tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post7676518334066957157..comments2024-03-28T14:49:36.133-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: The Films of 1982: Class of 1984John Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-61361669907822424692012-01-30T15:16:29.071-05:002012-01-30T15:16:29.071-05:00Hi Neil,
Great and thoughtful comment on an age o...Hi Neil,<br /><br />Great and thoughtful comment on an age of movies now gone. There was a real savagery, indeed, to Class of 1984 and the films you name (like Exterminator). I really kind of miss films like that, not because they were always good, per se, but because they made the theatrical experience something special. You never knew if you were really going to see something disturbing. I miss that kind of uncertainty nowadays, with everything pre-packaged and focus-grouped to death so nothing offensive makes it to screen.<br /><br />It is interesting that so many films over the years position teenagers as the villains, and as a source of fear, isn't it? I mean, you think after this happened a couple times, the generations would learn. Teenagers are, after all, as Stegman says, the future...!<br /><br />Best,<br />JohnJohn Kenneth Muirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-52812804015067901062012-01-27T10:40:49.598-05:002012-01-27T10:40:49.598-05:00Exploitation movies seemed to reach a pinnacle of ...Exploitation movies seemed to reach a pinnacle of raw emotion and savagery in the early 80s, only to become increasingly watered down with the dawn of Reagan era conservatism and the invention of the PG-13 rating. I had the same reaction to Class of 1984 as you did when I saw it in 1982. I had a similar reaction to the movie Vice Squad. Even the villain's name, Ramrod, showed no sense of restraint or subtlety. He was such a vicious beast, his ultimate death at the end (albeit bloody) didn't seem sufficient enough to make up for his brutality. The Exterminator also comes to mind as a rough film of the era.<br /><br />It's interesting how movies professing to show our future turn out to be only exaggerating our present. As you pointed out, teenage crime (and crime in general) went down in the ensuing decades. Of course, it's more about big box office than it is about being accurate visionaries.Neal Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com