Class of 1984: Special Edition

You've got to hand it to director Mark L. Lester—he certainly knows how to make his 1982 exploitation movie Class of 1984 sound more important than it actually is. In his DVD commentary here, Lester (not to be mistaken for the British kid who played the title role in Oliver!) suggests that his cheesy tale of a teacher's revenge against classroom rebels was somewhat prescient for its time, essentially predicting the Columbine massacre and other violent acts in American schools. Lester's not mistaken in observing how the fiction of his film would later become a horrible reality, but even though it managed to rank #1 at the box-office when it was first released, Class of 1984 is hardly a classic. It's really just another revenge flick, aimed at a target audience of hormonally-charged teenagers, which kicks off with naïve, pacifist teacher Andy Norris (Perry King) arriving at a hell-hole high school where punks like Peter Stegman (Timothy Van Patten) enforce a reign of terror over teachers and students alike. Against the warnings of jaded teacher Terry Corrigan (Roddy McDowall), who eventually suffers a nervous breakdown, Norris turns the tables on Stegman and his gang of thugs, and Class of 1984 escalates toward an inevitable showdown involving, among other things, a wood-shop circular saw that's used to hack off one student's arm before his grisly death. The movie's better than many of its brethren in the genre, and viewers may enjoy the early appearance of young, baby-faced Michael J. Fox as one of the beleaguered students. In addition to the commentary track, DVD extras include a retrospective documentary with interviews, a DVD-ROM-accessible screenplay, and picture galleries. Optional. (J. Shannon)