Class of 1999 is cheesy as all hell but an incredibly fun 1980s film (albeit released in 1990) that features a great supporting cast including Malcolm McDowell, Stacy Keach and Pam Grier alongside the young actors who served well in the leads.
Class of 1999
(1990)
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Horror
Lionsgate | R – 97 min. – $39.97 | January 30, 2018
Date Published: 01/30/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 3.75/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: The time is the future, and youth gang violence is so high that the areas around some schools have become “free fire zones” into which not even the police will venture. When Miles Langford (MALCOLM MCDOWELL), the principal of Kennedy High School in Seattle, decides to take his school back from the gangs, robotics specialist Dr. Robert Forrest (STACY KEACH) provides “tactical education units.” These human-like androids are introduced to the school population — Mr. Bryles (PATRICK KILPATRICK), Ms. Connors (PAM GRIER) and Mr. Hardin (JOHN P. RYAN) — and have been programmed to teach and are supplied with weapons to handle discipline problems. Soon enough, former gang member Cody Culp (BRADLEY GREGG), recently released from prison, partners with Christie (TRACI LIND), the principal’s daughter, to uncover the scheme once fellow students begin dying…
Quick Hit Review: Amazingly although I had heard of Class of 1999, for whatever reason I never had the opportunity to see it, until now. This was a cheesy good 1980s film (yes, it came out in 1990 but was all the earmarks of the 80s) that was just a lot of fun with a respectable supporting cast consisting of Malcolm McDowell (who apparently only filmed for 2 days), Stacy Keach and Pam Grier playing a frickin’ android. The two young leads, Bradley Gregg and Traci Lind both turned in decent performances; the latter garnered some notoriety for Fright Night 2 but after ’97, disappeared and has done nothing since.
Directed by Mark L. Lester, who also produced and wrote the story, Class of 1999 was just an all-around enjoyable science fiction/horror/comedy film that is quite underrated and hopefully finds a larger audience with the new Vestron Video Blu-ray release. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.25/5 |
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This release comes with a sleek glossy slip cover. Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Mark L. Lester who does a good job giving background on the project and telling stories about the production itself. Interviews:
While I wish they had gotten new interviews with a couple of the cast members, like Bradley Gregg who is not only still around but quite active on Twitter (even promoting this very release), this is a good crop of participants that combine the interview footage with behind-the-scenes pics. Rounding things out, we get the Theatrical Trailer (0:59; HD), TV Spots (1:02; HD), a Still Gallery (8:42; HD) and Video Promo (7:47; HD). |
VIDEO – 3.5/5 |
| Although it seems that Class of 1999 was “remastered” in 1080p high-definition, it’s not apparent at times as I did notice numerous instances of dust marks, specs and scratches. While these aren’t imperceptible, they weren’t distracting and colors at least did seem bright and the video is fairly sharp for the close-ups while wider ones things get a tad murkier. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| The movie has been given an impressive DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track which actually had some fine depth with the action-oriented sequences, especially during the finale, while also still providing clear dialogue levels. Unlike the picture, the audio aspects didn’t seem to have any obvious signs of hisses or pops, so it was relatively clean. |
OVERALL – 3.5/5 |
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Overall, Class of 1999 is cheesy as all hell but an incredibly fun 1980s film (albeit released in 1990) that features a great supporting cast including Malcolm McDowell, Stacy Keach and Pam Grier alongside the young actors who served well in the leads. This “Collector’s Series” release, the latest from the Vestron Video line (#14) offers adequate video, good audio and a fine selection of bonus features. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.