Class of 1999 (1990)

Class of 1984 is one of my favorite exploitation films.  It was researched and written in response to director Mark L. Lester's concerns about unruliness and gang problems in America's high schools.  Instead of doing a normal troubled youth movie, or something realistic like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, he opted instead to do a violent revenge film that felt like The Blackboard Jungle meets Death Wish, with a punk aesthetic thrown in. 

It was financially successful for Lester and allowed him to pursue other projects.  It also got him the job of directing an adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter, perhaps his most well-known mainstream film next to Commando.  It was obvious at some point that his interests would return to the worsening problem of gangs in our schools and, when he did, he produced one of the most outlandish sci-fi b-movies of all time. 

Cody Culp (Bradley Gregg) is a member of a Seattle gang called the Blackhearts.  He has just been released from prison and, as part of his parole, he must return to high school.  Kennedy High School, however, lies in Seattle's Free Fire Zone, an area controlled by the Blackhearts and their rivals, the Razorheads.  It is an area cordoned off from the rest of the city that the police have given up patrolling.

The school itself is meant to be an experiment led by the Department of Educational Defense, reopening the abandoned high schools and educating the worst students.  To that end Dr. Miles Langford (Malcolm McDowell) has agreed to work with Dr. Bob Forrest (Stacy Keach), the head of a shady tech corporation called Metatech that has provided three robots - Mr. Hardin (John P. Ryan), Miss Collins (Pam Grier) and Mr. Bryles (Patrick Kilpatrick) - in an experiment to have them teach and handle discipline.  What Forrest fails to tell Langford is that the robots were designed for warfare, and when they begin to revert to their original programming Cody realizes that he must work with his rivals in order to survive. 

Bradley Gregg seems to have a Corey Feldman vibe about him, sometimes slipping into sounding like Sean Penn from Fast Times.  As usual, to avoid any accusations of racism, the gangs are white and Latin.  The punk style remains, only updated to have some people wearing stuff like microchips as earrings, and many of the cars - meant to be futuristic - are tricked-out vehicles that would be at home in Mad Max 2.  The movie doesn't shy away from showing its influences, right down to the robots - especially in the finale - being clearly influenced by The Terminator. 

While Lester wanted to apply some social significance to Class of 1984, he instead made Class of 1999 an exploitation action film without making any excuses for what he was doing.  The gang battles are filled with automatic weapons and explosions, there is a car chase within the first 10 minutes of the film and the teachers are not above making quips when going about their plans to eliminate both gangs.  There is no specific standout scene like there was in the original with Roddy McDowall teaching class at gunpoint, but John P. Ryan turning two gang members over his knee and paddling them is pretty close.

Gregg is not the best lead, and even worse is Traci Lind as Christie, Cody's girlfriend and Langford's daughter.  She spends most of her time getting rescued by Cody rather than doing anything useful, except at the end.  While that is also the fault of the screenwriters I don't know if giving her more time would have helped.  It is nice to see Pam Grier back after a long absence, and the robotic effects once the teachers go back to full battle mode are well done for such a small budget.  Keach also gets a chance to ham it up with white hair in a strange mullet/rat-tail combination and white contact lenses, while McDowell is happy to collect his paycheck.  

It is important to remember that, although Lester directed them and came up with the basis for both movies, Class of 1984 and Class of 1999 are two different beasts.  The former was a gritty, violent revenge thriller, while this one is a hybrid of science fiction and troubled youth movies.  Both are worth seeing on their own merits. 

Class of 1999 (1990)

Time: 99 minutes

Starring: Bradley Gregg, Traci Lind, Stacy Keach, John P. Ryan, Pam Grier, Patrick Kilpatrick, Malcolm McDowell

Director: Mark L. Lester