Cutting Class (1989) is the kind of movie that would likely end up in detention for lack of focus, but does that mean we should write it off as a straight-to-VHS dud? Absolutely not!
Let me open this rewind review with a question: What was Brad Pitt’s first notable role in a feature film? By the late 80s, Pitt had been seen in a swathe of minor and uncredited roles, from a blink-and-you-will-miss-it fight scene in Less Than Zero to a partygoer in No Way Out. In addition, he had made a name for himself in TV shows like Dallas and 21 Jump Street, but his movie career began with The Dark Side of the Sun in 1988, a film about a teen with a rare skin condition called Xeroderma Pigmentosum. No one remembers Dark Side of the Sun today, but they do remember Pitt’s next movie, which aimed to challenge and change the teenage slasher format.
That film was the 1989 low-budget comedy-horror Cutting Class, directed by Rospo Pallenberg and starring Donovan Leitch Jr, Jill Schoelen, Brenda Lynn Klemme, and the legendary Roddy McDowell in an all-too-short cameo. Interestingly, it was a movie shot in 1987 that didn’t find release until 1989, and then only as a direct-to-video release. While Cutting Class may not have been Pitt’s first significant role in a movie, I would argue it’s the one that helped to create his teen idol image and paved the way for his breakout role in Thelma and Louise just a few years later.
Steve Slavkin’s screenplay is a slightly, or should that be ‘highly’ confused comedy, high school horror that feels uncertain of its horror and comedy credentials. Yet, despite its weaknesses, Cutting Class is also a rather entertaining forerunner of ’90s horror films such as Scream. Pallenburg and writer Steve Slavkin would clumsily mix the classic whodunit with many of the ingredients of the classic mid-80s slasher. Added to this mix were Pitt and Schoelen’s chemistry (they may or may not have hooked up on set), a stoned, creepy caretaker, Robert Glaudini, and a range of profoundly lazy gags and clichés. The result may not score an A or even a B+, but it’s still damned entertaining all the same.
Cutting Class is the kind of movie that would likely end up in detention for lack of focus, but does that mean we should write it off as a straight-to-VHS dud? Absolutely not! It may now be best known for introducing a VHS-obsessed generation to a young Brad Pitt, me included, but Cutting Class has more to offer than just mere eye candy.
At the time Cutting Class was released, the teen slasher movie that dominated the cinema from the late 70s to mid-80s was losing blood fast, and Cutting Class was an apparent attempt to stem the blood loss by creatively playing with genre boundaries. This is a mild slasher horror where the whodunnit sits centre stage, and on paper, it should have worked; after all, Sleepaway Camp (1983), Prom Night (1980) and Friday the 13th (1980) had done the same to differing degrees. What made Cutting Class stand out, however, was its attempt to dovetail slasher horror and the whodunnit with classic ’80s high school comedy. Cutting Class ultimately struggled with this mash-up, and by the time the bold, creatively brilliant Heathers was released the same year, it already felt dated. Still, it remains a stepping stone towards a whole host of ’90s movies to come.
Whether the flawed creativity at the heart of Cutting Class is enough to persuade you to hunt for this rare horror-comedy classic is ultimately up to you, as you may struggle to find it on any format other than VHS, despite limited DVD and Blu-ray outings. But for me, for all its faults, Cutting Class deserves a reappraisal of its place in the history of teen horror as the ’80s came to a close and a new decade waited in the wings.
Cutting Class (1989) is available in limited quantities on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray.
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