A slasher movie so apparently unmemorable that I completely forgot I had already seen it until checking my IMDb and Letterboxd resources, Cutting Class is a mildly amusing diversion for those after unsophisticated fun. Maybe the lapse in memory was just down to my film-addled brain. Or maybe I don't consider a film fully watched until I've written more than a paragraph about it.
My original thoughts ran as follows: "Jill Schoelen, Donovan Leitch, and Brad Pitt are the main young stars in this fun slasher, and Roddy McDowall is as watchable as ever in one of the main adult roles. It doesn't go far enough with the dark comedy, and there isn't quite enough decent bloodshed, but it remains enjoyable enough."
That may be brief, but it remains a perfectly fine encapsulation of my opinion on this film. Someone is starting to murder a number of teachers and pupils at a high school. The main suspect seems to be Brian (Donovan Leitch Jr.), who everyone knows spent some time being treated for a slight case of potential insanity. Dwight (Brad Pitt) might also have that killer instinct though. This makes things a bit awkward for Paula (Jill Schoelen), a young woman caught in between the two of them.
The one and only feature directed by Rospo Pallenberg (who did some great writing for director John Boorman, but also ended up assisting on the infamous stinker that is Exorcist II: The Heretic, this is also the film debut for writer Steve Slavkin. It's obvious what the thinking behind this was. Everyone wanted in on some of that slasher movie money, even as the appetite for the sub-genre was waning considerably after the peak of a few "golden years".
I would say that Pallenberg got lucky with his casting of a pre-stardom Pitt, but the whole cast actually does a decent job. Pitt is good fun in his role, a typical high school hunk with enough potential anger issues to make him a suspect when the murders start, and Schoelen is an appealing female lead. Leitch Jr. has to overact wildly, but that's par for the course in every slasher movie that presents someone who is either obviously a killer, or so obviously a killer that they couldn't possibly be a killer (if you know what I mean). Brenda James is another attendee of the school, and good friend of Paula, Roddy McDowall is the lecherous Mr. Dante, and Martin Mull is Paula's father, seen at the start of the film bidding farewell to his daughter as he goes on a hunting trip that will lead to one misfortunate after another, to put it mildly.
There's no visual artistry here, nor are there any set-pieces to help it stand out from the very crowded field it is in (and as the third act played out I also realised that I used to always confuse this with Graduation Day), but horror fans used to going into such things with suitably low expectations should find themselves consistently entertained from start to finish. Which is more than some lower-tier slasher movies manage.
6/10
If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do
consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A
subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share
No comments:
Post a Comment