CUTTING CLASS (1985)

CUTTING CLASS (1985)

Tagline: No more pencils, No more books, No more teacher's dirty looks

(Horror, Comedy, Brad Pitt Being A Jerk) [R]

Nice try Dwight, but that's just a rock.

In this one, Paula Carson is being stalked so to speak by two guys in her high school. One is Dwight who is basically an unhinged hot head. The other is Brian a kid who had been missing from school for a while but returned after being released from a mental hospital after being accused of killing his stepfather. It doesn’t take long before murders start happening at the school and Paula is caught in a whodunit where no one can be trusted. 

First off, this movie is going for a comedic vibe, but there aren’t many actual laughs to be had. The movie's best and most ridiculous scenes have nothing to do with the main story and all involve Martin Mull who plays William Carson III. He is the rich father of Paula Carson who is the main character in the movie. Ironically Jill Schoelen who plays Paula did not want to be in this flick but decided to get involved because of Martin Mull. It is strange that she had an issue with this one because Schoelen was also in 1987’s THE STEPFATHER, CURSE II: THE BITE, and POPCORN all of which had less intriguing storylines than this thing. In real life, Jill Schoelen and Brad Pitt were engaged to be married, but that never panned out. Perhaps because Brad was, and at least came across to the public as being an idiot at the time. Clearly, that’s changed. 

Cutting Class not only has the distinction of showcasing Brad Pitt, but it also has the distinction of showcasing him back when he was a TOTAL idiot. He even got charged with indecent exposure while making this movie. His character, “Dwight” is also the worst. It is always shocking to me when the rich girls in movies go for the poorest goofiest looking dude in school, but it’s even more shocking when they go for the most disturbed and morally bankrupt person in school. Is there no middle ground for the rich girl? Well, I guess I can come up with a few movie examples where there is…so why in this one is Paula even talking to Dwight or Brian? That part is either janky writing, or it just had to be the case for this script and they went for it. 

Acting wise I’ve mentioned a few people in the cast, but Martin Mull is by far the best character. Sadly we don’t get much of him and his situation is extremely unlikely and ridiculous, but awesome for this movie. Where this thing goes sideways isn’t in the cast of Roddy McDowall but who they cast him as. He plays Mr. Dante who is basically a full-blown pervert who is just trying his best to get high school girls in compromising positions. This role is beneath Roddy McDowall who is best known for FRIGHT NIGHT. Maybe he didn’t think that, but I do. As of last year, Donovan Leitch Jr. who plays Brian was still acting. He does a pretty creepy job in this and is most famous for 1988’s remake of THE BLOB. 

Overall the kills in this are just okay for a slasher flick and one thing I did like is that they don’t overdo it on any of the gore. This is pretty straightforward early FRIDAY THE 13TH type of stuff when it comes to the simplicity of the murders. I have to give this thing a 4 out of 7 for the twists and turns, but I wish I liked the main characters a bit more than I did. We also got a very forgettable killer in the end. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF APRIL FILMS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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