Campus

Probably the best movie Albert Pyun directed. First rate cinematography and photography (shades of blue and red during the night scenes especially). So-so actors but with a special mention to Mr Stockwell and J. Eddie Peck (whatever happened to him anyway after that movie?).The screenplay is the best on this subject.Most of the time in college/high school movies, the fact of being different is an issue and you end "normal" at the end (She's all that and others very bad stuff). Here, being different is enough to get you killed. This is the most interesting part of the plot : it got an unusual political and sociological issue that is scarier than any Scream movie. Be sure to see the movie til the very last image and you'll know why. Great suspense that makes you think!

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...

Things are going very wrong at the high school attended by crusading newspaper editor Donny Lennox (J. Eddie Peck). There's a student group there named The Sentinels, ostensibly formed to act as something of a security force. But now the group is out of control, and is bent on eliminating any individual whom they deem "undesirable". Now people are actually dying.

Give these filmmakers credit for at least *attempting* to deal with serious subject matter in a reasonably sincere way. Director Albert Pyun works from a script co-written by leading actor John Stockwell. Stockwell ("Christine", "My Science Project") plays unofficial Sentinels leader Randy McDevitt. The movie features some of the trappings of the period, namely, fashions and the hip soundtrack of artists ranging from Robert Palmer to Fine Young Cannibals to The Smithereens. But it's fairly stylish and slick, and not gratuitously gory. The story is entertaining and provocative enough to draw the viewer in, and there is a potent theme about the danger of blindly following somebody's lead.

An array of recognizable faces play roles big and small: Carey Lowell ("Licence to Kill"), Don Michael Paul ("Heart of Dixie"), Bradford Bancroft ("Bachelor Party"), Madison Mason ("Dreamscape"), Thom Mathews and Miguel A. Nunez Jr. from "The Return of the Living Dead", Gerard Christopher ("Tomboy"), Carmen Argenziano ("The Accused"), Dedee Pfeiffer ("Vamp"), Karen Witter ("The Vineyard"), Angel Tompkins ("The Teacher"), and Rosalind Allen ("Ticks"). The performances, much like the movie itself, do earn points for sincerity.

Only a last minute reveal involving the Krooger character genuinely annoyed this viewer. Overall, this is a decent 1980s effort waiting to be discovered or rediscovered.

Seven out of 10.

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!