DANGEROUSLY CLOSE

1986 / Director. Albert Pyun. Movie #3

As I work my way through the comprehensive career of Albert Pyun it is his earlier films that excite me the most. Fresh on the scene and full of energy his movies packed vibrance. His follow up to the impressive post apocalyptic classic RADIOACTIVE DREAMS was the equally dazzling DANGEROUSLY CLOSE. Combining retro pop hits from the 80s with an arresting and vivid aesthetic it tells the story of a vigilante society roaming the hallways of an elite college who take it upon themselves to weed out the unworthy students... the disadvantaged, the minorities, the ethnics and everyone else they consider to be undesirable. At first their methods are annoyingly troublesome but their hatred soon boils over into a vicious, dangerous and violent campaign of eradication. Pyun handled the material impressively and his gift for strong, visceral filmmaking is unmistakable. His use of colours and cinematography is truly awesome. His use of location and surrounding elements also conjures up thoughts of some of the great music video directors of that era... Russell Mulcahy comes to mind. The mid to late 80s were full of high school themed movies, from satirical comedies like HEATHERS... to  schlocky b-movies like CLASS OF NUKE'EM HIGH and poignant teen angst classics like THE BREAKFAST CLUB. With this underrated and largely forgotten film Albert Pyun has contributed to the genre with an impressively dark and pertinent thriller. Up there with his best. 

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