Mark L. Lester

Classic slice of faux-punk anarchy sees new and idealistic teacher Perry King (Andrew Norris) arriving in America's most deadly and anarchistic inner city school. The school is run by Peter Stegman (Timothy Van Patten) and his gang of psychotic, drug-dealing punks. The faculty are impotent and the cops blind to mass criminality leaving Norris alone to take on Stegman and his ultra-violent outfit. "Class of 1984" is wildly unrealistic in its premise, possibly because it is pure and simple exploitation thrash - and highly entertaining exploitation trash at that. Director Mark Lester piles incident on incident with an unrelenting momentum that leads to an inevitable bloody climax. It is violent with a number of unpleasant sequences, has plenty of black humour and a nice line in satirical wit. Andrew Norris is a touch one-dimensional in the lead role while Timothy Van Patten gives a rip-roaring performance as the disturbed but brilliant Stegman. Roddy McDowall puts in a great turn as the experience teacher who has seen too much and a very young Michael J. Fox turns up as a bullied school kid. A decent rock soundtrack and a pummelling score by Lalo Schifrin round out this memorable piece of tacky, violent exploitation cinema.… (more)