Class of 1999

Cyborgs and punks in a classroom exploitation action flick helmed by the director of Commando and Showdown in Little Tokyo – in this case, the satisfaction of trash connoisseurs is guaranteed. Class of 1999 is an absurd companion to Lester’s older classroom exploitation movie Class of 1984. Both films are based on the same premise, which is the tabloid exaggeration of youth violence in schools and zero respect for the authorities. In the older film, the hooligans were the story’s villains, legitimising the violent retribution in the style of Death Wish. This time, Lester, a truly unscrupulous purveyor of trash, turned with the ideological weather vane in the interest of contemporary trends in the late 1980s and early ‘90s and showed the just fight of the members of youth gangs against cybernetic teachers who represent the tabloidish stereotypes of sadistic and pedantic educators. In other words, whereas eight years earlier Lester targeted adult audiences at obscure cinemas, in 1990 he enthusiastically swindled adolescents out of their cash at video rental shops. But as a true craftsman, he did all he could in both cases and lived up to expectations. (05/11/2013)