Dangerously Close

A group of right wing jingoism students terrorise the lower class classmates.

Director Albert Pyun (known for sci-fi and fantasy films) in a wave of 1980s teen delinquent films offers a teenage murder yarn in the vain of The Brotherhood of Justice and 3:15 The Moment of Truth (1986) also released the same year.

It befits from a seemingly on location small town shoot. At times stylishly filmed (with that MTV feel, flashbacks, cars, beaches and VHS shenanigans) but it's slow paced, meandering and plodding along in the adolescent world where our clever lead can't figure out what's really going on with his class mates. It heats up a little in the heavy handled last act.

It has a notable staple soundtrack including Robert Palmer, Depeche Mode and more. Pyun offers wall to wall 1980s nostalgia, with a load of familiar faces including John Stockwell (Christine, Top Gun), Carey Lowell (Licence to Kill), Tom Mathews (Return of the Living Dead) Dede Pfeiffer to name few.

Overall, worth watching if you're a 80s nostalgia hound.

School newspaper editor and pool boy living in a warehouse with his drunk dad gets recruited by the cool kids to join their vigilante group called The Sentinels. His pal Kruger, a punk metal head smells trouble but he doesn't listen and things get ugly with bodies and fights and smashed cars.

This movie looked great, had a great 80s soundtrack, and was nearly great, but the story is mangled and the ending rushed as heck. There could have been some real drama and suspense but it was just sort of bungled into a rapid stop. One part most dangerous game, one part High school movie starring people who all looked 30. But the style was on point!

An underprivileged teen (J. Eddie Peck) attends an upper-class school near the coast in SoCal where a group of students, organized by a teacher who's a Vietnam vet, guard the school from thuggish behavior. The leader of the Sentinels (John Stockwell) tries to woo him into his increasingly arrogant group.

"Dangerously Close" (1986) had the same producer as "Massacre at Central High" from ten years prior. I point this out because the plots & settings are similar, albeit this one doesn't have the awkward twist of the second half of "Massacre" and is an all-around improvement. It's similar to "Tuff Turf" from the previous year, but more focused ("Tuff Turf" is entertaining, but tried to be too many things). There are also bits reminiscent of "Eddie and the Cruisers," minus the band angle.

The soundtrack is a highlight, featuring 80's pop rock and new wave bands, with notable songs like "Stripped" by Depeche Mode and "Blood and Roses" by The Smithereens.

Carey Lowell is serviceable on the female front, as are Dedee Pfeiffer and Karen Lorre, but not enough is done with them. On the other side of the spectrum, Don Michael Paul is effective as a member of the Sentinels marked by "toxic masculinity."

If you like similar 80's teen movies like "Valley Girl" and "The Karate Kid," you should appreciate this undeservedly obscure one. It influenced "Some Kind of Wonderful," which came out the next year, but focuses on the intense clash of the male students rather than romance.

The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in the greater Los Angeles area, including Glendale (high school), Malibu Creek State Park in Calabasas, Marina del Rey and Redondo Beach.

GRADE: B+

I wish I didn't have to write 10 lines for inclusion on IMDb, because there isn't too much to say about this movie EXCEPT that I really liked it at the time - it is a good example of mid-80's style - and the actors are very good, some have more recently become well known: John Stockwell is a noted Director now ("Blue Crush"), and he was 'Cougar' in "Top Gun" the same year, 1986. Carey Lowell, Mrs. Richard Gere, went on to "Law & Order" after a role in a bad James Bond movie. So why no DVD??? It was on VHS in the late 80's. One thing I do remember at the time, when Siskel & Ebert reviewed it they noted a strange homo-erotic overtone in many scenes (like in the school gym's locker room). Of course, you could say that about the Top Gun locker room scenes, also. But they had a point, and I think one reason this movie did stand out from the run-of-the-mill Drive In fare was that director Albert Pyun gave it some of these inexplicable, strange tones. And there was one TERRIFIC pun half-way into the movie, but you'll have to watch it to find out for yourself...

Standard bubblegum high school thriller in the vein of "Massacre at Central High", "Wolfpack" and having a touch of "The Most Dangerous Game". This little, gritty b-grade outing from Cannon productions and low-budget filmmaker Albert Pyun is a true time capsule of the 80s period, where a whole bunch of films of a similar ilk flooded the screens. However these exploitative teen revenge films ("Savage Streets", "Class of 1984", "The New Kids", "3:15" and such) acted on its nastiness. However Pyun's film while it can be unpleasant, actually felt a little more thoughtful (despite formulaic and simple minded) in its narrative and struck up a mystery angle (even though predictably done) that added another element to it. This probably took away a bit of mindless fun, by upping the talkative nature; sticking with a grim air and deliberately letting the pace mellow out. As our protagonists (J. Eddie Peck and Carey Lowell) try to put the dots together, but we the audience are always ahead of them to the very final frame. There it pulls out a twist in an anticlimactic finale, only to top that one with another freeze frame closing. Foreseeable, but nonetheless bleak. The plot follows that of a group of students known as "The Sentinels", who combat the vandalism occurring in their school. However it's what they do outside of school, as this deputised group has turned into a violent neo-fascist army who pick out the kids that don't fit in. School newspaper editor Danny Lennox finds himself caught in the thick of it, as his best friend Krooger is a trouble-maker, but the "The Sentinels" leader Randy wants to get Danny of his side. It's a promising set-up, but not as exciting as it could have been. It feels all build-up and it takes a while to really get into it, so when it comes to it there's little in the way of a pay-off. Pyun presents some impulsively atmospheric scenes, especially when the "The Sentinels" are toying around with their victims. These guys really do love their school. But for most part it never gets out of first-gear. The performances are acceptably done (although there are some unconvincing looking high school students). John Stockwell (who also co-wrote the story) is fitting as Randy, who underneath that cool persona boils a menacing edge. J. Eddie Peck and Carey Lowell are agreeably likable in their parts. Bradford Bancroft (who was in "3:15") adds some defiant energy. Also for "Return of the Living Dead" fans; Thom Mathews (one of "The Sentinels" who begins to have second thoughts) and Miguel A Nuriez Jr. (one of their victims) add to the curiosity. A bubbly Dedee Pfeiffer also pops up. Then there's game support by Carmen Argenziano, Madison Mason, Anthony De Longis, Greg Finley and Karen Witter. Then we got this pumping rock / punk soundtrack, which have some notable tracks - namely Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love".

Nothing we haven't already seen before, but in its abuse of power it has its moments and a capable cast to boot.

"What an arsenal."