Today's pick was another eighties movie for which I've always been aware, but never got around to watching. That's likely going to be a common motif over the next few weeks.
Someone's going around Furley High, slicing up the student body. Will Paula (Jill Schoelen) be next?
Yeah, Cutting Class was a strange one. It had your basic slasher construct, yet often veered off into parody, but never enough to fully commit. I had to look up the director Rospo Pallenberg to see whether he was a Troma guy. Nope, he was a legit writer and this was his first (and last) directing gig. I also wondered if Roddy McDowell and Martin Mull knew anything about the rest of the movie because their performances are just so out of place.
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| Roddy's look says it all... |
It's always nice to see Jill Schoelen, as I guess this movie WAS smack dab in the middle of the time when she was in just about every horror movie. And then there's baby-faced Brad Pitt. He was a pretty confident actor, even back then. I notice he's had the acting with food technique down since the beginning.
As a slasher, there were a few good set pieces. Paula's friend getting pulled under the bleachers could've been downright terrifying in more capable hands and Dirk Blocker getting impaled through the trampoline was definitely influential. As for the art teacher that gets cooked in his own kiln, I hate that I know 500 degrees is nowhere near hot enough for pottery.
As for the killer, it's the obvious culprit from the get-go, no matter how many red herrings were thrown at us. I'll give you a hint, it's the guy who wears the same outfit to school every fucking day. Lastly, I will say that the soundtrack, largely courtesy of Wall of Voodoo kind of rocks.
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| Believe it or not, this is the last frame of the movie. |
Overall, even though the cast is solid, the movie is pretty weak and definitely an example of where this subgenre was at in the late eighties.
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