One thing you have to love about this movie is the angsty, sexually frustrated teen Brad Pitt–no one knew who he was then, and we can enjoy it at his expense now. Another is the light, almost frolicsome way we’re taken through the string of murders and ensuing panic. Some people don’t like this movie, but I think it’s because they missed the sappy, pulsating heart of it. This movie wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. It was meant to make us cheer when grumpy teachers and naughty, promiscuous teens meet their bloody ends. If you enjoy this one, you might also like Return to Horror High, which features not only Marcia Brady as a rather perverse cop, but also a young George Clooney, who has about five lines and then is the first to die (the indignity!). Anyway, Cutting Class has my favorite quote from a teen slasher, and it might give you some insight into what you’ll be getting out of this movie: “I was a murderer. It wasn’t as prestigious as being a doctor or a lawyer…but the hours were good.”
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Plain and simple, watch it! At first you may find it a mistake that anyone could love or even like this movie, but once you get about half way through, you’ll understand. I saw this movie many years ago and to this day I think about how funny some of the scenes and lines were. Classic B or C movie. Add it to your collection.
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Gigantically entertaining, scrumptiously sexy slasher/who-done-it combo, set in a high school where the student population is beginning to be killed off. “Cutting Class” is obviously not re-inventing the wheel plotwise, but it does what it does with extreme flair and effectiveness, being one of the few from the vast batch of relatively unknown, sequel-less, usually direct-to-video horror slashers released regularly in the 80s/early 90s (and, welcomely, to an increasing extent today) that can actually hold its own with the best of the famous fare, like “The Return Of Michael Myers”, “Jason Goes To Hell” and “Wrong Turn”. Unpredictable, with the rare distinction of having some genuine wit and humor instead of just wince-inducing would-be jokes like many of its peers. The acting is several cuts above the norm for similar unheralded high-school horror types, starring Jill Schoelen (from the 1989 “Phantom Of The Opera” and “When A Stranger Calls Back”, among others), Brad Pitt, Brenda Klemme (who also shone in “The Channeller”, another of horror’s unheralded greats), Donovan Leitch, Roddy McDowell (from the original “Planet Of the Apes” series) and Marin Mull. Some unexpectedly tense moments, but also manages to be huge fun without ever straying into the dreaded realm of corniness.
And did I mention how sexy this is? From Jil’s quick wardrobe change to Brenda’s pantyless cheerleading performance, this is red-hot. Does it with class too – hot and delightful but never crude or vulgar.
Right now, it looks like videocassette is the only place this can be tracked down. If any DVD licencers are seing this (like maybe Anchor Bay, who’s earned a great reputation by releasing obscure/unavailable titles on the DVD format), please do us all a favor and at least consider putting this out, preferably with the original late 80s version cover, in a done-right, high-quality audiovisual version (not just transferred directly off a faded fiftenn year-old tape like a few movies seem to have been on some of the smaller distributors. I don’t know, maybe it’s not their fault, maybe they simply can’t afford to do a decent remastering or transfer?) For the record, a few of the other horror movies that NEED to be out on the DVD format are “Elves” (with the “Gremlins” stuff, this is one of the few great Christmas-oriented horror movies, in my opinion), “Basket Case 2″ (1 & 3 are out now), “The Channeller”, the Barker/King-derived “Quicksilver Highway”, “The Channeller”, “Night Terrors”, the sizzling white-hot “Spellbinder”, “Ghoulies III” (flawed but with some awesome moments) and the tragically unappreciated/maligned “Rawhead Rex” and “Proteus”.
Until then though, a videocassette copy of “Cutting Class” (or the other above-mentioned) are well worth snapping up for your collection.
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Brad who?,
One thing you have to love about this movie is the angsty, sexually frustrated teen Brad Pitt–no one knew who he was then, and we can enjoy it at his expense now. Another is the light, almost frolicsome way we’re taken through the string of murders and ensuing panic. Some people don’t like this movie, but I think it’s because they missed the sappy, pulsating heart of it. This movie wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. It was meant to make us cheer when grumpy teachers and naughty, promiscuous teens meet their bloody ends. If you enjoy this one, you might also like Return to Horror High, which features not only Marcia Brady as a rather perverse cop, but also a young George Clooney, who has about five lines and then is the first to die (the indignity!). Anyway, Cutting Class has my favorite quote from a teen slasher, and it might give you some insight into what you’ll be getting out of this movie: “I was a murderer. It wasn’t as prestigious as being a doctor or a lawyer…but the hours were good.”
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|5 Stars for the s**tload of laughs this brought unto me,
Plain and simple, watch it! At first you may find it a mistake that anyone could love or even like this movie, but once you get about half way through, you’ll understand. I saw this movie many years ago and to this day I think about how funny some of the scenes and lines were. Classic B or C movie. Add it to your collection.
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|The World’s Most Underrated Slasher,
Gigantically entertaining, scrumptiously sexy slasher/who-done-it combo, set in a high school where the student population is beginning to be killed off. “Cutting Class” is obviously not re-inventing the wheel plotwise, but it does what it does with extreme flair and effectiveness, being one of the few from the vast batch of relatively unknown, sequel-less, usually direct-to-video horror slashers released regularly in the 80s/early 90s (and, welcomely, to an increasing extent today) that can actually hold its own with the best of the famous fare, like “The Return Of Michael Myers”, “Jason Goes To Hell” and “Wrong Turn”. Unpredictable, with the rare distinction of having some genuine wit and humor instead of just wince-inducing would-be jokes like many of its peers. The acting is several cuts above the norm for similar unheralded high-school horror types, starring Jill Schoelen (from the 1989 “Phantom Of The Opera” and “When A Stranger Calls Back”, among others), Brad Pitt, Brenda Klemme (who also shone in “The Channeller”, another of horror’s unheralded greats), Donovan Leitch, Roddy McDowell (from the original “Planet Of the Apes” series) and Marin Mull. Some unexpectedly tense moments, but also manages to be huge fun without ever straying into the dreaded realm of corniness.
And did I mention how sexy this is? From Jil’s quick wardrobe change to Brenda’s pantyless cheerleading performance, this is red-hot. Does it with class too – hot and delightful but never crude or vulgar.
Right now, it looks like videocassette is the only place this can be tracked down. If any DVD licencers are seing this (like maybe Anchor Bay, who’s earned a great reputation by releasing obscure/unavailable titles on the DVD format), please do us all a favor and at least consider putting this out, preferably with the original late 80s version cover, in a done-right, high-quality audiovisual version (not just transferred directly off a faded fiftenn year-old tape like a few movies seem to have been on some of the smaller distributors. I don’t know, maybe it’s not their fault, maybe they simply can’t afford to do a decent remastering or transfer?) For the record, a few of the other horror movies that NEED to be out on the DVD format are “Elves” (with the “Gremlins” stuff, this is one of the few great Christmas-oriented horror movies, in my opinion), “Basket Case 2″ (1 & 3 are out now), “The Channeller”, the Barker/King-derived “Quicksilver Highway”, “The Channeller”, “Night Terrors”, the sizzling white-hot “Spellbinder”, “Ghoulies III” (flawed but with some awesome moments) and the tragically unappreciated/maligned “Rawhead Rex” and “Proteus”.
Until then though, a videocassette copy of “Cutting Class” (or the other above-mentioned) are well worth snapping up for your collection.
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