In a career dotted with offbeat and quirky roles Christian Slater was at his most offbeat and quirky in Pump Up The Volume. Slater plays a young transfer student from an eastern high school to a new school in Arizona. His Clark Kent persona is a mild mannered wallflower type. But his father made the mistake of giving him a short wave radio set to keep in touch with friends back east who are presumably ham radio operators. What Slater does is create his own pirate radio station and starts with another whole personality of disc jockey Harry Hardon. Slater's other self isn't Superman, he's more like a teenage version of Howard Beale from Network.
He's amusing at first until one of the students commits suicide after calling in and Slater does little to discourage his intentions. That's a hard call to make, even professionals miss telltale signs of that kind of serious depression.
But when Slater starts disrupting the power structure in the person of principal Annie Ross, the hunt is on with even the Federal Communications Commission brought in to track down this broadcasting felon. Imagine Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest as a school principal and you've got Ross.
The main weakness of Pump Up The Volume is that Slater and Ross create the only two memorable characters. All the rest are strictly in support, we get no insights into any of the rest of the cast. But these two are memorable characters. A teenage mad prophet of the air and a school principal from hell.
Pump Up The Volume is a staple for Christian Slater fans.
He's amusing at first until one of the students commits suicide after calling in and Slater does little to discourage his intentions. That's a hard call to make, even professionals miss telltale signs of that kind of serious depression.
But when Slater starts disrupting the power structure in the person of principal Annie Ross, the hunt is on with even the Federal Communications Commission brought in to track down this broadcasting felon. Imagine Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest as a school principal and you've got Ross.
The main weakness of Pump Up The Volume is that Slater and Ross create the only two memorable characters. All the rest are strictly in support, we get no insights into any of the rest of the cast. But these two are memorable characters. A teenage mad prophet of the air and a school principal from hell.
Pump Up The Volume is a staple for Christian Slater fans.