Bullet Points: Class of 1999 II: The Substitute

Sasha Mitchell made a name for himself in the world of action entertainment when he stepped into Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Kickboxer spot in the 1991 sequel, Kickboxer 2: The Road Back.

Mitchell would go on to make two more Kickboxer sequels but in 1994, he would go in a completely different direction in Class of 1999 II: The Substitute.

• Extreme Hall Monitor: John Bolan (Sasha Mitchell, Kickboxer 3: The Art of War) is not your typical substitute… the first time we see him he has just tricked and killed one of his fellow substitute teachers. Next he deals with some punks loitering in the halls. Bolan asks them to get to class, instead of complying they take a switch blade to his tie and spray paint his back… this leads to the punks getting a John Bolan ass kicking. After school, the humiliated punks wait for Bolan in their car out in the parking lot and they have a little surprise for John Bolan in the form of a gun. But while they are shit talking Bolan inside their ride, Bolan is stealthily chaining the doors of their car… when he pops up into view, the head punk unloads his pistol at close range but John Bolan is bulletproof! Bolan then retaliates by throwing a grenade inside the car… the punks inside are scrambling to get the grenade but they are too late and we get the shot of Bolan walking away slowly with the car exploding behind him.

• The Last Battle Droid: Rick Hill (Deathstalker, Storm Trooper) plays G.D. Ash, an agent with the Department of Educational Defense. Through a series of flashbacks from the previous film in the series, Class of 1999, we learn that not all of the battle droids created by mad scientist Dr. Bob Forrest were destroyed as previously thought. G.D. Ash is hot on the trail of the last battle droid AKA “The Substitute” John Bolan.
• Rooftops: Fresh off his killing spree in Bend, Oregon… John Bolan shows up in Monroeville, California to start another substitute teaching gig. Bolan wastes no time doing what he does best… killing disobedient high school students. In this case it is Tiller, the class clown, who immediately disrespects Bolan. Bolan orders Tiller to go to the principal’s office, but instead Tiller decides to hang up on the roof where he proceeds to play air guitar. Bolan follows Tiller and after a roof top confrontation, Tiller ends up hung from the flag pole on the side of the building… the death is ruled as a freak accident caused by Tiller’s drug use.

• Beauty and the Beast: Bolan meets fellow teacher, Jenna McKensie (Caitlin Dulany, Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence). Jenna is having her problems with the student body… Jenna witnessed one of the students, Sanders, shoot another student and unlike everyone else, she doesn’t believe it was an accident and is willing to testify. While he awaits trial, Sanders (who was suspended from school after the incident) continues to torment and intimidate Jenna with some help from his no good friends in hopes she will change her mind about testifying at his trial. Everyone thinks Jenna is crazy for not changing her mind, including the town’s sheriff and her overprotective boyfriend, Emmett Grazer (Nick Cassavetes, The Wraith). In fact the only one who seems to believe she is doing the right thing is John Bolan. But his Bolan’s support from Jenna doesn’t end there… Bolan ends up saving Jenna from an attack by Sanders and company while she is out for her morning jog in the woods and from a drive by attempt at her home, making our killing machine something of a hero.
• Paintball: All roads lead to Emmet Grazer’s paintball park for the movie’s climax… the high school ROTC class is there for a war games event, Jenna is there to help her boyfriend Emmet run the war games, the sheriff is on hand to supervise, Sanders and his crew are there looking to crash the party and eliminate the Jenna problem once and for all and G.D. Ash finally catches up with John Bolan, who is there and ready to play some war games of his own. Plenty of carnage follows, along with some surprise elements that quite frankly do more harm than good.

Class of 1999 II: The Substitute was a huge downgrade from 1990’s Class of 1999. Don’t get me wrong, the movie has its moments, but when the movie was over I can honestly say I did not feel 100% satisfied.

Still if you’ve seen Class of 1984 and Class of 1999 and you are a completionist, you pretty much have to give Class of 1999 II: The Substitute a watch. Or if you are a Sasha Mitchell fan and you’ve seen him in Slammed but not Class of 1999 II, you pretty much have to give Class of 1999 II: The Substitute a watch.

If you’ve made it this far into my review, you pretty much have to read the Bonus Bullet Points…

• Directed By: Class of 1999 II was directed by stunt guru, Spiro Razatos. With Spiro at the helm it is beyond shocking that there is not a single car chase scene in the movie.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see a sex scene interspersed with scenes of Sasha Mitchell shooting up a military museum, then Class of 1999 II: The Substitute is the movie for you.
• Isn’t it Ironic?: John Bolan kills Ice, one of Sanders’ buddies, by burning him alive.
• Original Title: Rumor has it that the original title of the film was actually Class of 2001: The Substitute. This makes sense since the movie takes place two years after the events of Class of 1999.