10 Best B-Movie Horrors From The '80s
2. Savage Streets (1984)
1984's Savage Streets takes the school run amuck aspect seen later in Class of Nuke 'Em High, but plays it much straighter and is overall a much darker piece. The movie tells of Linda Blair's Brenda, a high school rebel forced into deadly action when her deaf-mute sister is brutally raped by the high school gang.
Although Savage Streets has some VERY dark subject matter, the generous helping of 80s cheese makes the movie considerably easier to swallow. A punk-new wave soundtrack often underscores more serious or uncomfortable scenes, and shameless close-ups of Blair's ample bra-less bosom are never in short supply.
Cutting beneath the cheese, Savage Streets is surprisingly well made and performed for the type of movie it is. Particular props must go to Scream Queen Linnea Quigley in a rare role that presents an acting challenge for her as the disabled Heather.
Linda Blair delights in her role as the avenging Brenda and often hams it up in a turn that is truly surprising from a woman known for her horror "victim" status. It's about as far away from Regan MacNeill as one can get.
Although somewhat shlocky and cheesy, ultimately Savage Streets' serious message of always having to pay for one's crime is not lost due to its B-Movie status.