Todesparty II

High school student Paula Carson is adored by her jerk of a boyfriend, Dwight Ingalls, but new eyes have caught her attention. Brian Woods, a quiet loner who has just been released from a mental hospital after being there for the mysterious death of his father. Not too long people are disappearing and bodies are piling up at Wurley High and Brian is first to be accused by Dwight because of his disturbing past. Although Dwight has been losing it lately and now Paula is put in the situation of finding out who is telling the truth.

Now the memories are flooding back. Think of homework, uptight teachers, a weird headmaster, obnoxious twits, a deranged loner and some… murdering? What in the name!? Yeah "Cutting Class" is a forgettable, been-there-done-that and lame high school slasher. Despite that suggestion at least it's never boring, and it's slightly entertains as it breezes by quite easily. The pain is virtually bearable, but a top cast with middling performances make little headway in this low-end 80s slasher effort. The main problem here is that it tries really hard for a funny bone and then it would turn all serious, but it just doesn't come off with the right results. It's just too stupid to be funny and ridiculous to be taken straight. It just can't win! What shaped it was the hopeless charm that scraped the surface with its campy frame and fine turns by the reliable Roddy McDowall and the extremely lovely Jill Schoelen ("Stepfather" and "Popcorn"). Martin Mull even appears in his own little (if meaningless)side-story as some sort of comic relief character. Donavan Leitch does fine in his spooky staring down poses.

Sure the main curiosity for this flick would be that of a young Brad Pitt. His performance is very lacking, but fans of his might still check it out as his a main lead. All he does is leech about and his cocky character is just too unlikeable to care for. The plot is weak; that's there's not much to hang a story off (and still there are holes!) and to throw you off track, as the red herrings are downright ineffective. Just who is committing these murders? Well, it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out, as it's basically telegraphed to you. It follows a derivative style of every other slasher flick. Clichés are not excused. The dialogues are lousy, despite it's tongue-in-cheek tone and hammy one-liners. Killing it is a funky 80s soundtrack that you don't want to purchase after hearing it.

The semi-professional production looked adequate and it sported a colourful and brightly lit decor. The direction by Rospo Pallenberg is stale and tensionless. Wait to your eyes see one idiotic climax involving power tools and an unbelievably rash decision by the killer. The cruel deaths are unimaginative and have little, if no blood and gore. Those looking for obligatory nude flashes have to cope with blink and you miss it moments.

A real lemon of a flick, but still I found this mindless slasher watchable… thank-you Schoelen.

"Cutting Class" is god awful, but it is soooooo funny. You and your friends have a better chance at scoring a laugh with this slasher flick than 90 percent of the films in the comedy section at the video store. The plot(if you can call it that)is about some murderer going around killing students, obviously nothing new. The suspects: Theres only two really, Brian(the former mental patient/creepy kid), and Dwight(the jock/main characters boyfriend). Its quite obvious which one of the two it is, but you dont even care about that stuff, you're watchin' for the laughs. Jill Schoelen is the main girl, Paula, and her Dad is on a hunting trip, and she has the house to herself, its not very safe. The movie stars Brad Pitt!! The rental price alone is worth the laughter you'll get from hearing him say "I'm bigger where it really counts." Jennifer Aniston, his wife, luckily cant throw this movie in his face, shes got Leperchaun under her belt. This film contains no sex, but it does try to spice it up: A cheerleader decides not to wear panties at The Big Game, Paula washes her hair wearin nothing BUT panties, and the principal makes Paula bend over to pick up her new cheerleading uniform so he can check out her rump. The gore is cheap and fake(impalements, axes in the head, hammers in the head), the acting sucks (although this film has some semi-decent names attached:Brad Pitt, Donavon Leitch, Martin Mull), and its SO 1980's. Dont hop to the conclusion that I'm trash for seeing this flick, I saw it on TV. You're not trash for renting this for laughs, you're trash for renting it for scares.



Lower your expectations, rent, and laugh!

A killer on the loose is murdering students and teachers from a cool high school. Now it's up to the popular kids and the most ignored of them, recently released from a psychiatric hospital, to solve the mystery behind the murders. In this almost ludicrous and predictable whodunit, everything is what appears to be and our fun is to see how foolish director and writer can get while coming up with obvious devices that doesn't even try to fool and impress the viewers. Maybe some of the violence was unexpected but they sure were looking for the laughs. And this is a barrel of laughter.

C'mon, it's not that bad. It's embarrassingly fun to watch a bunch of actors fully knowing they're stinking on scene, trying hard to look authentic and reliable, in this sort of parody of teen slasher flicks. A pretty good trash, now with a heavy cult following from Brad Pitt fans who are curious in seeing one of his earliest roles. And truth be told, he's the only one who worked the hardest to look good enough, in opposition to the cheesy acting from almost everyone. But Donovan Leitch steals the show in a weird way. As the troubled and lonesome Brian Woods, he's the most memorable face from this thing with his terrifying yet good looking eyes and face, a Ricky Fits kind of character - definitely not obsessed, just curious. But why does he have to dress like Frankenstein?

Although heavily inspired but countless (and better) movies, this one had its original parts. High point is when the killer challenges the math teacher to solve a difficult equation and discover which door from the classroom is the safe passage. That scene had me giving some nervous laughs.

It's enjoyable but only when you're in the mood to have fun and not take anything you see here in a serious way. But in the end "Cutting Class" shows us that skipping class is far more worse than killing people. Ouch. 6/10

When I first rented this movie I thought I was in for your typical cheesy teen slasher movie; but this one was pretty good. So many of the characters were so freaky that you really aren't sure who's doing the killing until the last ten minutes of the film. The acting ranged from very bad to very good; with the best performance coming from actor Donovan Leitch (The Blob, Glory.) I bought a copy on VHS, now if they would just release it on DVD. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

This movie is often ignored by horror fans, but pretty underrated. Yes its cheesy and yes the only reason most people will pick it up in a video store is because Brad Pitt is on the cover but it does have a huge overall entertainment factor. The story is typical of 80s teen slashers, and the movie does have a strong likeness to Prom Night, Slaughter High and Return to Horror High, which isn't a bad thing. The acting is OK but the story is very good, and the sense of 'whodunnit' is very gripping (almost as good as Scream). When the killer is revealed in the grand finale, the final battle of good and evil begins in one last fight!!! Its pretty darn good and if you have any hesitations in seeing it...just watch it and i'm sure you won't be disappointed!