High School Flashback Collection (The Breakfast Club / Sixteen Candles / Weird Science) – DVD Review

John Hughes was on a roll with Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science. Two of those films would come to define a generation with Weird Science being, well, the weird one.

Now they’ve come together in this nice tin with some brand new special features. Just don’t expect to hear from Hughes, Molly Ringwald, or Emilio Estevez. If you’re going to talk about films of the eighties, you’re sure to at least mention John Hughes.

Two of his films made during this time period would probably appear on most lists, Sixteen Candles (1984) and the Breakfast Club (1985). Weird Science (1985) is the more unique film and has more of a cult following than the other two. All three have been on DVD before, but have been relatively featureless. This new set offers new editions of all three (also available separately) with some new special features and houses them in a nice tin made to look like your high school locker. Sixteen Candles: Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald) is struggling to get through her sixteenth birthday. Only she seems to know that it’s her birthday as her sister Ginny (Blanche Baker) is getting married the following day and the house is full of relatives, chaos, and foreign exchange student Long Duk Dong (Gedde Watanabe). She’s infatuated with senior Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling), but he seemingly doesn’t know she’s alive. A gangly freshman called “The Geek” (Anthony Michael Hall) does know that Sam is alive as he tries to pursue her. The Breakfast Club: A group of diverse students show up for Saturday detention with Principal Mr. Vernon (Paul Gleason). They include spoiled Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), troublemaker John Bender (Judd Nelson), nerdy Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), jock Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), and misfit Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy). The group starts off suspicious of each other but they bond as the detention wears on.

A freak lightening strike causes makes their perfect girl, Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), come to life. She uses her paranormal powers to take the lads from nerd-dom to stardom, as well as give comeuppance to Wyatt’s bullying older brother Chet (Bill Paxton). All the films are presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and are enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The films came to DVD in bare bones edition and a second release added a CD of 80’s tunes. This release adds some nice documentaries, etc. but don’t expect to hear from Hughes, Ringwald, or Estevez. Sixteen Candles adds the 38 minute “Celebrating Sixteen Candles” that interviews cast members Hall, Watanabe, etc. and some famous faces that appreciate the film (Diablo Cody for one). The Breakfast Club has the 51 minute “Sincerely Yours” that has interviews with Nelson, Sheedy, Hall, and others as well as a commentary by Hall and Nelson. The 5 minute “The Most Convenient Definitions” details the origins of the Brat Pack. Finally, you get the 89 second theatrical trailer. Weird Science gets the 16 minute “It’s Alive” interviewing Hall and others. Hall must be setting in for John Hughes as his character always seemed to reflect him in the films. There’s also the 22 minute pilot episode of the Weird Science TV show and the 94 second theatrical trailer.

It’s nice to have some special features on the flicks, but it feels somewhat slight without Ringwald’s participation. Also odd since I keep seeing stories about how she wants a Sixteen Candles sequel. You’d think she’d be all over reminding everyone about the film. Oh well, something is better than nothing. It’s really fun to relive those halcyon days of high school and the 80s. The films truly do hold up and give a nice dose of nostalgia. Two of them may be more culturally significant than the other, but John Hughes basically owned the screens in this time period. The box set collects all of the flicks together, but they’re also available separately if you don’t want them all. High School Flashback Collection (The Breakfast Club / Sixteen Candles / Weird Science) is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.