Bobby Parker (Noah Blake, Mystery Men), is a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks whose family constantly moves to wherever his father can find work. He and his best friend Bill (Karl Wiedergott, The Wrong Guys), are new to Oceana High and their presence is definitely not welcome. James Hedges (Brandon Hooper, Chasing Mavericks), the student leader and son of the town mayor, cannot stand any outsider. And he especially doesn’t like someone who “doesn’t know his place” – like Bobby Parker.
To make matters worse, James discovers that Bobby is dating his sister Noreen (Julianne McNamara, Saturday the 14th Strikes Back). Along with a few of his friends, he decides to teach Bobby a lesson. On Monday morning, James and his friends pull a gun to scare Bobby into straightening out, but the plan fails. The two struggle and when a teacher is shot, everyone is ready to blame Bobby.
With no place to turn, Bobby grabs the gun and instructs everyone to sit tight. When the police show up ready for action, Bobby must convince the class of his innocence – before it’s too late.
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Video Quality
Monday Morning debuts on Blu-Ray via the MVD Rewind Collection with a 1080p transfer. The source of the transfer appears to be from the original camera negative which has not been meticulously restored. The results are decent enough given the bargain-basement nature of the production with a naturally filmic presentation that shows signs of better days. While largely all you have to contend with is the occasional nick or scratch in the print, there are several instances of blatant interpolation that jolts you out of the film when they pop up. For a good portion of the film, the transfer is pleasantly detailed, but some shots that runs on the soft side or experiences some fluctuations in density. The presentation does feature some pleasing detail in the production design and texture of clothing. Colors are fairly vibrant and bright, especially in the daytime portions of the film. The black levels could be a bit stronger as they struggle with depth. Considering this was probably thought to be a forgotten film, it is a bit lucky we got this in HD at all.
Audio Quality
MVD Entertainment brings us this new Blu-Ray with an LPCM 2.0 track that offers a mostly strong audio experience. The dialogue holds up quite nicely, coming through clearly without being stepped on by the music or sound effects. The environmental effects are delineated nicely including the chatter at the club and the sound of a gun being shot. While a large portion of the track holds up well, there is an underlying hiss that plagues most of the film which begins to become metaphorical white noise after a while. This is a track that does what it needs to do pretty capably. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are provided on this disc.
Special Features
- Original VHS Version Class Of Fear (1:37:34): For those who want a throwback experience, you can watch the entire film in its VHS form under the title Class of Fear with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.
- Interview with Writer And Director Don Murphy: A deeply informative 53-minute interview in which Murphy delves deep into the creation of this film including its origins as a thesis project for USC, how he was feeling when he wrote the script, how the film evolved into something less filled with rage and hopelessness, how he found a producer to make this a reality, the extremely small budget he worked within, the location shooting in San Marino, CA, the unusual tint of the film stock, the performances in the film, the unstable nature of some of the characters, how he eventually learned he was more so cut out to be a producer, initial reactions to the film and more. There are so many great stories within this one that you will want to check out.
- Don Murphy – Portrait Of A Producer: A 24-minute piece in which Murphy takes you through some of his work as a producer and the circumstances behind developing certain projects such as Double Dragon, Natural Born Killers, Apt Pupil, Permanent Midnight, From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Transformers and more. You get small nuggets of juicy details about behind-the-scenes drama you will not want to miss.
- Trailers: A two-and-a-half minute promotional clip is provided for Monday Morning. There are also trailers provided for Double Dragon, Dirty Laundry and Action USA.
- Poster: A fold-out poster of the cover art is included in the case.
Final Thoughts
Monday Morning is a fairly engaging melodrama which takes ostracization at school and takes it to the extreme. The narrative does feel a bit life an afterschool special, but the dedicated, admittedly cheesy, performances give this one some character. There are many plot threads that simply do not stand up to modern logic, but those wanting a simple, tense drama should find enough in here to enjoy. MVD Entertainment has kept the video store culture alive by unearthing a forgotten film with with a new Blu-Ray which sports a passable A/V presentation, a couple of excellent supplements and some spiffy packaging. Recommended
Monday Morning is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: MVD Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.