Pump Up the Volume

Summary

“Talk hard!”

I have a soft spot for films from the Eighties and early Nineties that becomes immediately apparent when you scroll through teh movies I have reviewed for the site. I am nostalgic by nature and find the past comforting. When I was a child I was limited in what I was allowed to watch in my household so VHS covers of forbidden fruit held my imagination captive. In the case of Pump Up the Volume, I remember seeing the cover of the VHS copy of the movie inside my big brother’s trunk full of movies he brought back from his freshman year at college. I remember asking him if it was a good movie and he confirmed that it was. I did not actually see the film until the other night, because Warner Archive has just released a Blu-ray edition of the film.

By day, shy loner and recent high school transplant Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) is incapable of summoning the courage to talk to his fellow classmates at Hubert Humphrey High School. At night, Mark hits the airwaves with his pirate radio station as DJ Hard Harry. On air he portrays himself as a chronic masturbater that chronicles the inner failings of the high school he attends. Hard Harry gains a devoted following from the kids at the school. The anti-authority rhetoric of Harry inspires his classmates to be more true to themselves and stand up to the power structure within the school. When a depressed teen named Malcolm calls in to Hard Harry’s show asking if he should kill himself, Mark makes light of the situation more than he should. Mark fails to convince the teen to stay alive, and the next day the boy is pronounced dead over the loudspeakers at the school. At the same time that his show comes under scrutiny of the local authorities and FCC, a classmate and fan of the show named Nora Diniro (Samantha Mathis) tracks down Mark and encourages him to keep going on air. As their romance blooms, Mark gains the courage to continue to confront the injustices he sees at the school.

At one point in the film Christian Slater’s character calls his generation the “Why bother?” generation. Released in 1990, Pump Up the Volume tapped into a growing sense of angst and disillusion as baby boomers turned from hippies into yuppies and Gen X felt misunderstood by their parents that didn’t understand their differences. Their parents did not share an affinity for the hip hop, rap, punk, and grunge music that was moving towards the forefront of public limelite for a generation that had MTV playing on their televisions in their bedrooms and mixtapes playing in their Walkmen. 

As you would expect, Pump Up the Volume feels quaint and somewhat dated viewed thirty years later. The thought of kids rallying behind a pirate radio show died when the Internet era took over. The rise of social networks has actually proven that the ideas in Pump Up the Volume have worked in real life – the Egyptian Spring comes to mind as just one example – but the ways in which revolutionary ideas are broadcast has changed entirely. That said, the revolutionary ethos has remained the same. The ideas explored in the film mattered to the generation who watched the film that turned out in droves to elect Bill Clinton to the Presidency in 1992, proving that young people truly could Rock the Vote and change the political spectrum when they put their minds together to do so.

Christian Slater is a perfect choice for the role of Mark. I am a fan of the dark comedy Heathers starring Slater, and this film was released a year after that picture. Between those two films, Slater pretty much covered the gamut of the rising teen angst in the country. In this film he does not imitate his hero Jack Nicholson as much as in Heathers, although this film does feel like his One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Samantha Mathis is well cast as Nora. Due to their o-again/ off-again romance onscreen and off, she is a good romantic partner for Slater. Their chemistry is believable for good reason.

Overall – Pump Up the Volume viewed thirty years later shows its age, but it makes a strong case for the power of self expression and the responsibility of people to use their voice to change the world.

Video

Warner Archive’s transfer of Pump Up The Volume arrives on Blu-ray in 1080p with an MPEG-4 AVC codec in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Cinematographer Walt Lloyd does his best to make the film feel exciting considering many scenes take place with Slater delivering monologues into a microphone. Director Allan Moyle used editing structures that showed how the words said by Mark reach out to the kids listening, leading to some of the best sequences in the film and a couple that feel pretty goofy these days. Because of these choices, the film is allowed to leave the room of the disc jockey often. Visually, the film looks very much of its time. Fine detail is pretty good and the film source seems to be in good shape. My guess is that this is a big leap forward from the antiquated DVD, and fans should be pleased overall.

Audio

Warner has provided a very capable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The movie features a well thought out soundtrack that includes “Everybody Knows” by Leonard Cohen alongside songs by the Pixies, Henry Rollins with Bad Brains, Ice T, the Beastie Boys, Richard Hell, the Descendants, and others. As one can guess from the premise of the film, all of these songs take center stage at one point or another in the film because the movie is about freedom of speech and these songs reflect that. The dialogue of the film is easy to discern for the most part and I did not detect any hiss or audio dropouts. This is a solid track that fans will enjoy. 

Supplements:

Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – .5/5

Overall – 4/5

Pump Up The Volume feels a little dated and quaint thirty years after its release (pirate radio, Walkmen, mixtapes) but the ideas in the film still feel relevant. The film has its heart in the right place. It capably addresses the issue of using one’s voice to change society. The teenage stars of the film, Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis, are well cast and have believable chemistry. The film also benefits from a great soundtrack. Warner Archive’s new release has fantastic audio and a good-looking transfer of the film. Fans of the film will be more than happy!