Cutting Class (1989) — Triskaidekafiles

CUTTING CLASS

WRITER: Steve Slavkin

DIRECTOR: Rospo Pallenberg

STARRING: Donovan Leitch as Brian Woods
Jill Schoelen as Paula Carson
Brad Pitt as Dwight Ingalls
Roddy McDowall as Mr. Dante
Brenda Lynn Klemme as Colleen
Mark Barnet as Gary
Robert Glaudini as Shultz
Dirk Blocker as Coach Marris
Nancy Fish as Mrs. Knocht
Martin Mull as William Carson III

QUICK CUT: A lawyer goes on a hunting trip, while his daughter has a wild week with her friends.

THE MORGUE

Paula - A young student, top of her class, studies hard and is working hard for her future. And the rest of the male cast are WAY too interested in her.

Dwight - Paula’s boyfriend, and an up and coming basketball player. He’s a hothead though, and his temper can get the best of him. He is coasting through on his sportsball skills, and isn’t focusing on any sort of academics. Since they teachers are letting him.

Brian - A troubled young man who spent several years in a mental institution after he took the blame for his father’s death. He was best friends with Dwight before going away, and he is trying to bridge the gap that ha grown between them.

TRISK ANALYSIS: Welcome back, Triskelions! We have returned from camp, which means it is time to go back to school. And it looks like we are already Cutting Class, which is the name of this week's movie. This one is a lesser known slasher flick from the end of the late 80’s, as the genre was starting to fade. So let's get into it.

The movie opens up with Paula picking up the morning paper, to hide it from her dad, the district attorney. It has a story about a boy accused of murder being released, and she doesn't want to stress him out before his hunting trip he's taking to relax.

As he heads out, he lays down the rules for Paula, since he's leaving her alone for the week. The usual stuff about no boys, no parties, and most importantly, NO CUTTING CLASS. ...Does that mean I have to stop the movie?

…No? Damn.

Batten down the ladies room, there’s no one here but men!

We spend a lot of time with dad as he goes out hunting, for the first time, and tries to do LARP Duck Hunt.

He hears someone call out to him, specifically, and faster than you can say, "You have failed this city!", he is shot in the chest with an arrow.

Welp. So much for Martin Mull being in the movie, I guess. Damn again.

But wait!

So it's back to the main plot, where we meet Paula's boyfriend, Dwight, as he's being a reckless teen driving around, and nearly running over a child.

Dwight arrives late to chemistry, and we learn he is not the best student, as several others feed him answers to questions.

And while he may be late, he is just in time for a demonstration of what happens when sodium comes into contact with water. If you don't know, it makes a boom.

The teacher only uses a small amount for the demonstration, but then holds up a GIANT CHUNK OF IT, saying it's good this bad boy didn't get wet!

We get our usual high school stuff, and get to know the kids, and the rest of the cast, to one degree or another

Most notably is one other student, Brian. He seems sweet on Paula, and he was once best friends with Dwight, although things seem strained now. Might be because he went a mental hospital for as yet unrevealed reasons.

After art class, Paula is pulled to the principal's office, but not for being bad. Oh no, it's the principal who is bad. He has Paula's cheer uniform ready for her, and wants her to pick it up. Literally. Off the floor. He makes her bend over several times, so he can perv on her, and it is DEEPLY uncomfortable.

Then we finally get a bit more murder, as the art teacher is shoved into the school’s giant kiln, locked inside, and burnt to a crisp. The teacher was a jerk to Brian earlier, so we have some clues starting to drop, too.

We also briefly meet the school's janitor, who seems just a bit unhinged, as Dwight forgets a book he needs for class. Unfortunately, the school is closed for the night, and Schultz won't let him back in.

Fortunately, they'll just break in and get the book. Oh, and they'll drag Paula along so they can use her keys to the office files, and look at what's wrong with Brian.

Brian was treated for violent schizophrenia, given shock treatments, and oh, he's hiding behind the water cooler listening to them all make fun of him. And somehow no one notices.

The next day, the science teacher takes the class out to the wetlands to wander around and talk about nature, and they step on Martin Mull's corp...OH he's not dead yet!

It's a scene played for laughs, as the man calls out for help, but oop, that's just the local wildlife! Moving on!

There's a basketball game that night, and Dwight's dad has called in a few favours to get a college recruiter there to see his boy play.

Unfortunately, things don't go well, and Dwight instead gets into a fight on the court. This pretty much torpedoes his hopes of getting a scholarship. I appreciate a well motivated red herring.

Colleen gets dragged under the bleachers by her boyfriend for a bit of fun, but instead his throat gets slit, and something undefined happens to Paula, their screams covered by the cheers of the crowd.

The next day, Dwight and Brian get in trouble in class, and are sent to the principal's office. Brian is a smart ass about the whole situation, and ends up getting suspended.

But don't worry, the mysterious killer who is totally a mystery, mashes the vice principal's face onto the copier until she's dead.

Dwight has his suspicions when the body is found, and points the finger at Brian. He runs off, and the cops are called in, to try and hunt him down.

Oh, this does lead to another comedic interlude with Martin Mull as the dogs searching for Brian find him instead, then they refuse to get help.

That night, Paula is going through some stuff, and knocks over some of her dad's files. This activates a recording he had about trying to convict Brian, and the accompanying paperwork.

Paula takes this to Dwight and they go over it, discovering that Brian wouldn't answer some questions, because he wouldn't betray a friend, and THAT is why he went away to the mental hospital.

Dwight is becoming more and more unhinged as the movie continues on, especially after getting into it with the gym teacher. He feels his life is ruined, and he's kinda starting to self sabotage.

Later that night, Brian breaks into Paula's house to try and explain his side of the story, and ask for her help, trusting her with his life and freedom.

What are you waiting for? What's the big deal? Come on, lived up to your name, Killer Frost.

Brian says he didn't cut his dad's brakes, even if he wasn't upset that his dad was dead. And he didn't kill the Vice Principal, or anyone else so far. Sure, Jan.

They realise a ring in some photos matches Dwight's ring, just as he's getting into another shouting match with the gym teacher.

Meanwhile, the other two sneak into the school, and run into Schultz. He tries to apprehend Brian, but they all scatter. And somehow, as Paula runs away from Schultz, he pops out of a door IN FRONT of her. What in the Scooby Doo bullshittery is this?

In the gym, the teacher is killing time waiting for Dwight, by using the trampoline. He doesn't see the killer sneaking up and slipping a flag pole under the trampoline and positioning it so the man gets impaled on it.

And you thought *burning* the flag was a problem??

Paula runs into the math teacher, and they discover a math problem scribbled on the chalkboard. They must solve the riddle, and the answer will reveal which door they can leave through, without getting killed.

The math teacher is initially flustered by the stress of the whole situation, but he does noodle his way through the problem, and decides the answer is door number one.

But before Monty Hall can reveal what they've won, Brian shows up and buries an axe in the teacher's face, since he got the question wrong.

So, it looks like Brian is the killer after all, but it still feels a little unclear. I get the impression that his dad's death was an accident, caused by Dwight, and the shock treatments and five years in the institution fried his brain and made him into the killer they feared he was in the first place.

Dwight shows up and saves Paula, but when they try and escape, they find a chained, locked door. So they continue running through the school, until they run into the chemistry lab.

He actually remembers the start of the movie, has Paula wet the floor, while he looks for the boulder of sodium.

When Brian enters the room, Dwight throws it into the water aaaand...nothing. Because Dwight grabbed just an ordinary rock.

So, the chase continues, into the shop classroom, where I am sure there will be no danger as they fight around industrial equipment

The boys get into one heck of a fight across the desks, playing with power tools, and lots of sparks flying. I gotta say, it's at least something different.

Eventually, Brian runs off to catch his breath, and he shows back up with a pair of industrial tongs that fit around Dwight's neck, at arms length. Brian uses them to try and force him to kill Paula, to "teach him about killing", since Brian thinks Dwight is the same as him, and wants to share his ways. Trying a bit too hard to make this a school slasher, but there’s an idea here.

Class is in session?

I want you to hit me…as hard as you can.

Dwight refuses, and the fight continues, until Paula says she'll do whatever Brian wants her to do, if he'll just let Dwight go.

She uses her feminine allure and Brian's ego against him, and gets him to actually close his eyes because he trusts Paula...until he gets a hammer jammed into his face.

Schultz shows up, saying he won't mind cleaning up after Paula at alll and it's super creepy and weird. Can EVERYONE in this movie STOP being horny for the teenager for FIVE MINUTES??

Dwight takes Paula home, and just as they're driving away, dad shambles back into the plot, and nearly gets run over, because Brian cut Dwight's brakes.

He sees his daughter, saying he's gonna kill Brian Woods, but thankfully, we took care of that already. He then realises what time it is, and glares at his daughter, hoping she's not CUTTING CLASS!! Whomp whomp.

TRISK ASSESSMENT

Video: This looks really good. I kept getting distracted by seeing actual film grain. You can sometimes forget that was a thing. Everything is clear, the colours are vibrant, and it just looks good.

Audio: Perfectly good.

Sound Bite: “I ain't got no basketball scholarship! So I guess I'm gonna have to start using my brain! Ugh!"

Body Count: A decent amount, but not a whole lot.

1 - Six minutes in, and DA Mull gets arrowed. He survives, but it’s some opening violence.
2 - The art teacher gets baked
3 - Gary gets his neck slit under the bleachers
4 - Then Colleen presumably dies behind them as well
5 - The vice principal gets copied to death. Somehow.
6 - Gym teacher gets raised up the flagpole
7 - The math teacher gets an axe to the face
8 - Brian gets a hammer to the face.

Best Corpse: Brian’s face getting hammered is a good solid gag.

Blood Type - C-: Some of the deaths happen off screen, some are fairly bloodless, but there’s a few good splats, and some decent effects

Sex Appeal: Not a thing.

Drink Up! Every time Martin Mull shambles back through the plot for a laugh.

Movie Review: I didn’t know what to expect going into this, since it’s not the most well known movie, or talked about a whole lot, but a late 80s slasher could be a dire thing, indeed. And it’s not great. But it’s not the worst thing, either. It has a budget behind it, a few names, and it at least is rarely ever boring. And unlike a lot of other similar movies, I found I had a lot to say about the characters, the three main ones at least, and not just some generic character trope, like in most slashers. A lot of the humour has aged poorly though, especially everything about everyone leering at Paula. That genuinely ruined an otherwise fun time I was having. Also, the biggest complaint, and it is a big one, is the plot. It feels like they had one idea, filmed most of the movie, and changed who the killer was very last minute. Because the plot is a bit of a mess towards the end. I’m not sure who killed whom when, and the movie seems to bend over backwards to not have Dwight doing anything wrong at the end of the day, save for accidentally killing Brian’s dad. Also, the movie goes out of it’s way to swing away from Brian, the obvious killer, to not be the obvious killer, just to have him BE the obvious reveal? Feels very clunky. I haven’t gone through the special features on my disc yet, and hope there’s some stuff about this on there, because I’d love to find out if there was other ideas they had, and changing them made for a messy plot, or if the movie is just…like that. Still, an all right late term slasher that has solid energy, is executed well from a shaky foundation, and some bits of fun sprinkled in. Three out of five rocks of sodium

Entertainment Value: There is some absurd stuff in here, but it never quite reaches the level of camp. It plays things mostly straight, save for Martin Mull’s few scenes to lighten the mood and cleanse the palette., The kills are decent, and I only wish we got to see more of them and they weren’t mostly off screen or in the distance. A little more blood would’ve helped this movie. The shop class fight scene is very fun, and there are moments I think people may have been in real danger. I appreciate seeing something new and different being tried, at least. Once they reveal Brian is the killer we’ve always suspected him to be, the actor has a lot of fun with it. It’s also fun to see a young Brad Pitt, and even if he gets a bit hammy with things at times, you can definitely see the talent. Three out of five unhelpful dogs.