Opening with the song 'I am the Future' by Alice Cooper, teacher Andy Norris (Perry King) experiences quite a culture shock after starting work at Abraham Lincoln High School. A rough inner city school, which is a far cry from his previous job in Nebraska.
Alarmed by the amount of delinquency running rampant in the classrooms, where kids have to be checked for weapons and openly deal drugs in the corridors, Mr Norris is befriended by the Biology teacher Mr Corrigan (Roddy MacDowell) who warns him to look the other way and not try and tackle any of the problem students.
This is where the problems start when he decides to do something about resident trouble maker Peter Stegman (Timothy Van Patten). A nasty little punk, who runs a drug dealing ring within the school, together with his gang of thugs. However, this only stirs up further problems for him and Mr Corrigan as they end up being targeted and attacked themselves out of school.
Determined not to be intimidated, Mr Norris perseveres in trying to do something about the school's disruptive elements, but when Stegman's punks abduct his wife during the school prom Mr Norris is forced to play them at their own game in a bloody confrontation.
Directed by Mark Lester, the films grim subject matter paints an extremely bleak picture of life in American inner city schools, and viewed today seems somewhat prophetic of the problems being faced by schools today However, the shock impact of the violent scenes are somewhat deadened by films campy acting, unlikely scenes and improbable scenarios.
Definitely one for B movie fans, look out for a young Michael J Fox as one of the students.