Author's Note: I planned to write more this week, but my mom ended up needing help with a few things, so this article got pushed ahead from Wednesday to today, so I'll probably just go back to normal on Monday instead. I may try to do the last "Movie Round-Up" I never got around to over the weekend, though, which will cover the rest of the stuff I watched when I had free movie channels. We'll see. Sorry for the inconvenience, but, you know, it's the quarantine times and all bets are kinda off, lol.
Coming after the so-called "Golden Age of Slashers," the 1989 film Cutting Class was released during the MPAA's crackdown on violence in film, particularly in regards to horror films, after critics and certain citizens alike- most of the latter goaded into it by said critics, notably Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel- declared that gore was despicable and harmful to younger audiences.
Not long after that, the MPAA brought the figurative hammer down on sex and nudity in films as well, meaning that almost all of the films released post-'84 were effectively defanged of the very things that fans flocked to theaters to see them for in the first place. Put another way, the MPAA basically took away these films' raison d être, or reason for being.
Would you trust your movie reviews to these two? Many did.
I mean, don't get me wrong- there are absolutely films within this much-reviled subgenre that even said critics acknowledged were a cut above the rest, no pun intended, such as John Carpenter's seminal Halloween, Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street and the original When a Stranger Calls. But, for the most part, critics hated these sorts of films and by the mid-80's, even audiences were getting sick of them, as evidenced by the diminishing box office returns.
It would take a radical reworking of the subgenre to bring them back in earnest- most horror fans cite Wes Craven's Scream as the one that finally turned the trick, but before that admittedly classic flick, there were a handful of left-of-center films that paved the way by injecting humor into the proceedings.
1986's Evil Laugh, for instance, featured a character very much like Scream's Randy, which is to say a character that was aware of horror films and the "rules" that came along with them- not that it did either much good in the long run. Neither film was the first to go there, mind you- 1981's Final Exam featured a similar character, and 1982's Friday the 13th 3D had a habitual prankster in the mix, notably the very one that provided Jason with his now-iconic mask. Finally, 1986's perpetually-underrated April Fools' Day, true to its name (spoiler alert), made the entire undertaking a bit of a ruse unto itself.
Add to that list this film, Cutting Class, which stops just short of being an outright spoof, a la Student Bodies or the Scary Movie series, but comes mighty close, with its slapstick humor and oft-cartoonish acting and general antics- at one point, the killer actually has a math teacher in peril solve an equation to save his life- if he gets it right, he lives, if not, he dies. It's literally the Let's Make a Deal of slasher traps: do you want what's behind Door #1 or Door #2? Of course, just like Jigsaw's puzzles, the game is typically rigged. (Okay, granted, if you know that series, it was actually the apprentices that cheated, for the most part, not Jigsaw himself, but you get the idea.)
The story is pretty simple, as is the case with most slasher flicks. Upon being released from a mental institution, Brian Woods (Donovan Leitch), who was accused of having something to do with the "accidental" car wreck that killed his father, is immediately the suspect in a series of murders and disappearances that arise upon his return.
Not helping matters is Brian's stalker-like obsession with the girlfriend, Paula Carson (Jill Schoelen), of his former best friend, Dwight (Brad Pitt, in one of his earliest movie roles), a hothead jock given to drinking heavily and being a world-class douchebag.
There's also the creepy principal, Mr. Dante (Roddy McDowall), who seems similarly fixated on Paula, and the intense janitor, Shultz (Robert Glaudini), who certainly could be the culprit, based on his oddball behavior alone. But is Brian really guilty, or is he just trying to protect Paula from all these wackos surrounding her?
Given the completely over-the-top nature of the performances of nearly everyone here, it's hard to say who the most crazy person in the film is- and that's including the killer! Pitt's character seems perpetually ready to hit someone, including his own girlfriend; the principal never misses an opportunity to get Paula to bend over at any pretense- and at one point, randomly dresses in drag! (see pic above)- and the janitor seems one 'Nam flashback away from going postal on the entire school.
And then there's Brian, who hits the ground running at crazy and only gets more insane as the film goes on, even when he's ostensibly trying to help Paula. Who can blame her- or us, for that matter- for thinking nearly anyone could be a suspect? Honestly, even though I'd seen this one before back in the day, I waffled throughout in thinking it was a different character that was the culprit. I mean, Brian's so crazy that it couldn't be him, right? It would be too obvious.
I suppose that's the film's strongest suit- you never quite know at any given moment who the craziest person is, save designated Good Girl/Final Girl Paula, who is clearly the center of all this spiraling madness. Everything that happens revolves around her, whether it's teachers or friends who disrespected her, the pervy principal lusting after her, her lunkhead BF being an ass, or even her overprotective father (Martin Mull), who is the first to get attacked. After a certain point, you may find yourself wondering if Paula herself might be the one taking people out- and who could blame her, being surrounded by so many crazies?
Alas, the film isn't THAT clever, which would have been a nifty twist- making the Final Girl the killer, that is. Without giving it away, it's probably exactly who you think it is- although, to its credit, the film at least tries to throw in multiple suspects and a few solid red herrings.
But even if the film is a bit obvious in that way, it's still pretty damn entertaining, not in the least thanks to that cast, with it being undeniably fun to see Pitt and Leitch overacting up a storm, as if they were in competition to see who could act the most insane- which, I suppose, they were, given the plot.
Let's take a closer look at that cast. Of course, I don't need to tell you who Pitt is- he's one of the biggest stars on the planet. Back then, though, he was just an up-and-coming actor looking for his first big break. After a few uncredited roles in such notable films as No Way Out and Less Than Zero, and guest spots on TV show like Dallas, 21 Jump Street and Growing Pains, he finally landed his first leading role in the film The Dark Side of the Sun, only to see it remain on the shelf until 1997, long after he had already made it.
Cutting Class, then, was his first movie to gain a wide release- albeit mostly on home video, as Republic Pictures opted to go direct-to-video with the film. He made his first real impression in the TV-movie Too Young to Die? featuring a young Juliette Lewis, his then-girlfriend- the two would go on to co-star in the cult favorite Kalifornia together. But his breakthrough role would prove to be a small supporting role in Ridley Scott's 1991 classic, Thelma & Louise, which made him a sex symbol in earnest, which directly led to his career-making turn in Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It.
I don't need to tell you what came next, as he's almost certainly appeared in something you loved at some point, whether it's the action classics True Romance, Snatch and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the horror favorites Interview with a Vampire, Se7en (aka Seven) and World War Z, or the cult classics Johnny Suede, 12 Monkeys and Fight Club, among many other films. He's a damn national treasure in most people's eyes.
He doesn't get most of a showcase here, but it's still fun to see his career start out with such humble beginnings- almost every big star has a horror or cult flick on their resume, and he's no exception, which oddly humanizes him in a way by bringing his persona back down to earth, even if his character here isn't anyone you'd want to spend any significant time around, to say the least. Paula certainly deserves better, that's for sure.
Speaking of which, so did star Jill Schoelen. She made her motion picture debut in Joel Schumacher's cult favorite D.C. Cab, alongside the likes of Mr. T., Gary Busey and Bill Maher, but made her first big impression in the S.E. Hinton adaptation, That Was Then...This Is Now, which co-starred Emilio Estevez (who also scripted the film), fresh off the classic Hinton flicks The Outsiders and Tex.
However, she would seal her future fate with 1985's TV-movie Chiller, directed by none other than Wes Craven. This would lead to her being a horror film staple and a Scream Queen favorite in such flicks as The Stepfather, Curse II: The Bite, The Phantom of the Opera (the one with Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund), Popcorn and When a Stranger Calls Back, the belated sequel to, duh, When a Stranger Calls.
Other notable movies include Thunder Alley (with former teen idol Leif Garrett) Rich Girl, Shattered Spirits, Babes in Toyland (with Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves, whom she also dated), Billionaire Boys Club (the TV-movie one, not the recent remake), Adventures in Spying (with actual spy G. Gordon Liddy!), State of Mind (with the legendary cult star Paul Naschy), Triumph Over Disaster: The Hurricane Andrew Story and There Goes My Baby (which features a great cast that includes a young Dermot Mulroney and Noah Wyle, plus 80's favorites like Rick(y) Schroeder and Paul Gleason, among others).
Interestingly, she was engaged to Pitt in 1989, which could well have made her the first Mrs. Pitt, but alas, even there she came up a bit short. Believe it or not, she was the one who broke off the engagement. D'oh! Eventually, she would marry composer Anthony Marinelli (who played synths on hit albums by Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Kenny Loggins, and helped score the films The Color Purple and Leaving Las Vegas, among others) in 1993 and retire from acting to raise a family.
Her last film was 1996's aptly-titled Not Again! Fans will be glad to know she recently completed her first film in years, the TV-movie Fault, which hasn't yet been released. I look forward to seeing it, being a longtime fan- she was one of my first big crushes back in the day, and remains one of my all-time favorite Scream Queens, bar none. She kind of has a girl-next-door vibe that is hard to come by naturally, kind of like Demi Moore before she went full sex bomb. Schoelen also put out a jazz album (!) in 2009, which was news to me. (Here's a taste.) She could have- and frankly, should have been a contender, acting-wise, IMHO. Oh well.
Another would-be star was Donovan Leitch, who has talent in his genes, courtesy of father Donovan, the 60's folk rocker best-known for such hits as "Mellow Yellow," "Hurdy Gurdy Man" "Atlantis" and "Sunshine Superman," among others. Fun Fact: "Hurdy" marks the first performance together of the band that would become Led Zeppelin, minus singer Robert Plant.
Leitch also pursued music to modest success, notably in the group Camp Freddy, which also featured such luminaries as Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney (of Jane's Addiction), Matt Sorum (of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver) and Billy Morrison (of The Cult) and formerly the late, great Scott Weiland and Chester Bennington, who, somewhat ironically, fronted Stone Temple Pilots after Weiland's untimely death before his own. Leitch was also in the glam-rock outfit Nancy Boy, along with fellow second-gen musician Jason Nesmith, the son of Michael Nesmith, of The Monkees fame.
You might also know Leitch's sister, Ione Skye, of Say Anything and Wayne's World fame, who herself was once married to Beastie Boy Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and dated Anthony Kiedis, front-man for the Red Hot Chili Peppers; while Leitch himself dated sexy Bangle Susanna Hoffs and none other than Gwyneth Paltrow, who would, of course, go onto to date his Class co-star Pitt. Perhaps this film is where Pitt first laid eyes on her and thought...hmm.
Though Leitch didn't quite have the success of his sis, he did have a decent run of flicks that are fondly remembered by a certain contingent of fans, including, notably, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, The In Crowd, the remakes of And God Created Woman and The Blob (which is really worth seeing), and perhaps his finest hours, Glory and I Shot Andy Warhol, two bona fide classics. He also appeared alongside sister Ione in the excellent cult classic Gas Food Lodging.
As the creeper principal, Mr. Dante, there's the legendary Roddy McDowall, who's been in well over 250 films over the course of a career that spanned the late 30's up until the early 2000's. He started out as a child star in the likes of How Green Was My Valley, My Friend Flicka and Lassie Come Home, then appeared in such celebrated old Hollywood classics as Cleopatra, The Longest Day and The Greatest Story Ever Told, while continuing such family-friendly fare as Disney's That Darn Cat!, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, The Cat From Outer Space and The Black Hole.
However, horror and cult film fans undoubtedly know him better for such classics as It!, Pretty Maids All in a Row, The Legend of Hell House, Embryo, Laserblast, Class of 1984, Dead of Winter, Mirror Mirror 2, and, of course, his roles as the original Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes films and Galen in the spin-off TV series, as well as Peter Vincent in the much-beloved, excellent first two Fright Night films. Pitt's awesome and all, but McDowall's a true legend in film and one of my all-time fave character actors ever, even if this movie probably wasn't high on the list of his greatest achievements- or anyone else involved, for that matter.
There's also comedic actor Martin Mull, perhaps best-known to my generation as the Principal on the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but also in movies like FM, My Bodyguard, Private School, Mr. Mom, Clue, The Player, Mrs. Doubtfire, Jingle All the Way and TV shows like Roseanne, Two and a Half Men, Veep, Arrested Development and The Ranch. Here, he plays Paula's overprotective father, who is the first to seemingly get killed, but- spoiler alert- proves to be made of sturdier stuff than he seems, as he spends most of the movie trying to get back home, or at least to find help after he is wounded by the killer's shot arrow.
Character actor Robert Glaudini, who plays the creepy janitor, Shultz, might also be a familiar face to some. Although primarily known as a playwright- his biggest hit was Jack Goes Boating, which was also made into a movie- he's also been in a few cult favorites, including Angel City, Chameleon, Parasite (alongside a young Demi Moore- seen above- see my review here), The Alchemist and Wavelength, as well as more mainstream efforts like Mississippi Burning, Homer and Eddie, Bugsy and The Princess Diaries.
Other notable participants include: Brenda Klemme (aka Brenda James) as Colleen- she's best-known for cult flicks like Stone Cold, The Channeller, Safe House, The Attic Expeditions, See Spot Run, L.A.P.D., Under the Influence, The Barber, Red Rover, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Slither; Dirk Blocker as the ill-fated Coach Harris- he's best-known for roles in Midnight Madness, Raise the Titanic, The Border, Poltergeist, Starman, Prince of Darkness, Equinox, Short Cuts, Night of the Scarecrow and TV's Brooklyn Nine-Nine; the also ill-fated Mrs. Knocht, played by Nancy Fish, of Sudden Impact, Troop Beverly Hills, The Exorcist III, Death Becomes Her, Dr. Giggles, Ghost in the Machine and The Mask fame; and the aforementioned math teacher, Mr. Glynn, played by character actor Eric Boles, of The Night God Screamed, Doctor Death, The Great Texas Dynamite Chase, C.H.U.D. II and Dead Air.
More fun facts: Jill Schoelen turned the film down repeatedly before finally agreeing to it when she discovered the involvement of Roddy McDowall and Martin Mull, both of whom she admired. She later regretted the move, saying that the script was bad, and the director, Rospo Pallenberg, was unreasonable, in terms of allowing her to have any input into her character whatsoever, down to telling her exactly how to do her line readings.
This ended up being his only feature film, though prior to this, he did work closely with acclaimed director John Boorman, on his films Deliverance, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest and the much-derided Exorcist II: The Heretic. Scriptwriter Steve Slavkin, however, went on to create the kids-show favorite Salute Your Shorts, as well as executive-producing and/or writing for the shows Running the Halls, USA High, The Famous Jett Jackson, Even Stevens and several offshoots of the much-beloved Power Rangers show.
The film was actually shot back in 1987, but wasn't released until two years later. It took around four weeks to shoot. Producer Rudy Cohen (FearDotCom, The Black Dahlia) balked at casting Brad Pitt until the director rounded up several women who vouched for how hot he was, which finally convinced him. Obviously, if it wasn't for that change of heart, this film would likely have been forgotten by now.
To be fair to Cohen, Pitt's acting skills were a bit on the ripe side here, as I'm sure even he'd admit. He isn't so much playing a character as it seems like he really is a drunken hothead IRL. Maybe he was a method actor at the time? To that end, Pitt reportedly flashed passers-by repeatedly on the set, one of which called the police, who came to the set to question him on indecent exposure charges! Once again, the director vouched for Pitt, saying it was all part of the movie.
If Coach Harris' trampoline death seems familiar, that's because it was the inspiration for a similar scene in Eli Roth's faux trailer for Grindhouse, entitled Thanksgiving. For more on that, see here. Also, when the killer talks about killing people in the past, present and future, he's not just being crazy. In a later scene, it is revealed that he cut the brakes of another character's car, in hopes of leading to their death, which very nearly works. Somewhat ironically, it is in swerving to avoid another character left for dead that the character in question manages to escape his intended fate.
Cutting Class wasn't a huge hit on home video, but has shown staying power, thanks to that cast, in particular those curious to see Pitt's first starring role. It has been released repeatedly on VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray, but be careful of which copy you buy, as the US Lionsgate version claims to be the unrated version but isn't.
You can get the actual unrated version via Vinegar Syndrome, in a digitally-restored Blu-Ray/DVD combo, which also features some choice bonus features, including interviews with Schoelen, Leitch, the director, the cinematographer, Avi Karpick, and a commentary by horror podcast faves The Hysteria Continues, who also have an episode devoted to the movie. The soundtrack is by cult faves Wall of Voodoo, of "Mexican Radio" fame, while the score is by award-winning composer Jill Fraser, who cult film fans will know from her work on Zardoz, Empire of the Ants, Hardcore, Cruising and Personal Best.
Cutting Class is admittedly no masterpiece. It's not even second-tier quality, in terms of slasher movies, TBH. But it has a great warped sense of humor- albeit occasionally politically incorrect (in more ways than its sense of humor, one should be warned)- some fun performances, some solid kills in the uncut version, and it moves along at a decent clip.
But I adore Jill Schoelen, and if you do, too, this is an absolute must, even if it's not her finest work, by her own admission. And, perhaps needless to say, if you're a Pitt fan, it's worth seeing for him alone, as well, even if his performance is a bit on the wonky side. Hey, it's a slasher movie- you were expecting Shakespearean-level acting? Considering how late in the game it was made, though, it's not bad.
As I mentioned, there's a clear line between something like this and the subsequent, hugely popular Scream series- writer Kevin Williamson was taking notes on this one, for sure, to say nothing of Eli Roth. For all of its faults- and it definitely has a lot of them- it's a fun watch, especially if you've never seen it before and are fans of any of the cast. I enjoyed it for what it was, and not for what it wasn't, basically.
I say check it out! 😎
