and actresses did a great job as well. The action was Awesome. The choreography could be a little off at times but for the times and the budget it was working with I thought the director Mark Lester did an Incredible job. The deaths were very cool and overall they did a killer job. No pun intended. The cinematography and location were excellent. The crew did a terrific job of shadowing over what a crime ridden school would look like along with the town it was surrounded by in the film. I will close by saying that this is a Must-Watch film if you're a fan of films such as "A Clockwork Orange" and also "The Warriors" and films that represent warnings on what our future's could look like if left in the hands of madmen. The film can be graphic at times but none of it phased me because I have seen a lot worse but just a forewarning. Please don't be deterred from watching this Absolutely Astounding film.
Gimly Monocle (firstruleofmethclub)
Although the seventies was certainly more the era for revenge flicks, the eighties certainly had their fair share, and if I'm completely honest, Class of 1984 does not stand particularly high among them.But I really did enjoy it. It's nice to go back to some classic R-rated cinema with low expectations and have those expectations met. It may not sound like much of a compliment but Hell, it's better than most can muster. Sure it suffers from that standard catchall where you chuck the villains some Nazi references to make sure nobody can sympathise with them (which actually particularly aggravated me, because the next day they throw you a curve-ball with the leader of the villains by making him actually a three dimensional character, but his gang never amount to more than utterly moronic skinheads-come-punks), but I found its merits outweighed its downfalls.It was one of Michael J. Fox's first roles (simply "Michael Fox" at the time) and I'm told presents a vision of Detroit, L.A and Chicago schools that is horrifically accurate to this day (having never seen them myself, I can neither confirm nor deny this). Doesn't matter, because what's important is that this dated piece does hold up to this days gauge for entertainment-value. Or at least it does mine.65%-Gimly
Prismark10
The late 1970s onwards was a period in American exploitation cinema where inner cities were full of violent gangs, uncontrolled by police and authorities. This trend continued in the 1980s with mainstream cinema churning out Death Wish and Dirty Harry sequels.This obscure B movie outing features an early film appearance by Michael J Fox, one of the few actors in this film who looks like a high school student.Perry Kings plays newbie Music teacher at Lincoln High whose idealism quickly goes out of the window as its run by a nihilistic gang of scumbags led by Peter Stegman who despite living a high style life, he can even play the piano spends most of his time living the life of violence and drug pushing. He is so bad that we even seem him and his cronies beat up a gang of black drug pushers. Well it is a far fetched film!Mr Norris is the only one to stand up to him. Despite security guards, CCTV the Dean of the school can never find any wrongdoing by the thugs and other teachers just turn a blind eye until Roddy McDowall the Biology teacher snaps that is.Timothy Van Patten is having a hoot as the vile and cunning Stegman who really gets off in bringing misery which also includes an unsettling gang rape scene. The scene in a bathroom where he frames Mr Norris was re-used in Fight Club but let's not talk about that.The film is at times preposterous with some of the students looking they are about to hit middle age. You kind of wonder why normal students come here because it is not safe or go postal with a machine gun on Stegman which is something that would happen nowadays.The film is cheesy, some uneven acting, some exploitation nudity and violence with some dark humour. After Mr Norris gets all Death Wish and starts to pursue the gang, he gets away with it because no one saw anything.
AD
