The Corner Penthouse

Class of 1999 arrives on Blu-ray as the 14th entry in Lionsgate's Vestron Video Collector's Series, "a line of classic genre films newly remastered and with a wealth of supplementary features." I have reviewed several other titles in the series.


What do you get when you cross The Faculty with The Terminator and Westworld, adding in a helping of Robocop, a dash of Mad Max, and the one-liners from every Schwarzenegger action film? Class of 1999, Mark L. Lester's re-imagining of his film Class of 1984, which was released eight years earlier. Both films tackle the subject of teachers trying to educate students in schools overun by gangs, but that's where the similarities end. 1984 focused on a human teacher going vigilante against the violent gangs, whereas 1999 posits the gangs as the "good guys" going up against the killer robot teachers.


In order to regain control of the gang-controlled school, the Department of Educational Defense and Kennedy High School principal Dr. Miles Langford (Malcolm McDowell), have employed MegaTech head honcho Dr. Bob Forrest (Stacy Keach) to deploy robotic teachers who can utilize teaching "techniques" that human teachers would not be capable of. Said robots, which were originally designed for military use, are Miss Connors (Pam Grier), Mr. Hardin (John P. Ryan), and Mr. Bryles (Patrick Kilpatrick). Going up against this trio of terror is newly-released-from-jail former member of the Blackhearts gang, Cody Culp (Bradley Gregg). He'll eventually team up with pretty coed Christie (Traci Lind), on his mission to take down these insidious instructors.


Like the "best" of Schwarzenegger's action flicks, it has an over-the-top goofiness that works if you go into it expecting a fun film. I remember watching this movie in the early-to-mid 1990s on VHS or cable TV, and it has always been one of my forgotten favorites. I was pleased to see that Lionsgate chose to give this film the special treatment as part of the Vestron series. Watching it again for the first time in over 20 years, I was instantly reminded why I liked it so much. The performances by the three teachers (Grier, Ryan, and Kilpatrick), McDowell, and Keach are all so enjoyable in their hamminess. Especially Keach with his albino eyes and white rattail hairdo, both of which were actually his idea! It's a far departure from his role as detective Mike Hammer at the time. Lead actor Gregg gets the job done, but Lind, whom I best remember from Fright Night Part 2 and My Boyfriend's Back, isn't given much to do. Look for future Scream star Rose McGowan as high school student extra, as noted in the "New Rules" featurette.


The special effects were all done practical, as computer effects were in their infancy at the time, and that gives them a certain charm that adds another layer of enjoyment to the film. There are several instances of vehicle stunts, which, again, were all done live and are made all the better for it. Speaking of vehicles, they were all done up in a post-apocalyptic future Mad Max-style, which adds a little extra eye candy to the proceedings.


Lincoln High School at 4400 Interlake Avenue N. in Seattle, Washington played the part of Kennedy High School.


It's still there, though without the security guard towers, and the trees have blossomed to the point where they cover up much of that beautiful facade


At a runtime of 1:36:12, Class of 1999 is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer. Picture is crisp and clear with no issues that I noticed, other than a few white specs here and there. On the audio side, there's an original 2.0 DTS monaural audio track, which is loud and clear. The blu-ray is apparently the R-rated Cut, not the Unrated Cut that was apparently on VHS, if IMDB is to be believed. The film contains 12 chapters (the last one placed 20 seconds late) and includes English SDH and Spanish subtitles. The first print run includes a slipsleeve.


A small selection of new special features were created for this release, which mainly consists of interviews with the crew, and all of which are in HD.

• Audio Commentary with producer/director Mark L. Lester.
• School Safety (22:33) - interviews with producer/director Mark L. Lester and co-producer Eugene Mazzola.
• New Rules (19:27) - interview with screenwriter C. Courtney Joyner.
• Cyber Teachers From Hell (19:30) - interview with special effects creators Eric Allard and Rick Stratton.
• Future of Discipline (19:04) - interview with director of photography Mark Irwin.
• Theatrical Trailer (0:59)
• TV Spots (1:02)
• Still Gallery (8:42)
• Video Promo (7:47)

Although none of the cast members were interviewed, I found all of the crew featurettes to be informative, and in total you get over an hour of them. The gallery includes the usual publicity photos, along with movie posters, promotional ads, and the such. The "Video Promo" is essentially an extended trailer, which is somewhat in 4:3 letterbox format.


Class of 1999 is one of my favorite sci-fi action films of the 1980s (although released in the U.S. in May 1990, it was filmed in the 1980s), and watching it on Blu-ray I am reminded as to why I enjoyed it so much those many years ago. Technically, it can be seen as the second in a "Class of..." trilogy, following Class Of 1984 (1982), which has been released on Blu-ray; and followed by Class of 1999, Part II: The Substitute (1994) which is only available on VHS in the U.S. and stars Sasha Mitchell (Cody from the 1990's TV series "Step By Step"). I'm kinda surprised that Lionsgate didn't pair up both Class of 1999 films in a double-feature set, like they did with the Waxwork, Wishmaster, and Warlock films - especially since Part II never even got a DVD release here in the States.

Final Verdict: Recommended.


As of right now (updated 1/30/2018), the Vestron Video Collector's Series includes the following Blu-ray releases, all of which contain new bonus materials just like the one I reviewed.




Images 2, 6, and 9 come from the still image gallery on the disc. Images 3, 4, 5, 7, and 10 were grabbed from the movie on the disc. The Blu-ray has been provided by Lionsgate for review on this site.