NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast
Episode 71: Mark L. Lester Week: Class of 1984 & Class of 1999 (And why school shooters ruined high school exploitation cinema).
Mark L. Lester Week: Class of 1984 and Class of 1999
June 7, 2022
This week we celebrate almost all of the Mark L. Lester films that Cool Movies Darth has gotten a hold of. For Night 2 of Lester week, we hear CM Darth's takes on the director's high school/McDowell/McDowall exploitation pictures, "Class of 1984" and "Class of 1999".
Allow me to get out of third-person. Happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective.
When you prioritize films that may never get a proper HD release, every Netflix DVD that arrives is a surprise. Sometimes you get that "very long wait" disc from New Jersey. Sometimes you get something that Disc Replay has so many copies of, they are trying to liquidate the title for a buck. Do you think I would pay more than a dollar to rent the worst looking James Bond feature, "Die Another Day"? I felt like a humanitarian taking those discs off that reseller's hand.
The latest arrival was from Ohio and it was Mark L. Lester's "Class of 1999". I once thought that Lester was the Michael Bay of the 1980s since his most famous movie is "Commando". My favorite feature of his is the over-the-top buddy cop movie "Showdown in Little Tokyo". Both of these features have ridiculous premises (Arnold Schwarzenegger is as lovable as he is invincible and Dolph Lundgren is the samurai and Brandon Lee is the surfer.) and were more focused on presenting outrageous violence and one liners.
I did know the first movie that brought him notoriety was 1982's "Class of 1984". It had a cult following like any other movie Alice Cooper was involved with in the 80s, so when I found it on iTunes for $4.99, it had to be placed in my collection.
This was not as easy a decision as you would expect because "Ally Accessories Shop on Etsy's Trash Feature Revue" did lead me to watch his 2010 feature "Groupie". I knew he made shut your brain off action movies, but this Great White (the band) exploitation movie made me realize that he had asperations to carry on the legacy of Roger Corman.
"Groupie" was such a struggle and finding out the last two films he directed were called "Dragons of Camelot" and "Poseidon Rex", I was in no rush to delve back into his catalogue. This obviously is not fair to him. After revisiting "The New York Ripper", we know I am always interested in justifying exploitation. With no guest this week, Netflix made it time to watch the exploitation film with Michael J. Fox, "Class of 1984".
This feature was a lot smarter than I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a shiny version of "Class of Nuke 'Em High", but it is actually a very cerebral flick that makes its shop class finale even more satisfying.
And the intelligence and subtlety displayed in 1982 makes the loose sequel from 1990, "Class of 1999" even more fun. It picks up on where "84" left off, but this time, it is Stacy Keach's bleached rat-tail and cybernetic teachers who need to be feared. Why they decide to instigate a street gang war is beyond me when murdering students seems to be effective enough, but seeing that insanity was beyond fun.
Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.
No comments:
Post a Comment