Rachel R
Time has only made this movie (and its camera angles) scarier. And the soundtrack for this has no business being this dang good.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
07/30/22
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ALBERT PYUN ROCKS!🤘👍
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
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Is it strange how much Dangerously Close feels like the last few years of life? I mean, life is high school, right? And aren't The Sentinels, the far right student villains of this movie, pretty much anyone that does their own research and demands to know why they can't have white history month? Man, between this movie and Avenging Force, Cannon was hitting this subject head on while also getting to roll around in the muck, which is how all good exploitation must behave.
Written by Scott Fields (who also wrote Under Cover), John Stockwell (who stars in this and yes, also wrote Under Cover and directed it too) and Marty Ross (who was one of the New Monkees a year later and that fries my brain) and directed by Albert Pyun, who would make Cyborg, Alien from L.A. and Down Twisted for Cannon, Dangerously Close is the kind of weird movie I get obsessed by.
I mean, Roger Ebert said that the Pyun "devoted a great deal of time and thought to how his movie looked, and almost no time at all to what, or who, it was about."
That's my jam.
At the private school Vista Verde -- a nightmare for me, as my parents frequently debated sending me to a school just like this -- The Sentinels have gone from a student group to a military unit that assaults the undesirables of the student population thanks to the leadership of Randy McDermott (Stockwell).
I'd like to think that I'd have been Donny Lennox (J. Eddie Peck, who was Kevin "Blade" Laird in Lambada), a poor kid who got in because he knew how to write. He and punk rocker Krooger Raines (Branford Bancroft, 3:15, Bachelor Party) are just two of the kids who don't fit in and they're soon joined by Brian (Thom Matthews, Tommy Jarvis himself), who has left behind the group after they go too far and McDevitt's ex-girlfriend Julie (Carey Lowell, Law & Order), who splits from the group leader after she screams at him that all he cares about is using her mouth and wow, that language is shocking exploitation dialogue even years after this was made.
Let me tell you, I love this movie. It's so odd because the town where it takes place is perfect and yet has more fog than any place in California other than the Sunset Strip. It's got a cast that includes Debra Berger, Angel Tompkins (The Teacher playing a teacher?), Dedee Pfeiffer (making this a mini-The Allnighter cast meet-up with Bancroft, who played Bartender Joe in that Susanna Hoffs vehicle), March 1982 Playboy Playmate of the Month Karen Lorre, Miguel A. Núñez Jr. (making this a Return of the Living Dead reunion with Matthews), Don Michael Paul (who would go on to direct so many direct-to-video sequels like Kindergarten Cop 2, Death Race: Beyond Anarchy, The Scorpion King: Book of Souls and Tremors: Shrieker Island) and Gerard Christopher (the syndicated Superboy). Everybody in that group is way too attractive to play high school students and teachers. And it has a wild soundtrack, with everything from T.S.O.L., The Lords of the New Church, Lone Justice, Fine Young Cannibals, Depeche Mode and The Smithereens, whose "Blood and Roses" is nearly the theme song for the film.
Also, the Keanu Reeves and Kiefer Sutherland made-for-TV movie Brotherhood of Justice is strangely the exact same story and also has Don Michael Paul in it.
More people should be talking about this movie.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
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Audience Member
It wasn't the worst movie ever made, but it was "Dangerously Close."
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
02/26/23
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Audience Member
The only reason I originally watched this film back in the day is that I had a huge crush on Carey Lowell after she appeared in "The Living Daylights" (she had the Human League short haircuts that I'm an absolute sucker for). After that film, I had to use my video store clerk privileges to go back an watch all of her prior films, which was only four movies, one of which was a comedy about Griffin Dunne talking to his penis. This was her film debut and she doesn't have the short Human League haircut, but she's still super cute. Now besides that, the film involves a group of high school students at an elite prep school. One investigative reporter on the school newspaper begins to follow-up on a mysterious Skull & Bones-like group called The Sentinels , which is make up of the rich and powerful students of the school, who are apparently killing off the "undesirable" element in their school. The film sin't anything brilliant, but it's pretty entertaining. It's directed by prolific B-picture director Albert Pyun, who was a pretty reliable director for making entertaining schlock, whether it's sci-fi, kickboxing or straight up thrillers like this (i.e. "Nemesis," "Dollman" or even the embarrassingly cheesy 1990 version of "Captain America"). I've always wondered what Pyun could do on a big budget picture, but I'm not sure I'll ever see that. The film also stars John Stockwell, who was also one of the writers on the film and who would later become a pretty solid director with films like "Blue Crush" or "Into the Blue." Overall, this films isn't anything brilliant, but it has a nice 80s vibe to it and has a surprisingly good 80s soundtrack.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
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Audience Member
The Sentinels high school student policing group evolves into something close to a vigilante squad targeting undesireable students. Graffiti is down noticeably but the bathroom walls are now far less informative on where to find a good time.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/13/23
Full Review
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