Sunday, January 25, 2009

Class Of 1999 (1988)

Dir. Mark L. Lester

Wow. This was done by the director of Class Of 1984 and is absolutely as great as that movie if not more so. For starters, this movie has Pam Grier, Malcolm McDowell, Stacy Keach, and John P. Ryan in it!! If you ever find yourself in the video store blindly looking for something to rent, and you see that cast listed on a box and don't rent it, you're a fucking loser. Malcolm McDowell stars as the principal of a high school that is riddled with gangs, drugs, and general rogueishness. He's hired a team of scientists who've invented "superteachers" (terminator-like robots in human skin) to come take over the rowdy classrooms. Their boss is played by a bizarre looking Stacy Keach sporting a white flat-top accompanied by a rat tail and some scary contact lenses. Right off the bat, Pam Grier kicks some of her students asses and throws some people across a room. John Ryan's character breaks up a fight and administers some (surreal) extreme high-powered robot spankings to a couple of punks. In another scene, the main character is almost killed by his gym coach who flips out and gives him a beating that, in a weird way, is hilarious. A lot of the kids in the school are addicted to a drug called "edge". One guy suffers an involuntary overdose of the stuff, that looks like he swallowed a whole box of Alka Seltzer. There is so much action in this movie, that if you blink, you'll miss something great. It's really well made and feels like the director knew it was going to be great even before he was done making it. Double Live Gonzo recommendations on this one. Available at I Luv Video on Airport on VHS.

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