BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Leofwine_draca Despite being made on a low budget with a relatively no-name cast, CLASS OF 1984 has become something of a classic when it comes to cult cinema. Not since DEATH WISH have we had such a realistic, gritty low-down slice of urban exploitation, and here the violence is played out brutally and inevitably within the walls of a run-down school terrorised by a gang of malicious, victimising punks. This powerful film is miles ahead of something like 187 in its depiction of classroom violence and although the subject matter is offensive, the film is still gripping to watch. It's one of the rare instances where I was hooked to the screen and couldn't possibly stop watching until the credits rolled.Despite being made thirty years ago, the film hasn't really dated and in fact seems perhaps even more important today: certainly in the age of classroom shootings and ghetto violence it's not difficult to believe that somewhere in the world stuff like this is really going on. Director Mark Lester (known for making violent movies - take COMMANDO for example) charts the action well with his matter-of-fact direction which really puts the action "in your face". However, it's not just about the action; although there is a lot of it, the characterisation and storyline are just as important if not more so. Music by the veteran Lalo Shifrin keeps things moving along and an opening song by Alice Cooper seems appropriate. There's a nice sense of pacing which means those ninety minutes just seem to fly by.Lester's cast is mainly packed with unfamiliar faces (which is a plus in a realistic film like this), although a couple of famous actors do show up. In the lead role, Perry King (THE POSSESSION OF JOEL DELANEY) is excellent as the victimised teacher who is finally pushed to the edge by the terrorising punks when his pregnant wife is raped. His ordinary, even kind teacher makes for a sympathetic hero and we're behind him all the way. Merrie Lynn Ross is okay as his loving wife but her role is a very minor one, seemingly there for plot purposes only. Timothy Van Patten shines as the leader of the punk gang, Stegman, an intelligent lad who has dedicated his life to evil pursuits. The other gang members are fine too even though their roles are one-dimensional.Famous faces to look out for include Michael J Fox in his debut as an extremely young-looking victim of the school bullies and Al Waxman playing a detective (but then didn't he always?). However, most memorable is the scene-stealing Roddy McDowall (FRIGHT NIGHT) who plays fellow teacher Corrigan who is forced to turn to drink to forget about the problems of the class. McDowall has some excellent scenes, the finest of which is when he holds up his class with a gun and asks them life-or-death questions. There's also an excellent tragic moment where he goes gunning for the bad guys in his car, causing it to crash and explode in an impressive display of special effects.The best part of the film is the gripping conclusion, set on the night of the prom. Here, King's wife has been kidnapped by the thugs who are leading King through the dark corridors of the school, beating him up. Then he decides to fight back, leading to some cool scenes of him killing the gang in various ways which will have you cheering. This is audience manipulation at its finest and it doesn't disappoint on the violence front. Although not a film for all tastes, I would recommend CLASS OF 1984 to exploitation fans looking for more than just violence and gore, as this is also a well-made, well-acted film besides which uses the violence in context instead of just having it for violence's sake. Great, disturbing stuff.

Adam Peters (53%) An 80's sleaze picture with more brains and decent acting than usual with these movies. A main draw to this now is to see Michael (no J at this point) Fox in an early role in which he does have quite a bit of screen time, and looks very young, particularly compared to his school mates, and it is no wonder why he played a 17 year old whilst in his twenties for his most famous role yet to come. The movie still is somewhat shocking, mainly because metal detectors in schools and the like have now become widespread in certain parts of the world, which is a little sad. The flick really is more of a drama than anything else so don't expect too much horror (although the wood work room death is a grisly highlight) or action for that matter, and for that much alone it's still worth tracking down, and even if the opening and closing theme song from Alice Cooper is pretty awful, and overall the movie is far from great. But it's still worth a look mainly for fans of these hard-edged 80's films, or those that want to see Fox in an early gritty move before he became a world wide star.

Harriet Deltubbo The setup: Andy is a new teacher and an inner city high school that is like nothing he has ever seen before. The students have to go through a metal detector when they go through the front door and everything is basically run by a tough kid named Peter Stegman. Soon, Andy and Stegman become enemies and Stegman will stop at nothing to protect his turf and drug dealing business.The verdict: Okay, so what did I think of this movie? I liked it because it's fun. How this cost all of that money to make, I'll never know! A story about a futuristic place most people might not be able to conceive.

cwbellor Teacher and former Lord of Flatbush Mr. Norris is a fish out of water when he enters the gritty shark tank of Delinquent High, a school that is practically a mini-Gotham City with its urban cesspool motifs and that ever present staple of 80s cinema that is the Punk Toon. A Punk Toon is what you see in Police Academy and Death Wish 3 among other films as a villainous delinquent resembling not so much an angsty teen as a primal violence fiend who would ooze animalistic essence all over the pavement were it not for the safety pins holding it together. The main villain is a kid named Peter Stegman who is a type of alpha Punk Toon if you will. He's not just another juvee goon. He demonstrates early on that he is as intellectually deep as he is comically sociopathic. Actually, sinister is more fitting a word for this type of over-the-top character. All that the guy is missing is an evil laugh. When Norris asks "What's the matter with you," Stegman offers a morsel of contemplative wit that challenges you to sit back and rethink the very nature of your pathetic existence. "What's the matter with me? What's the matter with you? What's the matter with matter?" It's pretty obvious that from this point on, limp noodle teacher will be outsmarted by this precocious, piano prodigy pimp (oh yeah! He pimps!). Stegman informs a black drug dealer that his gang are "the only *igg#rs who sell $*** at this school." The gems of dialogue just keep coming like junk food morsels from a vending machine on the fritz. My favorite: "Life is pain! Pain is everything! You will learn!" This isn't so much an exploitation film as it is existentialploitation! And Stegman is right! You can learn a lot from this movie. The 80s were a perplexing time. A time when a few white teens, a fat guy and a slutty chick in high school could beat back an all-black gang with ease and still make it to the slam dance on time. And after that, they still have enough energy to audition prostitutes. -SPOILER- Class of 1984 is entertaining but be warned that when the rape scene comes along in the third act, you'll be scratching your head wondering, "Was that indulgent, nauseating and even a little awkward?" The answer to all three of those is yes. But it is so tastefully done that you won't feel the need to watch The Accused in an attempt to reacquaint yourself with a thoughtful depiction of rape's trauma. Just sit back and let this movie smash a liqueur bottle over your head.