WATCH NOW
The point I am trying to make is that “Class of 1984” is a film that either captivates your attention completely or leaves you unmoved. I was captured. The first time I encountered this was during the Cannes Film Festival in 1982. I entered the theater hoping to watch the worst movie of the week, but walked out two hours later feeling drowsy and vaguely confused.
“Class of 1984” is not a great film, but it accomplishes with subdued, strong finesse to deliver achieved expectations from any movie with that title. It is funny, scary, intensely violent, has well-defined characters, and captures our attention. It also has a lot of style. One of the reasons for the film’s stylistic sense may be that it was made by people who knew what they were doing. The entire Dead Teenager genre has been seriously diluted in the past few years by endless streams of shoddy, stupid tax-shelter film productions out of Canada and elsewhere. We have seen movies like “Prom Night,” “Terror Train,” and “The Burning,” where a Mad Slasher, along with screaming teenage boys, over with a lack of talent, skill, and craft.
Mark Lester’s “Class of 1984” blows that assembly of movies out of the water. The movie has a well-structured plot that is uncomplicated yet entertaining. The actors bring it to life seamlessly. It also blends elements of comedy without excessive usage and, more importantly, does not shy away from providing the audience with an exhilarating ending that every slasher movie has dreamt of but has always failed to deliver.
Whether you liked it or not, you cannot deny that you were intrigued by the premise. The plot centers on Perry King, a musician who is now teaching music in high school. Now if we look into the actor’s life, he has been through a lot and is highly skilled. The first Corbin encountered was trouble, which was presented by Stegman. Stegman is a high school teacher who leads his students into great feats and amazing achievements, but he is also a little bit insane, has immense talent, and is a bit of a psychopath. Unfortunately, with King, the other adults in the high school have already surrendered to watching the reign of terror unfold in front of them. Some of the less intelligent teachers have decided to succumb to the power of the young lads, but surprisingly, King is quite good and instinctively wants to overpower the young lad. Most notably because the younger teachers, especially the biology professor, Roddy McDowell, are willing to fight back. One of my favorite parts from the movie is when he threatens the whole class with a gun just because he wants them to learn.
The teacher and his wife seem to lead a quiet existence, he transforms into a caring father figure while she turns to the rude thugs of the society. There emerges the lucid tone, which brings the film to its absurd conclusion. This cinematic tale, “Class of 1984,” is beautifully intertwined with the theme of sanity and insanity and brings towards an appalling conclusion. On one side, the conductor leads his school orchestral student while he is out battling with the rude thugs. And if you think it can’t get any weirder, it does. As the punks and the teacher continue to fight, a mashup of hunchbacks of Notre Dame alongside the valley of dolls plays in the backdrop with gangested classmates.
It does not come as a surprise that such displays of art garner attention and controversy, and many would deem it unsuitable. Newsweek said it perfectly when they stated, “Class of 1982 with herpes.” Their decision is rather blinding in my opinion, but it is safe to say that their group shares such loathing towards it that venerable barbs are the only insults worth sparing.
However, if we don’t embrace skill in films universally, especially in low-budget genre films that lack big-name actors, we will continue to get nothing but expensive flops and underwhelming projects. “Class of 1984” is rude, shocking, crude, and full of violence, yet it is bursting with ingenuity and humor and is performed and directed by individuals who took the trouble to do something remarkable.
To watch more movies like Class of 1984 (1982), visit 123Movies
Also watch for more movies like:
