Christian Slater stars in this teen drama as a loner student from the East who enrolls at a highly rated Southwest high school and secretly provokes a mini-rebellion in the student body via his pirate radio station. By day, Mark Hunter is a quiet, studious student at an ordinary suburban high school in Arizona. But at night, Mark creeps down into his basement, fires up his radio transmitter, and broadcasts to the community as Hard Harry, a sexually obsessed social commentator who passes along angry philosophy about the state of teenage life when not blasting punk rock or gangster rap. With Samantha Mathis, Annie Ross.

“The fact that it does this simply and unabashedly gives the critic little to work with; it’s all there, right on the surface, with nothing to decode–just a dream, and a dream of an idea, that it asks us to share and celebrate. And better yet, emulate.” (Chicago Reader)

Friday, August 19
Doors 8:15 pm | Movie 8:45 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.
Advance tickets  HERE

*Minors permitted. Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service. Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK for any single film screening only. Please redeem at the box office.
*If you are looking to redeem your tickets to either a canceled Rio Theatre screening or a Rio Theatre gift certificate, please email <[email protected]> with info including your name, canceled receipt number, gift certificate info, what you are wanting to see and when, and we can make the switch for you in advance. Alternately, you can bring this information with you to the venue, and we will do our best to help you at the box office.

PUMP UP THE VOLUME (Allan Moyle, 1990 / 18A / 105 mins) In Arizona, an introverted and insightful teenager, Mark Hunter , finds an outlet for his viewpoints through a shortwave radio. Broadcasting as “Hard Harry,” Hunter uses his pirate radio show to rant against the injustices and hypocrisies taking place in the area, and in society in general. Hunter conceals his off-air identity, but a determined student discovers the truth, while Principal Creswood seeks to shut down Hunter once and for all.