''Class of 1999'' is a 1990 American science fiction thriller film directed by Mark L. Lester. It is the director's follow-up to his 1982 film ''

Class of 1984 ''Class of 1984'' is a 1982 crime thriller film directed by Mark Lester, produced by Arthur Kent, and co-written by Tom Holland and John Saxton, based on a story by Holland. The film stars Perry King, Merrie Lynn Ross (who also served as ...

''.

Plot

In the 1990s, youth gangs take over areas in major North American cities. Two major gangs, the Blackhearts and the Razorheads, vie for control. In 1999, while working with MegaTech head Dr. Bob Forrest, the CIA begins an experiment where three former military robots become educators in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

's Kennedy High School. These are school coach Mr. Bryles, History teacher Mr. Hardin, and Chemistry teacher Ms. Connors. Former delinquents who were imprisoned are released as part of the experiment. One of them is former Blackheart Cody Culp. The first the day of class, the three teachers violently subdue the students when conflict starts brewing. Returning home, Cody finds that his brothers and his mother are addicted to a drug known as "edge". The next day, Razorhead Flavio attempts to rape Christie, Langford's daughter. Cody fights off Flavio and Razorhead leader Hector. Bryles eventually subdues Cody, who violated his parole with the fight. However, Langford lets him off due to the fact that he did save Christie. When physical education class is over, Bryles tells Cody to stay behind and starts beating him. They are interrupted by armed Blackheart Mohawk, who was humiliated by Bryles and has taken some "edge". Bryles grabs the gun and breaks Mohawk's neck, killing him. Cody's brother Sonny later shows up late to Hardin's class, high on "edge". Hardin takes him to his locker and breaks it to reveal vials of "edge". He then forces the vials into Sonny's mouth while beating him. Sonny dies, and Hardin takes the latter's cross. Cody sees the cross as Hardin gives his lecture. Aided by Langform, the crime becomes a cover-up to say that Sonny died of a drug overdose. The next day, Cody and Christie skip school to look for evidence. They find the cross before the robots catch the duo, who escape. The robots later decides to start a war between Razorheads and Blackhearts. That evening, the robots kill Cody's Blackheart brother Angel. Connors then kidnaps Razorhead Noser. Noser is eventually sent through the window of the Razorheads' hangout while on fire. Convinced that the Blackhearts did it, Hector decides to start a war. The next morning, Cody finds a dead Angel at the Blackheart hangout. Furious, Cody rejoins the Blackhearts. That afternoon, a war ensues between the gangs. During it, the robots secretly kill Blackhearts and Razorheads. Cody eventually shoots at Hardin, discovering that he is not human. After getting wind of the situation, Langford decides to have the program terminated, but Forrest and Bryles kill him. Hector receives a call apparently from Cody saying that he wants him one-on-one at the school entrance. Connors, kidnapping Christie, pretends to be Hector and calls Cody with the same proposition. The Blackhearts are eventually convinced that the teachers are responsible. Hector and Cody later show up with both gangs. To prove that the teachers have started the war, Cody shows Hector Sonny's bloody cross. Razorheads and Blackhearts decide to team up and take on the teachers. In the ensuing battle, Cody finds Christie. Hardin eventually attempts to kill Cody, who reaches for a machine gun and shoots him through the mouth, destroying him. Connors then chases Cody and Christie to the chemistry lab. Cody instructs Christie to turn on all of the gas there. After throwing an axe at Connors, Cody and Christie run out of the lab. Connors, unleashing a flame thrower, explodes when fire hits the gas. Hector meets up with Cody and Christie. They are the three only survivors. Hector distracts Bryles while Christie and Cody reach a bus, which the latter hotwires. Cody eventually runs down Bryles while leaping out of the bus with Christie. The bus explodes seemingly destroying Bryles. Hector, Cody, and Christie find Forrest. However, Forrest takes Christie hostage, planning to continue the project. Hector attempts to kill Forrest, who shoots him dead. Forrest then attempts to kill Cody. However, a heavily damaged Bryles then appears and rips Forrest's heart out, killing him. Cody eventually finds a forklift and impales Bryles. Christie grabs the nearest chain and puts it around Bryles' neck with Cody using the forklift to lift the chain, cutting the robot's head.

Cast

* Bradley Gregg as Cody Culp * Traci Lind as Christie Langford * John P. Ryan as Mr. Hardin * Pam Grier as Miss Connors * Patrick Kilpatrick as Mr. Bryles *

Stacy Keach Walter Stacy Keach Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor, active in theatre, film and television since the 1960s. Keach first distinguished himself in Off-Broadway productions and remains a prominent figure in American theatre across his ...

as Dr. Robert "Bob" Forrest *

Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is an English actor. He first became known for portraying Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's ''if....'' (1968), a role he later reprised in ''O Lucky Man!'' (1973) and ''Britannia Hospital ...

as Dr. Miles Langford * Joshua John Miller as Angel Culp * Darren E. Burrows as Sonny Culp * Sharon Wyatt as Janice Culp * James Medina as Hector * Jason Oliver as Curt * Brent David Fraser as Flavio * Jill Gatsby as Dawn * Sean Hagerty as Reedy * Sean Gregory Sullivan as Mohawk * David Wasman as Guard * Landon Wine as Noser * Barbara Coffin as Matron * Linda Burden-Williams as Secretary * Lanny Rees as Desk Sergeant * Barry M. Press as Gould * James McIntire as Technician 1 * Lee Arenberg as Technician 2 * Rose McGowan as Girl Outside Langford's Office (uncredited)

Production

The film was originally called ''Obedience''. The film was shot in 1988, at Lincoln High School in

's Wallingford neighborhood. In the introduction of the film, the exterior of the school is clearly visible as a heavily secured area with two guard towers on top of the stairs leading to the entrance. The film's robotic effects were designed by Eric Allard

Release

Theatrical

The film was originally scheduled to be released by Vestron Pictures through their subsidiary Lightning Pictures on October 6, 1989, but Vestron's financial turmoil resulted in the film being sold to Taurus Entertainment Group in March 1990. Taurus eventually released the film theatrically on May 11, 1990.

Home media

''Class of 1999'' was initially released on VHS via Vestron Video in 1991, and was later withdrawn. It was released on DVD in other countries such as South Korea and Australia. In 2001, a widescreen DVD edition of the movie was released through Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment in the U.K. The film's first American DVD release was by Lionsgate, on September 16, 2008. In 2012, Lionsgate included ''Class of 1999'' in a DVD box set with seven other horror movies. The magazine ''

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...

'' released the film under their banner on

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

in March 2015. Lionsgate released the movie on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

in January 2018, as part of its new Vestron Video Collector's Series.

Soundtrack

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

' " Head Like A Hole" is featured on the soundtrack. Midge Ure's "Come The Day" is used under the closing credits of the film. Ure recorded the track while on tour in the United States in 1989. He would later say that he disliked the song, as well as the film.

Reception

The film received a score of 63% based on 8 reviews on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gave the film a score of 33 based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

Awards

Joshua John Miller was nominated for a Young Artist Award for his performance in the film.

Sequel

A sequel, titled '' Class of 1999 II: The Substitute'', was released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

in 1994 by CineTel Films. The plots of the three films in the series (the first being ''Class of 1984'') are only loosely related to each other.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Class Of 1999 1990 films 1990 action thriller films 1990 crime thriller films 1990s high school films 1990s science fiction horror films 1990 science fiction action films Films about androids American high school films Films about educators Films about school violence Films set in 1999 Films set in the future American dystopian films American action thriller films American science fiction horror films American science fiction action films American crime thriller films American independent films Cyberpunk films Vestron Pictures films Films set in Seattle Films directed by Mark L. Lester Films scored by Michael Hoenig 1990s English-language films 1990s American films 1990 science fiction films English-language science fiction horror films English-language science fiction action films English-language crime thriller films English-language action thriller films