As someone who was in high school in 1982, I can affirm that it was a great time for those of us who weren’t jocks or freaks. If you liked science fiction, cool stuff was happening. My school got its first personal computers for us to use. Doctor Who began running on my local PBS station. The Mall became a place filled with geek joy. The video arcade at the mall had games that kept looking cooler than the year before. The Mall was still a place for more than wannabe Valley Girls. For those of us playing Dungeons and Dragons or In The Labyrinth, you could drop by the Hungates Hobby store all your small metal figurine needs. There was also plenty of yellow spine DAW paperbacks being sold at the B. Dalton’s bookstore. The biggest reason to go down to the mall was the movie theater. Every weekend something really good was showing up on the marquee for the twin theaters on the property. Tickets cost about $2 so it wasn’t too outrageous to spend a weekend in a line waiting for the next screening since you didn’t buy tickets online in advance. 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! does a deep dive on all the great films that showed up on the marquees across the nation.
While the documentary seems like it’s merely going to be a bunch of middle-aged nerds remembering their youth, Director Roger Lay Jr. (Free Enterprise) also brings on people who were involved in the making of the films. We don’t get Tobe Hooper or Steven Spielberg to admit who really directed Poltergeist. We get the next best thing in director Mick Garris (The Stand) who was on the set for the shoot. He perfectly explains how Hooper and Spielberg collaborated during production. Director Nicholas Meyer walking us through how he was able to save Star Trek with his work on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. William Shatner reminds us how the fans reacted to Spock’s death scene. Even more revealing is what the studio did to keep Trekkies from revolting. Shatner gets to share his role in Airplane 2: The Sequel. His part was the only memorable thing from that film.
The highlight for me is Paul Schrader (American Gigolo) talking about him changing the ending to Cat People to make it more erotic. He confesses the moment he realized the film might have gone too far. Tommy Lee Wallace reminds us that Halloween III: Season of the Witch was a fun scary movie that upset people because they didn’t get another movie about guy in a Shatner mask slaughtering people. The horror fans got their expectations met with Friday The 13th 3-D.
Another great thing is seeing Roger Corman (who recently passed away) talking producing and distributing Forbidden World and Slumber Party Massacre. We learn how he made the first feminist slasher film that was made by women. Forbidden World allowed him to make his own version of Alien.
Not every film covered in the documentary is science fiction. Henry Winkler and Ron Howard get into going from clean cut Happy Days to making Night Shift about prostitutes at the city morgue. We also get to learn a bit more about Fast Times At Ridgemont High and Porky’s. Director Amy Heckerling gets into she and Cameron Crowe made Fast Times a great teen film. We learn about the nudity in the film. They even bring out the geek element in the throwback Diner. There’s a bit of comedy when the people being interviewed are asked which film won the Oscar that year.
1982: The Greatest Geek Year Ever! fulfills the title by pointing out how many great and memorable films were released that year. Going to your local mall’s Twin cinema was part of the weekend. How often do you really go to the movie theater nowadays for a new release? The movie theater experience is rather expensive now so it’s easier to wait for it to arrive on streaming. Is it a downgrade to see a film on my 70-inch HDTV? My family’s TV set in 1982 was 24 inches and standard def. I wanted to see things bigger. Plus what kid wanted to watch Porky’s with their parents in the family room? You wanted a bit of privacy to enjoy the film. 1982: The Greatest Geek Year Ever! does a stellar job presenting the joys of the moviegoing experience in the time before cellphones in the theater. If you’re not familiar with the movies that came out in 1982, you’ll spend the next two weeks tracking all these films. Shame you just can’t run down to the mall theater with two bucks.
The Video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. Most of the clips from the film look stellar. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0. There’s a good balance between the people being interviewed and the scenes from the films. The movie is subtitled.
Audio Commentary with director Roger Lay, Jr and writer Mark Altman starts with them crediting the people who did the graphics. They had a now or never attitude towards making the film since they couldn’t wait until the 50th anniversary of the year. They wouldn’t have had Roger Corman if they waited.
Audio Commentary with Mark Altman, Thomas P. Vitale and Scott Mantz has them excited to talk about the year and the movies. Mantz like to be able to turn their conversations into a full film.
Deleted and Extended Scenes (41:01) includes them talking about home video releases of movie, Megaforce vs. G.I. Joe, Fantasy at the Toy Shop, Fight on Rambo Set (with actor Chris Mulkey), Liquid Sky & Smithereens and even more. You’ll want to watch this right after you finish the film.
The Fans Speak: Fans Favorite Films (16:51) includes a fan of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and his RCA Selectavision disc. Another fan has a chair made out of VHS cassettes.
2022 San Diego Comic-Con Panel (28:17) gets you into the room without camping outside the doors for an hour. They have to defend 1982’s movies being greatest against a room full of geeks. Scott Mantz moderates the panel even though he’s also a producer on the film.
Original Trailer (0:58) reminds us that week after week, there was a reason to run down to the movie theater.
Mini Poster that’s suitable for framing.
MVD Rewind Collection presents 1982: The Greatest Geek Year Ever! Directed by Roger Lay Jr. Screenplay by Mark A. Altman. Starring William Shatner, Paul Schrader, Susan Seidelman, Roger Corman, Barry Bostwick, Marc Singer and Leonard Maltin. Running Time: 164 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: November 5, 2024.
