[8]
Perry King stars as the new teacher at an inner-city school where a gang of punks rule the roost, scaring teachers into submission while selling drugs, stealing, vandalizing, and worse. King stands up to the hoodlums, led by Timothy Van Patten, but the principal and law enforcement prove worthless in helping him rid the school of them. Once the gang’s shenanigans start a body count and threaten the safety of his pregnant wife, he takes matters into his own hands.
Class of 1984 starts off like a melodramatic morality play (similar to High School Confidential decades earlier), but as the punks get increasingly dangerous, the film lets go of any hope for a sentimental resolution and embraces good old-fashioned, low-budget genre conventions. It’s glorious to behold when King starts killing these teenagers. And before you balk at the audacity of the situation, consider how evil these kids are. They slaughter all the animals in the biology lab, drive a nervous teacher (played by the wonderful Roddy McDowall) to the edge of sanity, stab a fellow student (Michael J. Fox at the start of his career), and gang-rape King’s wife (Merrie Lynn Ross). Minors or not, you’ll root for King to slaughter these bastards without mercy.
The writing sometimes isn’t the most sophisticated and the production values are modest, but Class of 1984 is a crowd-pleaser that went places I never expected, with a final act that made me want to stand up and cheer. The cast is competent, with Van Patten and McDowall giving the most striking performances. The score by Dirty Harry‘s Lalo Schifrin and a title song performed by Alice Cooper add to the film’s cult appeal.
With Keith Knight, Lisa Langlois, Al Waxman, and David Gardner. Directed by Mark L. Lester (Firestarter, Commando).