Prayer of the Rollerboys *** (1990, Corey Haim, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Collet) – Classic Movie Review 1952

Director Rick King’s violent 1990 sci-fi adventure teen movie stars the late Corey Haim as Griffin, a boy who infiltrates a gang of fascist, drug-selling punks sometime in the future in an America beset by violence and racial prejudice.

The gang is called the Rollerboys and is headed by an ambitious character named Gary Lee (played by Christopher Collet), who’s an  old friend of Griffin and probably a relative of Hitler. Fortunately there are still pizzas in America in the future, and Griffin lives by delivering them between taking care of his little brother. Griffin joins the gang to help the police keep an eye on them.

The impact of screenwriter W Peter Iliff’s distinctly weird and intriguing premise is gradually eroded by the eventually unsurprising developments in its interestingly outlandish storyline and also by the over-familiarity of the usual, regulation futuristic setting of a chaotic, dystopian  tomorrow’s world.

But the low-budget production is pepped up nicely by receiving sparky, imaginative handling by King and Haim’s sterling performance, proving a little star. Patricia Arquette, J C Quinn, Julius Harris, Devin Clark and Mark Pellegrino also help out, and there is definitely some wild fun to be found here.

Tragically, Corey Haim died on March 10 2010, aged 38, after battles with addiction.

Arquette’s career came back on the boil in 2014 with her lovely performance in Boyhood.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1952

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