"Cutting Class" is a rather run-of-the-mill slasher.
**SPOILERS**
Left alone for the week, Paula Carson, (Jill Schoelen) watches father William Carson III, (Martin Mull) go off on vacation in the woods. Going to school as normal, she meets up with boyfriend Dwight Ingalls, (Brad Pitt) after-school, while new student Brian Woods, (Donovan Leitch) looks on. As he was just released from a mental hospital, no one around school seems to trust that he's completely sane. As he manages to get closer to her through school and outside activities, she begins to feel closer to him rather than her boyfriend. As they continue to sort through their woes, a rash of murders across campus forces the students to demand action of the principal, Mr. Dante, (Roddy McDowall) due to all the disappearances and murders. Upon realizing the killer's identity, the survivors band together to stave off their intentions.
The Good News: This here doesn't have a whole lot of positives about it. The film's at its best with it's final confrontation showdown inside the auto-shop. Not only is this a pretty original place to hold a showdown, which is nicely appreciated, but it's also a nonstop series of blows resulting in a really nice action set-piece. There's some nice brawling scenes, a pretty nice duel with power tools and a couple of some really nice surprises that keep it going on. There's even some creative uses for different tools around, including bringing in a table vice and a long pair of tongs into the action that it ups the intensity of it significantly. This also manages to really rescue the film as it's one of the few times that there's something happening that really requires the attention of the viewer in any significant way, and helps to really up the enjoyment of it. There's also a really intriguing scene in here as well that's pulled off well. After a rather suspenseful trip through school where the killer would pipe a song into a specific classroom to note where they're hiding, several victims stumble into one which doesn't contain the song but contains a problem on the board that the teacher gave them earlier but never correctly answered, and the wrong one would lead to their deaths. This is one of the single most clever scenes in the genre, and the pay-off is extraordinary. That the kills, when they're actually coming on-screen, aren't that bad as there's a pole impaled through the stomach out the back, a hammer-claw to the forehead, an ax in the head, an arrow in the chest and a slit throat show up in here, nothing spectacular or gory but good enough. In the end though, all it's got is it's ending pieces.
The Bad News: This here has some rather pressing problems. One of the problems is that it's supposed to feel like a brutal, sleazy film when it's really rather tame. While it's deaths look nice, they're simply lowest-common-denominator ones that have been seen numerous times over and are so blood-less that they're nowhere near as shocking as they seem to suggest they are. These two really take a lot out of the film, when it's main attraction is a problem. Another one to overcome is that there's really no action at all until the end of the film. The few murders that are conducted beforehand are so spread apart and so dull that the film's beginning sections are so dull and languid that it barely registers. It's the same old stuff scene carted out time and time again without doing much to set-up the killer's identity. That in itself is another problem, as there's a really lousy attempt here to get us to believe that there's a mystery surrounding the killer's identity. There's a sense that it's supposed to a mystery with a series of red herrings that are built up but are so clichéd and unbelievable that there's no way they're possible suspects. No attempt is made at making them believable enough to be the killer, and it's hard to believe that any of them would become the real killer as the amount of clues are quite bad. The film's other really big flaw is that this just really feels flat. There's nothing really hugely impressive about it, there's really nothing that would signal that this was anything other than just going through the motions without anything else to get in the way. That hurts the film almost as much as it's lack of real slasher characteristics.
The Final Verdict: While not an overall decent slasher film, this one does have enough good points to at least become watchable. However, it's flaws will prevent this one from impacting anyone other than the most hardcore slasher fans, who will get the most out of this one, all others are encouraged to avoid as there's nothing here worthwhile to them.
Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Brief Nudity
**SPOILERS**
Left alone for the week, Paula Carson, (Jill Schoelen) watches father William Carson III, (Martin Mull) go off on vacation in the woods. Going to school as normal, she meets up with boyfriend Dwight Ingalls, (Brad Pitt) after-school, while new student Brian Woods, (Donovan Leitch) looks on. As he was just released from a mental hospital, no one around school seems to trust that he's completely sane. As he manages to get closer to her through school and outside activities, she begins to feel closer to him rather than her boyfriend. As they continue to sort through their woes, a rash of murders across campus forces the students to demand action of the principal, Mr. Dante, (Roddy McDowall) due to all the disappearances and murders. Upon realizing the killer's identity, the survivors band together to stave off their intentions.
The Good News: This here doesn't have a whole lot of positives about it. The film's at its best with it's final confrontation showdown inside the auto-shop. Not only is this a pretty original place to hold a showdown, which is nicely appreciated, but it's also a nonstop series of blows resulting in a really nice action set-piece. There's some nice brawling scenes, a pretty nice duel with power tools and a couple of some really nice surprises that keep it going on. There's even some creative uses for different tools around, including bringing in a table vice and a long pair of tongs into the action that it ups the intensity of it significantly. This also manages to really rescue the film as it's one of the few times that there's something happening that really requires the attention of the viewer in any significant way, and helps to really up the enjoyment of it. There's also a really intriguing scene in here as well that's pulled off well. After a rather suspenseful trip through school where the killer would pipe a song into a specific classroom to note where they're hiding, several victims stumble into one which doesn't contain the song but contains a problem on the board that the teacher gave them earlier but never correctly answered, and the wrong one would lead to their deaths. This is one of the single most clever scenes in the genre, and the pay-off is extraordinary. That the kills, when they're actually coming on-screen, aren't that bad as there's a pole impaled through the stomach out the back, a hammer-claw to the forehead, an ax in the head, an arrow in the chest and a slit throat show up in here, nothing spectacular or gory but good enough. In the end though, all it's got is it's ending pieces.
The Bad News: This here has some rather pressing problems. One of the problems is that it's supposed to feel like a brutal, sleazy film when it's really rather tame. While it's deaths look nice, they're simply lowest-common-denominator ones that have been seen numerous times over and are so blood-less that they're nowhere near as shocking as they seem to suggest they are. These two really take a lot out of the film, when it's main attraction is a problem. Another one to overcome is that there's really no action at all until the end of the film. The few murders that are conducted beforehand are so spread apart and so dull that the film's beginning sections are so dull and languid that it barely registers. It's the same old stuff scene carted out time and time again without doing much to set-up the killer's identity. That in itself is another problem, as there's a really lousy attempt here to get us to believe that there's a mystery surrounding the killer's identity. There's a sense that it's supposed to a mystery with a series of red herrings that are built up but are so clichéd and unbelievable that there's no way they're possible suspects. No attempt is made at making them believable enough to be the killer, and it's hard to believe that any of them would become the real killer as the amount of clues are quite bad. The film's other really big flaw is that this just really feels flat. There's nothing really hugely impressive about it, there's really nothing that would signal that this was anything other than just going through the motions without anything else to get in the way. That hurts the film almost as much as it's lack of real slasher characteristics.
The Final Verdict: While not an overall decent slasher film, this one does have enough good points to at least become watchable. However, it's flaws will prevent this one from impacting anyone other than the most hardcore slasher fans, who will get the most out of this one, all others are encouraged to avoid as there's nothing here worthwhile to them.
Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Brief Nudity