Three O'Clock High - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Three O'clock High

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Movies about teenage fights at school have been a staple of film making for quite some time. That’s basically the premise of most “brat pack” films like The Breakfast Club and Three O’Clock High from the 80s and early 90s. However, films like The Breakfast Club rose to stardom and iconic fame, while Three O’Clock High faded into obscurity, but with a rabid cult following. I hadn’t seen the strange, satirical, dark comedy since I was just a kid, but I remember liking it when I was 15 or so. The movie bombed badly when it was released back in 1987 (only making 3.5 million off of a 5 million dollar budget), with Ebert calling it one of the worst movies year, but it has garnered itself a cult following as time has gone by. A following that pretty much insures that you’ll either love the forgotten 80s film, or be completely indifferent. Myself, I fall much closer to the indifferent side of the spectrum, as I feel the movie has aged rather badly over the years.

The plot basically follows the same plot line as 2017’s Fist Fight with Charlie Day and Ice Cube. Except instead of the rough and tumble teacher beating up poor Charlie Day, it’s two high school students. It’s a life in the day of high school nerd Jerry Mitchell (Casey Siemasko) who is not having the best day today. First he’s late for school, his goth girlfriend is pressuring him to “bond” (hint hint) and he’s got bigger problems. Today is the day that a new student comes to the school in the form of Buddy Revell (Richard Tyson). Buddy is basically the Terminator, except in a teenage form. He’s a hulking brute of a student (standing a good foot and a half above Jerry) who has been kicked out of every school in the city after breaking a student’s neck, beating up a principal, and basically raising cain wherever he goes (yeah, you can tell that it’s kind of a satire can’t you?). Thinking that Buddy is a bit misunderstood and over inflated, Jerry decides to humanize the brute by going and having a conversation with him. During the talk he ends up touching Buddy, only to find out that being touched is Buddy’s biggest pet peeve. Now Buddy has given Jerry till 3 O’clock to gather his affairs before getting the living snot kicked out of him out behind the school.

This is where things get a bit bizarre and crazy. Jerry starts to panic, as buddy is no one to be trifled with, and desperately tries to find a way out of this situation. His best friend makes it worse by stuffing a knife into Buddy’s locker to get him expelled, but the plan ends up back firing on the two nerds when our resident bully finds the knife first and starts taunting him. Jerry even ends up robbing the school supply store that he helps run with Mr. Rice (a young Jeffrey Tambor) to pay an older student as a bodyguard (which naturally ends badly), as well as try to get out of school by getting detention (which ends up with him making out with an over sexed English teacher), as well as have the police investigate the robbery. All while preparing for that inevitable 3:00 date with destiny that can’t be denied.

I know that Three O’Clock High is a satire with elements of dark humor running through it, but I just can’t find much funny about the movie. I guess part of it stems from the fact that the conflict between Jerry and Buddy is so one sides. Jerry is panicking and running around like a chicken with its head cut off, but Buddy is an emotionless hulk. Usually there’s some sort of realization that the big bad wolf is actually human inside, but my earlier comment about Buddy being like The Terminator is more than just a physical comparison. He’s emotionless, cold, and completely devoid of any backstory that gives him a human edge. He’s just a big scary hunk of meat that wants to beat down on Jerry.

If I had to really put a genre label on the film, I’d call it a Horror/comedy instead of a dark comedy. The movie plays out very much like a horror film, with the comedy coming from the fact that this is just so stupidly ridiculous. What makes it a bit frustrating is that the opening act is actually quite good, but the film loses steam during the second act. I guess it was relying on the upcoming fight to keep the tension high, but Jerry’s antics to get out of fighting Buddy come across as tired and rather weary by the time the actual fight rolls around. A fight that is filmed magnificently I might add, but a fight that feels pointless and rather dilapidated by the time we actually get to it.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 by the MPAA



Video:

Three O’Clock High seems to have been struck from a fairly recent master as the film gran actually looks noticeable and the detail levels fairly high. The disc wasn’t advertised as having a new 2K or 4K master, but the resulting AVC encoded image looks very nice to my eyes. There’s a few bits of dirt and print damage, but it’s fairly minor and the actual clarity level of the the disc is more than I expected. Fine detail is very good, with nice skin tones that give off that slightly ruddy/yellow look that was so common in the 80s. Faces are lightly pink, but the colors themselves pop when necessary. Blacks are good, but do suffer being lightly washed out from time to time. Daylight shots seem to look the best, with great detail and good color saturation, but some of the darker scenes is where the clarity can suffer just a tad.





Audio:

The forgotten 80s film comes to Blu-ray with a decent sounding 2.0 DTS-HD MA track that is more than pleasant to listen to. The film is a dialog driven movie most of the time, with solid vocals that come across clean and clear. The front of the sound stage has decent separation when the action starts, but I noticed some mild high end sharpness that comes with someone yells loudly. Not to mention the fact that Tangerine Dream’s iconic music is a little muted and kind of boxy as a result of the thin 2.0 track. It’s a good track that does well with the 2.0 channels its been given, but the source material from the budget 80s movie does have a few weaknesses.




Extras:

• Audio commentary with Director Phil Joanou
• "Head Of The Class" – an interview with Director Phil Joanou
• "Passing The Test" – interviews with screenwriters Richard Christian Matheson and Tom Szolossi
• "School Clothes" – an interview with costume designer Jane Ruhm
• Theatrical trailer
• Still gallery

Final Score: ​

Three O’Clock High is really an interesting little jaunt from the late 80s. It came out in a time where “Brat Pack” films were incredibly popular and it SEEMS like it should have been a slam dunk. I surmise that the dark, almost horror like, tone of the film was a turnoff to people of the time, but it has gained quite a cult following over the decades. I personally have a hard time with the dark nature of the film and seemingly pointless meandering leading up to the fight. But I seem to be in a minority compared to all my other 80s friends who grew up with this flick. Shout has done a good job bringing it to Blu-ray with their Shout Select lineup, and the nice extras make for some juicy treats if you like digging into the backstory of the film. If you’re a fan, this is a no brainer, but for everyone else I would suggest a rental first to see if it’s your cup of tea.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Casey Siemaszko, Annie Ryan, Richard Tyson
Directed by: Phil Joanou
Written by: Richard Christian Matheson, Tom Szolossi
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 2.0
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 90 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 17th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Decent Rental

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I don't remember this film from the 80s.. I will see if it is on amazon prime/netflix and check it out once available.

 

[Asere]

I remember watching this one with a friend when it first came out. I thought it was really good and would not mind seeing it again. I am glad you had the opportunity to review it. Thank you!