Discogodfather9622 Exploitation films are my favorite genre. What's not to love? You got all the ingredients that make an entertaining movie, sex, Violence, drug use and sex. All of which are in full force with the cult classic, Class Of 1984. The generically named Lincoln High is the worst school in America, drug use, graffiti from head to toe and even prostitution. The sadistic, violence prone student, Peter Stegman, runs the school with his colorful gang of cronies that look like cast rejects from The Warriors. This school is run like a prison. Enter the naïve new music teacher, Mr. Norris. Norris believes he can reach out to these troublemakers by the power of teaching, something Stegman slowly points out that he doesn't want. When one of Norris prized students is prison shanked in the school cafeteria (a pre Family Ties, Michael J. Fox) and with no help from the facility or law, Norris takes matters into his own hands. Director Mark Lester (Commando) intentions were for this film to be a provocative think piece or "message" movie, now it's simply a fun, throw it on late at night with your friends while drunk… movie, and that's fine by me.

John austin This movie seems to have fallen into the ranks of the forgotten '80s semi-classics. I haven't seen it mentioned by anybody in a long time. It was momentarily popular in its day because of the Orwellian connotations of the year 1984 which was just around the corner at the time.Perry King plays a new teacher who goes to work at an inner city high school run by ruthless punks led by Timothy Van Patten, who does a good, over the top job as the psychotic Stegman. It's pure action movie exploitation from an era that was full of that sort of thing. If you get a chance to see it, you'll see that it was really just a 1950s teen gang movie with the action amped up for a 1980s audience. It was quickly forgotten, although I do remember renting it on VHS once or twice in the 1980s.

Adam Peters (53%) An 80's sleaze picture with more brains and decent acting than usual with these movies. A main draw to this now is to see Michael (no J at this point) Fox in an early role in which he does have quite a bit of screen time, and looks very young, particularly compared to his school mates, and it is no wonder why he played a 17 year old whilst in his twenties for his most famous role yet to come. The movie still is somewhat shocking, mainly because metal detectors in schools and the like have now become widespread in certain parts of the world, which is a little sad. The flick really is more of a drama than anything else so don't expect too much horror (although the wood work room death is a grisly highlight) or action for that matter, and for that much alone it's still worth tracking down, and even if the opening and closing theme song from Alice Cooper is pretty awful, and overall the movie is far from great. But it's still worth a look mainly for fans of these hard-edged 80's films, or those that want to see Fox in an early gritty move before he became a world wide star.

cwbellor Teacher and former Lord of Flatbush Mr. Norris is a fish out of water when he enters the gritty shark tank of Delinquent High, a school that is practically a mini-Gotham City with its urban cesspool motifs and that ever present staple of 80s cinema that is the Punk Toon. A Punk Toon is what you see in Police Academy and Death Wish 3 among other films as a villainous delinquent resembling not so much an angsty teen as a primal violence fiend who would ooze animalistic essence all over the pavement were it not for the safety pins holding it together. The main villain is a kid named Peter Stegman who is a type of alpha Punk Toon if you will. He's not just another juvee goon. He demonstrates early on that he is as intellectually deep as he is comically sociopathic. Actually, sinister is more fitting a word for this type of over-the-top character. All that the guy is missing is an evil laugh. When Norris asks "What's the matter with you," Stegman offers a morsel of contemplative wit that challenges you to sit back and rethink the very nature of your pathetic existence. "What's the matter with me? What's the matter with you? What's the matter with matter?" It's pretty obvious that from this point on, limp noodle teacher will be outsmarted by this precocious, piano prodigy pimp (oh yeah! He pimps!). Stegman informs a black drug dealer that his gang are "the only *igg#rs who sell $*** at this school." The gems of dialogue just keep coming like junk food morsels from a vending machine on the fritz. My favorite: "Life is pain! Pain is everything! You will learn!" This isn't so much an exploitation film as it is existentialploitation! And Stegman is right! You can learn a lot from this movie. The 80s were a perplexing time. A time when a few white teens, a fat guy and a slutty chick in high school could beat back an all-black gang with ease and still make it to the slam dance on time. And after that, they still have enough energy to audition prostitutes. -SPOILER- Class of 1984 is entertaining but be warned that when the rape scene comes along in the third act, you'll be scratching your head wondering, "Was that indulgent, nauseating and even a little awkward?" The answer to all three of those is yes. But it is so tastefully done that you won't feel the need to watch The Accused in an attempt to reacquaint yourself with a thoughtful depiction of rape's trauma. Just sit back and let this movie smash a liqueur bottle over your head.