Jonathan Kaplan (see Tuesday, September 22) turns middle-America into hell-on-earth when a band of rampaging students embarks on an orgy of destruction in a hitherto quiet suburban “paradise.” Based on a true story of just such a reaction to the killing of a 14-year-old by a policeman in an upper-middle-class neighborhood, Over the Edge was shelved by Orion Pictures at the height of the gang films scare, and is only now receiving some limited theatrical release. Highlighted by a soundtrack that includes music by the Ramones, Cheap Trick, The Cars, and Little Feat, the film, which was shown at the 1979 Edinburgh Film Festival, features five relatively inexperienced young actors, chosen from the New York area by Kaplan and producer George Litto (Thieves Like Us, Blow Out) after an exhaustive search. “We were after typical junior high or high school youngsters, not Hollywood professionals....”