John Chard
Dec 9, 2018
I am the future! Class of 1984 is directed by Mark Lester and Lester co-writes the screenplay with Tom Holland and John Saxton. It stars Perry King, Roddy McDowall, Merrie Lynn Ross, Timothy Van Patten, Stefan Arngrim, Michael Fox, Roddy McDowall and Lisa Langlois. Music is by Lalo Schifrin and Alice Cooper and Cinematography by Albert J. Dunk. New music teacher Andrew Norris (King) is shocked to find the pupils of Lincoln High rule the roost. Refusing to kowtow to Peter Stegman's (Patten) gang of thugs, he decides to fight back... It's always tricky revisiting later in life films that have cemented themselves as cult favourites. Class of 1984 is one such cult favourite of many who eagerly digested it back in the early half of the 1980s, a time when censorship was rife and banning orders the order of the day. The word of mouth back then was that Lester's film pushed boundaries, a frightening vision of a future where education as we know it would be replaced by anarchy, the youths of the day running amok with violence, sexual aggression and copious amounts of drugs. was this an astute portent by Lester and his crew?... Essentially this marks one of the turning points in the trashy filmic timeline of films dealing in educational establishments collapsing within via youth rebellion. Where the likes of Blackboard Jungle kicked things off with grim textures, Class of 1984 picks up the baton and urinates on it with a glint in its eye - for better or worse. As a whole the pic is given over to being ridiculous for the sake of shock value, yet it's strangely magnetic, managing to strike a nervous chord. Exploitation? No not really, that was just a marketing ploy that worked... Viewing it these days it looks part of a tired formula, but that in no way should denigrate the importance of it, for it helped turn the tide in said formula. Ultimately it becomes a visceral revenge thriller, where some scenes are well constructed, others not so much, with the finale outrageously over the top. The acting from the younger cast members is mostly ok, though Patten is difficult to take serious as the gang leader. King is splendidly committed to the lead, garnering our support, while McDowall is the class act on show. Lurid colours, eye splinter fashions and a rocky sound track round it out as a trashy "B" movie of much ebullience. One for the nostalgic amongst us for sure, but also for film historians interested in the sub-genre this sits in. 7/10
