There’s a new teacher in town with a trim beard and a dream at Lincoln High School, and that dream is to teach the young punks some respect. That Mr. Norris really has his work cut out in Mark Lester’s nightmarish view of anarchy in the corridors.

In an almost creepily awful theme song, Alice Cooper asks us “When does a dream become a nightmare?” Well, according to Director, Mark Lester that would be, oh, approximately 1984, when the kids “paint on the walls, piss in the corridors; they’ll steal anything that isn’t nailed down!” And faster than you can say this is a 187 for Dangerous Minds it all feels like well-worn territory, where nice Mr. Norris (Perry King) will come to the aid of the misunderstood kids and turn everything around where his predecessor couldn’t, with the help of the nice kids who only want a good education, of course. Well not so in this still-shocking and deliciously tempting slice of Teensploitation pie.

Actually made in 1982 (presumably set a whole two years ahead to aid with the thin veil of social concern) this film appears as if another severely dated casualty of the 80’s, where terrible teens loiter the corridors with their crazy hair, tank tops and sweat bands, whilst yelling such outdated terms of abuse as ‘freako.’ Even when helpful fellow teacher, Corrigan (Roddy McDowall) tells ominously regarding Norris’s predecessor: “they say he had an accident, they say he fell down the stairs,” you can’t imagine things will get too bad at Lincoln High. And yet they do. Led by strangely Public Schoolboy-looking Stegman (Timothy Van Patten, whose acting career seems to have been eclipsed by a more prolific one in directing, mainly TV shows, most notably The Sopranos,) this particular group of young ruffians are up to considerably worse that the odd cheeky line of coke in the school toilets.

Thoroughly outrageous, mildly campy and sometimes comic (look out for poor little Jimmy’s ill-fated pledge of allegiance,) Lester’s nightmare look at the failings of the education system never ceases to entertain. There really is never a dull moment as the pace of escalation really builds towards a decidedly horror conclusion which takes in some genuinely uncomfortable moments along the way, moments which Lester undoubtedly couldn’t get away with if he’d have featured minority kids. Class of 1984 is a brash, brave film that (content-wise) has really stood the test of time. Lester never shies away from shocking his audience, puts a needlessly positive spin on things or, possibly the worst offender of all, makes any attempt to preach to his us. This is good, clean (or should that be dirty?) fun that sees total anarchy reign on each side of the battle. For extra helpings of nostalgia, there’s even a puppy-fat covered Michael Fox (before he added the somewhat more catchy ‘J’) starring as good kid Arthur, just before he hit the big (ish) time as a cute young heartthrob on the much more wholesome Family Ties. Ah, those were the days, eh?

Gloriously gratuitous, unapologetic trash that still has the power to shock (and not just with the fashions.) You may want a shower after, though.