Cutting Class

Sometimes all that it requires to take your mind off of everything is a simple-minded, bone-headed 80's slasher, especially if it's one that stars a young, hunky and still unknown Brad Pitt as the high school jerk and Roddy McDowall as the dirty-minded principal. The plot is textbook 80's guff, meaning no purposeful twists or any attempts at building up tension whatsoever, but still it guarantees a good 90 minutes of dopey fun and chuckles. As Brian returns to the schoolyard after a period in a mental asylum to treat his Violent Schizophrenia Syndrome, bodies start piling up as well and naturally he becomes the prime suspect. Of course, in this type of film, it takes an awfully very long time before any of the dim-witted characters realizes something's wrong and "Cutting Class" is no exception. Someone actually has to stumble over a corpse accidentally before realizing several others persons are missing as well. The script really tries hard to uphold the mystery and to keep the real killer's identity secret, but it doesn't matter all that much since we're just watching the film for the murders anyway. They aren't special, unfortunately, just a neat throat-slitting, an icky flagpole-killing and someone's crushed head on the copying machine. There's also the fairly original running gag of the killer's first victim surviving the assault and fruitlessly struggling for help for the rest of the film. The main attraction here is obviously – and almost exclusively – Brad Pitt, and he certainly doesn't disappoint as the cocky school-rebel. At a certain point in the film, one of his teachers tells him he has little chance to a great future, ha ha ha!