Rebel without a cause or a clue at an elite but uptight High School discovers some of his classmates have formed an even more elite clique more or less hell-bent on ridding the school, and quite possibly American society, of what they deem to be its undesirables because of ethnicity, politics, etc. Our hero recruits a teacher and some other "less desirable" classmates to undermine the elitists, and, naturally, things get quite violent. Reading the synopsis to this film, I was reminded of movies like Skulls and Disturbing Behavior, where a small, tightly protected group of richies form an underground society to target unwanted classmates.<br/><br/>This movie, written in part by actor John Stockwell who portrays the unofficial leader of the Sentinels, Verde High's fascist secret society formed to "serve and protect", is nearly identical to a made-for-tv movie released the same year called Brotherhood of Justice. Brotherhood was based on a true story of a secret society formed at a Texas high school that eventually went from theft and vandalism prevention to goals of extreme violence. So, I wonder if the writers of Dangerously Close were inspired by the same events. <br/><br/>The major differences between the two, however, are that Brotherhood of Justice is primarily told from the viewpoint of one of the leaders of the gang, while Dangerously Close is seen from the viewpoint of one of their prospective victims. And, secondly, in Dangerously Close, the high school principal, sponsor of the gang, was the pivotal force behind the murders. The Sentinels were only supposed to rough up a few of their targets. The Texas High School events which Brotherhood is based on, left out the involvement that the gym coach had in the secret society. That is why I think both films were inspired by the same events. <br/><br/>It was alright. I've always enjoyed John Stockwell, or at least his earlier appearances and behind-the-camera work. It was also nice seeing Robert Russler, though only briefly. I thought it was a pretty good B-rated thriller. Donny Lennox (J. Eddie Peck) is a kid who is so poor, he can't afford a new fish bowl for his fish which is too big for the current bowl. Luckily, his journalism abilities have given him a chance to go to the upscale high school for rich kids called "Vista Verde" in the magnet program. He is on the school newspaper.<br/><br/>You know Vista Verde is a spoiled school for the upper class because they have a salad bowl in the cafeteria where kids can just take from.<br/><br/>Donny is friends with Krooger Raines (Bancroft star of "Damned River" (1989) and "Time To Die" a crude dude with an attitude.<br/><br/>He has a mohawk haircut and a Knight Rider-type car. His license plate says "Beast" and everyone in town knows him as the "Kroog-Warrior". He listens to punk and ska music and he has a brash personality.<br/><br/>The only problem is that there is a group of teenagers at Vista Verde known as the Sentinels. They go around hazing and terrorizing their enemies and sometimes they end up dead. Krooger defies them and they get into a punch-up in the Café, and in the scuffle they knock over the precious salad bowl. Then they to try to lynch Krooger, but he just might be too wily for them.<br/><br/>The leader of the Sentinels is McDevitt (Stockwell of "Born To Ride" fame). As the Sentinels ramp up their criminal activities, one of the followers, Brian (Thom Matthews) feels it is going too far, so he ends up on the hit-list. McDevitt is abusive to his girlfriend Julie (Lowell) so she teams up with Donny to get to the truth. As it turns out The Sentinels have a hideout with a command center with lasers, monitors and VCRs and they tape all their dastardly deeds. Whose side is harderned 'Nam vet Principal Corrigan really on? In the tradition of 80s high school movies such as: "Pump Up The Volume", "The New Kids", "Class Of 1984",and most notably "Heathers", "Close" is a lackluster mélange of all the above. If you put the aforementioned movies in a blender and dump the results in a sewer, the end result might resemble "Dangerously Close". Even Lowell's out-of-the-pool introduction is an echo of "Fast Times As Ridgemont High". This movie was ahead of its time in three ways: The banter of the rich, spoiled high schoolers in the L.A. presages "The Hills" (yuck and ugh) and the fact that the Sentinels filmed their pranks predates Youtube. Thirdly, the 45-year-old "high schoolers" predates "Beverly Hills 90210" One of the odd touches in the film is a road sign that states: "Vista Verde 3km" What is this? Europe? Despite the fact that it comes to an anti-climatic conclusion, one of the bright spots is the killer 80's soundtrack which is proudly announced on the VHS box in type bigger than the actor's names. I know if I saw this movie contained the hit song "Addicted To Love" by Robert Palmer I would be renting it immediately.<br/><br/>Get "Dangerously Close" to renting this classic tonight! <br/><br/>Comeuppance Review by: Ty & Brett <br/><br/>For more insanity, please visit:comeuppancereviews.com
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369 weeks ago