Mark L. Lester's follow-up to the powerful - and banned - classic CLASS OF 1984 is a similar kind of film with the premise turned about so that now the students are the heroes and the teachers are the bad guys. While CLASS OF 1999 can't come close to generating the same scary power as its predecessor, it's still a fun action-filled flick in which the low budget only causes problems at the finale, in which some poor quality special effects threaten to make the film become laughable. However, CLASS OF 1999 has enough plus points to beat all of the flaws, as it contains a super-fast pacing with almost constant action and incident, lots of gratuitous violence and a few imaginative and original scenes in there too.
But first, let's concentrate on the downside. There's no characterisation. Much of the film is concerned with the activities of Cody, as played by Bradley Gregg, and his fellow students, most of whom are gang members. These are tough, unpleasant bunches who live in a MAD MAX-style wasteland full of stinking rubbish, riding armoured vehicles and dressing in flamboyant clothing. The stream of bad language is constant and the characters violent and stupid, making it impossible to like them when they start becoming cannon fodder for the androids. Even Gregg, whose hero is a little better and smarter than the others, is at best a hero whom you feel indifferent too, and while he fits the bill and looks the part he fails to generate any sympathy for his supposed "hero" character. The only nice student in the film is Traci Lind, playing the principal's daughter as a sweet and innocent girl, and she fills the background love interest/woman-in-peril type role.
The film is packed with over-the-top violence, with people being stabbed, slashed, forced drugs until they vomit, burnt and beaten until they are killed. One boy is drilled through the forehead. While this splattery nonsense is fun for horror fans, it doesn't happen to the bad guys, just the gang members. The result is that you don't care for them so the gore just passes you buy without emotion. The action sequences are filmed well on the low budget with plenty of nice explosions, shooting and what-not to keep you entertained. There are also a couple of chases and fights to keep the film rolling along nicely. A tongue-in-cheek approach is used at times which also makes the film more fun to watch.
The biggest strength lies in the three android teachers, as played by Pam Grier, Patrick Kilpatrick and John P. Ryan. The actors - and actress - fill out their roles superbly, creating just the kind of characters you love to hate and also bringing out the memories that every viewer has of a bad/evil teacher(s) at their school. Patrick Kilpatrick (a veteran bad guy) in particular is superbly evil as the physical education teacher who gets a kick out of beating his students up in class. Grier plays it impassively against type as the chemistry teacher but gets only a few good scenes to herself.
John P. Ryan is by far the best - and weirdest - of the teachers, an old-school style history teacher who smokes a pipe. That he and the others are androids makes for a lot of fun classroom scenes as we see the robots' p.o.v. as they select how to deal with unruly students (eg. verbal discipline, capital punishment, take to principal, etc). These are great, funny, shocking and original moments in the film. The only other familiar faces of note are Malcolm McDowell as the school principal (wasted in a sympathetic role, he would have been cooler as an additional android) and Stacy Keach, complete with bleached hair, a ponytail and weird contacts as the scientist who designed and runs the androids.
The build-up towards the finale is handled well, and then the film turns into an openly science fiction-orientated action film as the teachers reveal their military weapons (rocket launcher, flamethrower, drill) and use them to blow up, toast and penetrate the students as necessary. Of course, they get injured too, which leads to the aforementioned cheesy effects work, especially when one half-destroyed robot stalks the surviving students in an open rip-off of the ending of THE TERMINATOR (interestingly, a few scenes - the motorbike chase with the car attempting to ram the bike from the road, and a scene where Kilpatrick tears the flesh from his arm, are very close to similar moments in TERMINATOR 2 which was released the year after this) yet without the originality or impact - it just looks silly. Despite the numerous flaws, CLASS OF 1999 is a delight to watch, with tons of violence, shooting, action, one-liners and plot elements to keep it going. A recommended film.
But first, let's concentrate on the downside. There's no characterisation. Much of the film is concerned with the activities of Cody, as played by Bradley Gregg, and his fellow students, most of whom are gang members. These are tough, unpleasant bunches who live in a MAD MAX-style wasteland full of stinking rubbish, riding armoured vehicles and dressing in flamboyant clothing. The stream of bad language is constant and the characters violent and stupid, making it impossible to like them when they start becoming cannon fodder for the androids. Even Gregg, whose hero is a little better and smarter than the others, is at best a hero whom you feel indifferent too, and while he fits the bill and looks the part he fails to generate any sympathy for his supposed "hero" character. The only nice student in the film is Traci Lind, playing the principal's daughter as a sweet and innocent girl, and she fills the background love interest/woman-in-peril type role.
The film is packed with over-the-top violence, with people being stabbed, slashed, forced drugs until they vomit, burnt and beaten until they are killed. One boy is drilled through the forehead. While this splattery nonsense is fun for horror fans, it doesn't happen to the bad guys, just the gang members. The result is that you don't care for them so the gore just passes you buy without emotion. The action sequences are filmed well on the low budget with plenty of nice explosions, shooting and what-not to keep you entertained. There are also a couple of chases and fights to keep the film rolling along nicely. A tongue-in-cheek approach is used at times which also makes the film more fun to watch.
The biggest strength lies in the three android teachers, as played by Pam Grier, Patrick Kilpatrick and John P. Ryan. The actors - and actress - fill out their roles superbly, creating just the kind of characters you love to hate and also bringing out the memories that every viewer has of a bad/evil teacher(s) at their school. Patrick Kilpatrick (a veteran bad guy) in particular is superbly evil as the physical education teacher who gets a kick out of beating his students up in class. Grier plays it impassively against type as the chemistry teacher but gets only a few good scenes to herself.
John P. Ryan is by far the best - and weirdest - of the teachers, an old-school style history teacher who smokes a pipe. That he and the others are androids makes for a lot of fun classroom scenes as we see the robots' p.o.v. as they select how to deal with unruly students (eg. verbal discipline, capital punishment, take to principal, etc). These are great, funny, shocking and original moments in the film. The only other familiar faces of note are Malcolm McDowell as the school principal (wasted in a sympathetic role, he would have been cooler as an additional android) and Stacy Keach, complete with bleached hair, a ponytail and weird contacts as the scientist who designed and runs the androids.
The build-up towards the finale is handled well, and then the film turns into an openly science fiction-orientated action film as the teachers reveal their military weapons (rocket launcher, flamethrower, drill) and use them to blow up, toast and penetrate the students as necessary. Of course, they get injured too, which leads to the aforementioned cheesy effects work, especially when one half-destroyed robot stalks the surviving students in an open rip-off of the ending of THE TERMINATOR (interestingly, a few scenes - the motorbike chase with the car attempting to ram the bike from the road, and a scene where Kilpatrick tears the flesh from his arm, are very close to similar moments in TERMINATOR 2 which was released the year after this) yet without the originality or impact - it just looks silly. Despite the numerous flaws, CLASS OF 1999 is a delight to watch, with tons of violence, shooting, action, one-liners and plot elements to keep it going. A recommended film.