Pump Up the Volume (1990)

4 Stars (out of 4)

So Be It

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

I saw Allan Moyle's Pump Up the Volume many times when I was younger, but when it popped up on the Criterion Channel in August of 2025, and I realized I had never written a proper review of it, I decided to give it a re-watch. Not only was I amazed at how well it held up, but I'm also ready to proclaim it the ultimate Gen X movie. It treats alienation as more than just a joke, and makes communication and connection exhilarating.

Christian Slater stars as Mark, by day a shy high school student with rounded spectacles who walks with his head down, hands in his pockets, and barely says a word to anyone. By night, however, he's Happy Harry Hard-On, or "Hard Harry," a pirate DJ broadcasting from a short wave set in his basement. He plays edgy (at the time) music and deep cuts like the Beastie Boys demo "Scenario," Was (Not Was)'s "Dad, I'm in Jail," and Soundgarden's "Heretic," although his signature sign-on track is "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen.

He speaks the frank truth about how much it sucks to be young in an America controlled by corrupt adults. He reads letters from disaffected schoolmates and, if they include a number, he calls them. In a striking sequence, he speaks to a young fellow, Malcolm, who is thinking of taking his own life. Harry speaks cynically to him ("did you at least write a note?"), and the next day, the lad is dead. Harry blames himself, but also begins to realize the power he's wielding. He wavers back and forth between going on again, but realizes he must, at least to acknowledge what happened. ("I never meant to hurt anyone. I'm sorry Malcolm. I never said, 'Don't do it.'")

Harry also receives amazing poems in red envelopes, written by Nora (Samantha Mathis), who works at the school library. (The library is cool enough to have a copy of Lenny Bruce's How to Talk Dirty and Influence People… perhaps unlikely, but cool!) After a bit of sleuthing, she discovers Harry's identity, just as things are starting to ramp up. More and more students are listening, and are beginning to rebel, and teachers are becoming concerned. The FCC is called in on the grounds that parts of Harry's show are being re-broadcast over legal airwaves.

It might have seemed ridiculous at the time that the movie's villain is the high school principal (Annie Ross), who is expelling kids with low S.A.T. scores simply so that she can keep her high average, but given the way the world is in 2025, this type of thing seems quite likely. Ellen Greene (Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors) co-stars as the only sympathetic adult, a teacher (perhaps the only one young enough to remember what it's like to be a teen). Mathis, who was in a relationship with Slater in real life, is a great romantic interest, sassy and sharp and bossy, and cute as a pixie. Many Gen Xers no doubt had crushes on her. (She appeared with Slater again in John Woo's Broken Arrow, and they both provided voices for the animated feature FernGully: The Last Rainforest.)

Slater was good enough in the lead role that it had me thinking he should have been considered for an Oscar. He has a great voice — he was infamous for playing his Heathers character like Jack Nicholson the previous year — and an innate sense of rhythm and timing. When he says things like "one day I woke up, and I realized I was never going to be normal, so I said, 'F-ck it.' I said, 'So be it,'" it just sings. He makes a movie about a radio DJ visual with his physical performance doing things as small as lighting a candle, or pulling off his shirt and spinning in his office chair. (I was lucky enough to interview Slater once, in 2001, and he struck me as a terrific guy.)

It helps that the screenplay by Moyle was so good, even fairly progressive for its day. (The school is short on students of color, but there are still a few that can be glimpsed.) One of the most moving scenes occurs when a student calls in to Harry's show, detailing a cruel prank played on him by a popular kid, an athlete that led him to believe there might be a chance for romance. When the kid finishes his story, he asks Harry, "so I guess you think I'm a f-ggot wimp, right?" But Harry replies, "no… no. I'm just thinking how strong people can be." He goes on to remark on how similar everyone really is, how we all need the same things. It's a beautiful moment of solidarity, ending on a note of sadness, knowing that, despite this moment, very little can actually be done.

So how do you end a film like this? Moyle does it exactly right. Rather than make a hero out of the character, or an icon, he passes the torch. Mark/Harry encourages everyone with a voice to get out there and share their ideas, thoughts, wisdom, kindness, similarities, compassion, to "steal the air." Many have pointed out how the movie pointed to the future of podcasting, where just about anyone can have their own show, get their voices out there. Moyle himself unfortunately didn't go on to have the career he deserved. His next film, The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992), fared poorly, but his Empire Records (1995) went on to become another cult classic. His last completed film was the fun Weirdsville (2007). Maybe someone will give him another shot? We could sure use another movie like Pump Up the Volume today.