I suspect it's common among shock jocks: the guy can't talk without a microphone in his hand. None of Mark's classmates at Hubert Humphrey High suspect he's Harry's alter ego because they aren't even fully aware of his existence--Mark hasn't willingly spoken to a soul besides his parents since relocating to Arizona from "back East". Dad is the new superintendent of Paradise Valley, AZ's education board, giving Hard Harry the inside track on corrupt officials. Most of his shows consist of tirades against school politics.

The faculty at HHH fears that the increasingly popular Hard Harry is spearheading some sort of uprising--indeed, he has amassed a large and loyal following. When a student kills himself after asking an unsympathetic Harry for advice, (simplistically drawn) staff members, save an open-minded English teacher (Ellen Greene), unite and turn Mark's operation into both a police and FFC matter. Meanwhile, enterprising listener Nora Diniro (the charismatic Samantha Mathis), who has been sending anonymous poetry to Harry's P.O. box, deduces that Mark's is the face behind the harmonized voice of her favourite DJ. She wants to fall in love with him for real, but first she must crack his shell.

I've grown up a bit since I last viewed Pump Up the Volume. I used to get a charge out of Hard Harry's monologues, many of which now seem shallow and silly. Because Mark speaks in soundbites, he's eminently quotable: "All the great themes have been used up and turned into theme parks"; "...eat your cereal with a fork and do your homework in the dark", etc. But these messages are more loud than clear, more comforting than valuable. He assuages his audience by agreeing that life is terrible without ever proposing solutions.

In one unmistakably Network-esque sequence, Mark encourages the kids to go crazy, inspiring a daddy's girl to stuff her trinkets in a microwave and watch them explode. She sets fire to her own preciousness. During such moments, when Mark actually buys into the Hard Harry hype and puppeteers, the movie's pro-free speech argument is somewhat dampened by the terrifying notion that any idiot with rudimentary powers of persuasion could cause an awful lot of damage within a microcosm. (Those scenes of raging adolescents are also contrived, as if the rioters consulted an art department beforehand.)

I still feel the movie is potent as fantasy. We of the out-crowd imagine ourselves in Mark's position, loser-by-day/seductive voice of a generation (with impeccable, eclectic taste in music) by night, and dream of the possibilities. (That Hard Harry is as attractive as Christian Slater--who's very good here--enhances the illusion's romance. Is all good escapist fare aimed at ugly ducklings?) Hard Harry even pontificates from the coolest booth in radio history, a darkroom full of those hip knick-knacks you always mean to buy.

Pump Up the Volume may not have a huge impact on today's teens, who can "steal the air" any time they bloody well feel inclined, via the Internet. Moreover, the cynically named "Generation Y" will likely shred Moyle's earnest approach--remove the obscenities and you're left with the skeleton of an afterschool special. (Mark is confronted with sex, pregnancy, suicide, and expulsion over the course of the feature.) I'm recommending the film on the basis of how it worked for me way back when as primal scream therapy--I have yet to forget those evenings I'd spend shouting my problems into a deodorant stick, imagining the world was picking up my signal and nodding its collective head in understanding.

New Line delivers another Christmas bonus with their Pump Up the Volume DVD, upon which the film is presented, for the first time, in widescreen, at approximately 1.85:1. (The studio should get into the habit of listing aspect ratios on the packaging.) Enhanced for 16x9 displays, the image is vibrant and detailed, though significant grain is evident when the action takes place under bright conditions. (I'm never bothered by grain--it reminds me the program that was originated on glorious celluloid.) A standard version is also contained on the same side of an RSDL disc; this 1.33:1 transfer, identical in terms of colour and contrast, opens up the vertical matte (while slightly cropping the sides), and is compositionally less appealing than the letterboxed print.

The Dolby Stereo mix heard in cinemas has been preserved on one track and reconfigured for Dolby Digital 5.1 on another. Bass extension is much stronger on the DD edition (dig that Beastie Boys song), and the soundfield is broader, though rear channel volume is low on both. I expected more from a closing montage of disembodied voices--I wanted them to soar around my living room. Included as well are the original theatrical trailer plus cast and crew biographies. The apt menu is worth mentioning--options are indicated on the various notches of a sound level meter.-Bill Chambers