John Hughes: The Brat Pack films that defined an era Part Three: The Breakfast Club

Once in a generation, there is a film so definitive, that perfectly captures the concerns and motivations of a certain chunk of the populace that it becomes a perfect snapshot of a time and place, an animated history book if you will. The Breakfast Club is just such a film, and is far and away the John Hughes movie that is dearest to my heart, and the hearts of many film lovers the world over (Kevin Smith, for example, is a huge fan of The Breakfast Club). While yes, very little actually happens in the film action-wise, there is a staggering amount of stuff going on with those five characters.

The premise is simple. Five mis-matched teenagers are trapped in school on a Saturday for a special detention period. All of them have their different reasons for getting stuck there, and all of them are wary of the others. Over the course of ninety minutes they discover more about themselves and each other than they ever expected to. They form friendships, vent about life and bare their souls to a much greater extent than you generally see in teen films. There is tension and conflict aplenty as the five main characters struggle to understand each others' backgrounds and personalities, and the limited setting gives the distinct impression that this would work brilliantly as a stage play.

Humour is there in spades. But it is the interaction between the characters, and their gradual move towards friendship, that is truly great here. The chemistry between the five leads (Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Anthony Michael Hall) is breathtaking, and as these five archetypes of teenage school life, they capture the insecurities of that time of life impeccably. Aside from one teacher, the janitor, and some brief glimpses of the kids' parents, the whole film is played out by the five leads, and largely in one room. It is a fascinating look at what happens when you stick a bunch of people together who think they have nothing in common- a common ground will be found eventually.

The Breakfast Club is a cathartic masterpiece of 80s cinema that has lost little of its power even now, almost 25 years after its release. Its trademark theme tune, 'Don't you forget about me' (By Simple Minds) fits perfectly, the cast are uniformly good (with the five main players finding their feet as actors just as much as the characters are finding their feet as people), and the script is an immaculate looks at the perceptions we have of others as youngsters.

Glimpses at the home lives of the characters (through their conversations) fill out their personalities beautifully. The iconic heated exchange between Andrew (Estevez) and John (Nelson), in which their home lives are explored (giving rise to the famous 'Do I stutter?' line) is very tense- these are teenagers and they are unpredictable once their tempers rise- and the payoff is very satisfying. The climax to the film is beautifully handled, and (aside from Ally Sheedy's makeover) remains true to the characters instead of giving us a neat, Hollywood style ending.

The characters evolve and move on, everyone learns there's more to life than their own path, and the audience is left feeling they have changed a little too. The Breakfast Club may be about five very clear stereotypes, but as its fans will agree, there is a little of each of them in all of us.

This is about as perfect as a commercial film can be. Both written and directed by John Hughes, it is an early gem in the decade that defined his career as an active filmmaker.

John Hughes: The Brat Pack films that defined an era Part Two: Sixteen Candles

Sixteen Candles ushered in the age of the 80s Brat pack film for real. There has been other films that had almost managed to do the same, such as Fast Times as Ridgemont High, but it was this decidedly disjointed film that caught the imagination of a certain generation and heralded a glut of similar films, none of which matched the Hughes pack.

This is the film that made Molly Ringwald the 80s starlet that she was, as well as serving up some very politically incorrect lines (mainly aimed at exchange student Long Duk Dong) and a veritable Time Capsule of 80s-a-rama. All of the staples of 80s teen films are present and correct, nerds, jocks, the ubiquitous prom queen, they're all there, but Sixteen Candles isn't ripping anything off- it is pretty much the starting point for what came after.

It's funny and warm, but not as great as what would come straight after it (The Breakfast Club). The film feels a little too chaotic for its own good, which is why I hold it slightly lower esteem than the others. You can certainly see what the intention was, but ultimately the film is too busy and cluttered.

The plot follows Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald) on her sixteenth birthday, an event which her whole family appear to have completely forgotten about. Mix in a lovestruck nerd (Anthony Michael Hall) and a chisel-jawed hunk (Michael Schoeffling), various misfit teens and a syrupy ending, and you have the ingredients of an 80s superhit. It'd good in episodic chunks, but as a whole it leaves you a little cold, and while the in-jokes and Hughes humour are there, they haven't quite matured enough to offer something truly special.

I think it's the ending that I never really got on with. I do love the film but the happy ending feels either tacked-on as an afterthought or something of a damp squib. The John Hughes Brat Pack movies all contain elements that were evident in Sixteen Candles, but used in a more refined manner. Fun, but ultimately unsatisfying.

That said, it is a great snapshot of 80s teen life and culture. The fashions, the music, the hobbies, the preoccupations are all true to the era, which is a big draw of these films now. Sixteen Candles is an interesting look at a bygone era, but little more than a curiosity now, and doesn't really give any clue as to the genre-defining film that would follow it a year later.

Across The Seas of Mind: Now available from Amazon!

My 2008 anthology ACROSS THE SEAS OF MIND is now available at Amazon.com thanks to the publishers I use. Once you've got your copy, feel free to post a review or a rating. You can find the book on Amazon.com at the following link:

'Across The Seas of Mind' by Andrew Hawnt on Amazon.com

John Hughes: The Brat Pack films that defined an era - Part One: Introduction

John Hughes: The Brat Pack films that defined an era Part One: Introduction
By Andrew Hawnt

There is a series of films made in the 1980s that perfectly captured a particular brand of humour, a particular era of popular culture, and a particular time of life for millions of people all over the world. The misadventures of everyone's teenage years go a long way to shaping the people that we become, and it is easy to get caught up in the angst of the age when living through it yourself. The teen movies from the mind of John Hughes gave something special to the misfits and dreamers of a generation, and continue to do so for new fans now.

Thankfully, the films have not lost much of their lustre or impact for many fans as years have passed. John Hughes would, of course, go on to create films such as Home Alone, but it is the teen Brat Pack movies of the 1980s that he is most fondly appreciated for. Over the course of a series of articles, I'll be looking into what made these films so special, one at a time.

This is a labour of love. The films I'll be covering, namely Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful, mean very much to me. I discovered the work of John Hughes when Weird Science was aired on British TV one night back when I was 15. Following that exposure, I was hooked. I picked up the others as soon as I could and certainly got my worth out of those classic VHS tapes. I still have each one, and although DVDs have replaced pretty much everything, I can't bare to part with those films. They were like friends to me at the time.

I saw those films as something of an escape from the troubles I went through at that point in time, but I also saw them as a reminder that I wasn't the only one who had tough things to deal with. They also made it clear that life can be funny just as much as it can be upsetting, difficult and downright odd. This period of John Hughes' career ended in 1987, when he branched out into broader comedy with Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Something is missing from the current crop of teen films. At least to these eyes. This may be more to do with my advancing age marching on past the 30 mark and towards oblivion, but it may also be to do with the fact that the film industry, popular culture and society as a whole were rather different back then. That said, many of the situations and problems faced in these films are things that will fit with every generation.

After the 80s, the audience that had grown up on the films of John Hughes found a new, more adult hero in the form of Kevin Smith, whose films Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy did the same thing that the classic John Hughes films did for their target demographic- told them that there was someone out there making films that understood what it was like to be them, to grow up surrounded by pop culture, changing fashions, changing attitudes and changing technology.

John Hughes' personal and private life does not interest me, as it should be. What I want to talk about is a series of his films that helped shape me as a person and were there for me when I was without a friend in the world. It is a strange relationship that you build with these films, and I look forward to exploring that relationship for you.

Coming soon: Part two- Sixteen Candles

(c) Andrew Hawnt 2009

Laid To Rest: A review of the new horror hit on DVD

The horror genre has been treading water for a while now, thanks to the endless remakes of classics and Western retoolings of Asian horror films. It had been growing stale for a while, but that rash of remakes has been, for want of a better term, nailing the genre's coffin shut somewhat.

Thankfully there are still the odd gems that crop up and take you by surprise. Laid To Rest is just such a film. The premise is very, very basic. Masked psychopath butchers a bunch of people. That's about it as far as the story goes, but it is handled in such a way that it feels very fresh and very powerful. The difference is, you're actually bothered about these characters throughout the film, and when various people meet their (very) grisly ends, you're hooked even more.

Laid To rest is an independent slasher film from director/writer Robert Hall, and stars his wife, Bobbi Sue Luther, in the lead role. The rest of the cast raised an interested eyebrow when I first heard about the film, as it features both Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, as well as several other very talented people. The cast is on a rather higher level than your average sslasher effort, which goes a long way to pulling you into the tense story.

Star of the whole thing is undoubtedly ChromeSkull, a new slasher icon that brings to mind a sleek amalgamation of Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Patrick Bateman and in terms of cruelty, Hannibal Lecter. Without saying a word, he is a huge presence, played to chilling effect by Nick Principe, who is destined to play some of the aforementioned titans in other films. He has to be. Anyone that can put that much charisma into a performance while wearing a chrome skull mask and never saying a single word is meant for greatness.

The production values of the film are excellent considering its budget, with some truly impressive splatter and very inventive kill scenes. One particularly grisly moment comes when a character's entire face is hacked off in full view of the camera. Cinematography-wise it is reminiscent of other recent urban horror efforts such as the Wrong Turn films, but the crew have put a very personal spin on things. With a small cast, great visuals and the makings of a new legend in the ChromeSkull character, Laid To Rest really delivers everything a horror fan can want in a film.

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Extras: Making of Feature, Special Effects feature, Deleted scenes, bloopers.

Clerks 2: it’s turning into the new Breakfast Club

I slipped Clerks 2 on again last night while home alone, and came to the realization that it has become an adult version of The Breakfast Club to me. The film that saw me through my teenage years has finally been usurped by what is pretty much its logical successor. Clerks 2 means a lot to me.

I know it seems a little sad to say that a film hits you somewhere very personal, but Clerks 2, for all of its crude humour and obscenities, is a raw look at friendship and coming to terms with life as it advances.

There are some moments in the film that are very lyrical, and the interplay between the characters reminds me a little too much of my own circle of friends. I’ve always said, ever since seeing the film at the cinema with a bunch of friends when it first came out, that it felt like I was living the plot. I’m not, not by a long way, but there are situations and trains of thought in that film that are universal to my generation.

I’m 30 now, and youth is giving way to responsibility, alongside the realization that adulthood is well and truly underway. I’m still the puerile, excitable little geek I’ve been my whole life, but things are evolving and I’m becoming a little more sensible and a little, dare I say it, wiser. That’s the beauty of Clerks 2. You get to see Randall and Dante finally take control of their lives. Yes, Dante and Becky don’t come together under the best of circumstances, but their plight feels real.

Want to give yourself a reality check and remember what it is like to actually feel and think and live? Watch The Breakfast Club and Clerks 2 back to back, and remember that while life is far from perfect, it can be pretty damn sweet.

Cannibal Apocalypse DVD review

I’ve been reading up on the greats (and the not-so-greats) of the cannibal and zombie subgenres of horror, and this film kept getting mentioned, so I thought I should check it out. Thank (Insert deity) here for HMV sales. The version I bought is the uncut edition of this insane 1981 film. The film was banned for a few years, and it is easy to see why when watching it. John Saxon takes the lead over a cast that has a couple of other decent performers in it, but Mr Saxon is far and away the best thing about the film. The idea of the movie is nice and different- cannibals let loose on city streets, instead of in the jungle. The cause of this cannibalism is a rabies-like virus that makes whoever is infected with it crave meat. A group of Vietnam veterans had brought the virus over from their ordeal in the war, and while John Saxon’s character is (almost) okay, his two buddies ended up locked up in an institution.

His former friends escape, and the mayhem begins. This is a very different approach to a horror film, and while there is gore galore, the film seems a whole lot more serious than its genre would normally allow. There are some interesting ideas on show here, handled pretty well by director Antonio Margheriti, but the film is let down by a number of atrocious actors delivering rather suspect dialogue. The action is nicely staged and well shot, and the splatter effects are suitably horrific, but it is the concept itself that raises this above your average horror fare. It’s just a shame the cast is so terrible aside from Saxon!

The most interesting scene, for me anyway, was the shootout in the deserted supermarket, between one demented cannibal and a group of bikers he has started offing following a chilling incident in a cinema. This scene alone was worth the paltry sum I paid for the film. The soundtrack is another matter. It is so utterly wrong for most of the film that it is almost comedic. Funky disco beats accompany extreme, brutal violence, resulting in a very odd viewing experience.

The transfer is crisp and clean considering the age of the film and the original materials it was created with. The sound is a dull mono mix but I couldn’t really expect anything else. There are some fascinating extras on offer though, with a 54 minute documentary on the movie, trailers, filmographies, a tour of the locations, and a short feature on the film’s notorious edits that were made in the era of the video nasty. It is nasty indeed, but it is the ideas that are more horrific than the action itself. Certainly a film that is probably only enjoyed by sadistic horror diehards, Cannibal Apocalypse (despite its misleading title- what apocalypse?) is an interesting entry in the horror pantheon that delivers on most of its hype.