Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever

The only interesting thing about this movie is that the only returning actor plays a different character who is exactly the same as her original character. Feldman's Michael Jackson impersonation and his terrible band playing 40 year old pop songs was not a joke. That's their sad attempt at musical credibility. I would have rather seen Corey Haim go to real high school.

From this film, you can see why Corey Feldman faded into oblivion. In this remake/sequel to Rock N Roll High School (1979), Corey and his band of people who look to old for high school attend Reagan High which is built on the grounds of the high school blown up in the previous movie. Each week they celebrate the blowing up of the school by being disruptive until a new principal comes to town, Dr. Vader. She tries to put an end to this, but not before Corey blows up the high school yet again. Easy to see why the cast of no-names stayed that way, lame script, poor writing, bad acting. Avoid this movie if you can, and see the original instead, its much, much better.

Not many people know that there was a sequel made to "Rock 'n' Roll High School", even with fans of the original movie. Seeing this sequel, it doesn't take long watching it to figure out why it isn't better known. To be fair, this looks a lot better than other Roger Corman movies of this period - it had something of a budget. And the movie is directed and acted with a great amount of enthusiasm. But I couldn't warm up to it in the end. It has a sloppy script, with the movie frequently abandoning telling the (thin) story to show us unrelated vignettes. And the music isn't very good, either doing third-rate versions of classic songs or unremarkable new songs (though the song that plays during the opening credits is okay.) Also, Corey Feldman simply can't sing that well. Still, it keeps your attention as to what new kind of craziness will happen next. If you watch it, I recommend you watch it when your expectations are low.

My review was written in May 1991 after watching the movie on Live video cassette.

Lameduck followup to the 1979 drive-in fave is a mechanical exercise in teenage anarchy. Despite a more lavish production than usual for Concorde, "Forever" is merely a video time-killer.

A central raver and troublemaker, Corey Fleldman takes the opportunity to ham it up for the camera, breaking into sub-Michael Jackson dance moves frequently. He's out to preserve the subversive tradition of newly rebuilt Ronald Reagan High.

Feldman's arch nemesis is the school's new vice principal of discipline (Mary Woronov, not doing much with a caricature of storm trooper evil; she also appeared in the '79 film).

Filmmaker Deborah Brock keeps things moving, but her succession of gags isn't funny or original. When in doubt, she throws in a food fight.

Ostensible plot of Feldman gong to great lengts to =lang a gig for his outlawed band the Eradicators is the excuse for a mixture of oldies and new tunes performed for the soundtrack. Feldman's singing is okay, but fans will quikly ire of his posing.

Cast is acceptable but forced to assume stereotypes, such as band guitarist Liane Curtis styled in Winona Ryder mode and pretty substitute teacher Sarah Buxton a chip off Ione Skye's block.

As the school principal, Larry Linville ges lost in the shuffle; role in the original was played by Paul Bartel. Also missing form the original are the Ramones and their music.

If you have seen the movie Rock n' Roll High School and are looking for a similar experience with this movie you will be disappointed, however, standing on its own I found this to be an excellent movie. Although it is a comedy, it is still a completely different genre than the first. This is more like one of those teen movies of the 80s (not the serious Breakfast Club type but the absurd Better Off Dead type). So if you like that style of movie you should also enjoy this. I believe this movie would have received better reviews if it had not made its loose connections to the first movie. It is actually best to see this movie having not seen the first at all. The characters are fun although not well developed so watching this movie does not take a great deal of thought. The plot is nothing new either, high school kids rebel against administration. If you are looking for an entertaining movie that you don't expect to have a lasting impact on you this is a great movie. Throw it on in the background at a party and look up to catch Corey being the adorable kid we all love.