Cutting Class

Plot synopsis:
The plot revolves around the return of Brian Woods (Leitch), a "problem teen." He has just been released from a mental hospital; he was admitted after the suspicious death of his father, who crashed and died while driving a car with cut brakes. He falls in love with classmate Paula Carson (Jill Schoelen), but the local basketball star Dwight Ingalls (Brad Pitt) is already Paula's boyfriend. Meanwhile, the lecherous school principal also seeks Paula's affections. Then horrible murders start happening with no one certain of the identity of the culprit. The main suspects are Dwight, whose control of his anger has never been perfect; Woods, who may not have been fully cured at the sanitarium; and the principal, who seems to stop at nothing in his attempts to bed Paula.
The film opens with a paperboy delivering newspapers. A paper is delivered to Paula Carson's house. Paula is approached by her father, Bill, who is an attorney, who has planned a hunting trip. He warns Paula to do her homework, not to allow boys in the house, and most importantly not to cut class. Paula then puts the newspaper in the bin, showing its headline: "Boy who killed father released from Mental Asylum."
Bill Carson drives to the swamps for his hunting trip. As he takes shots into the air, someone is hiding nearby and holding a set of bows and arrows. The person calls over to Bill Carson and fires an arrow into him. Bill cries out and then falls down to the ground.
Meanwhile, Dwight Ingalls enters class late after avoiding two accidents on his ride to school. Dwight is questioned by his teacher, Mr. Conklin, and a girl sitting next to Dwight whispers the answers to him. Dwight tells her to shut up when she teases Dwight for not knowing what H2O is.
Later, Colleen and Paula are taking out gym equipment. Paula walks past a set of bows and arrows and notices a leaf hanging off the arrow. Paula picks the leaf off and then eats it. Meanwhile, Brian is told to climb a rope by the P.E. coach, but Dwight caused him to fall.
At a hot dog stand, Colleen, Paula, and Gary are waiting for Dwight. Brian approaches, and Colleen insults him before suggesting that Brian has a crush on Paula. Dwight then pulls up in his car and starts talking to Paula. He asks her to go to her house, as her father is away, which would give them the opportunity to be alone. Dwight then goes to buy Paula a hot dog, but he is beaten by Brian who hands her one and says, "You had that look." When Dwight returns, he tells Paula to get in the car and makes it clear to Brian that they are not friends anymore and to leave him and Paula alone. They all then drive off in Dwight's car.
Brian and Paula nevertheless become friends, and she starts to trust him. Dwight warns her to stay away from him. A teacher is murdered in the copyroom, and the students notice that the killer made copies of the killing on the copy machine. The teacher's face is shown smashed into the copy machine glass along with a ring on the killer's finger. The ring belongs to Dwight. Soon they think that Dwight (Brad Pitt) is the killer instead of Brian.
Brian tries to kill Paula, Dwight, and a math teacher in the school, and the janitor happens to be around at the time. Every classroom they run into, Brian starts talking to Paula and the math teacher through the PA in the principal's office. Paula still thinks that Dwight is the killer, and she is still running from him. Soon Brian goes into the classroom after hacking the math teacher to death. Dwight enters and gets Brian off of Paula, and they run out to the shop class and hide after Brian exclaims, "YOU'RE A YANKEE DOODLE DANDY TOO; YOU TWO MUST KILL OR DIE!" Brian knows they are in there, so he follows them while locking them in and turning on all the equipment.
Brian corners Dwight and puts his head in a vice and points a drill towards his face. Paula ends up striking Brian in the head with a claw hammer, making him fall onto a moving circular saw, which goes right through his torso as Paula frees Dwight. They leave the school and are in Dwight's car when, all of a sudden, they see Paula's dad - he has been on a trip but in actuality he was the lawyer that put Brian in the sanitarium. Brian had kidnapped Paula's dad, and he had escaped and made it home. Paula points out that it is her dad. He is on the road, but Dwight cannot stop because Brian cut the brakes earlier. They swerve and miss hitting Paula's dad. All he says is, "Shouldn't you be in school? You're not cutting class, I hope!" The movie ends with the camera's freezing on Paula's face.

Tags: revenge, mystery, murder, violence

Review:
The killings take a back seat to comedy scenes starring Martin Mull and Roddy McDowell, the latter of whom is pretty funny (Although McDowell often took crappy parts just for a paycheck- It's hard to imagine him getting excited over the script for "Laserblast"- he was never dull).To the film's credit, the identity of the killer is kept a pretty good secret till the film's amusing enough climax in the school's metal shop.
One of the main suspects is played by a young Brad Pitt, but he doesn't embarrass himself like future star Matthew McConnehey did in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4".
Brad Pitt, Donavan Leitch, and Jill Schoelen star as the trio of youths the film centers around.
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.
This teen slasher flick doesn't try to be different from others in the genre, but it has everything to succeed : it has a hot female lead character, sex related scenes, and gore.And for the girls : it features a young Brad Pitt.The 3 main characters of the movie are well developed, and the ending may be predictable but it works.
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 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.
Jill Schoelen stars as virginal and studious teen Paula Carson, object of affection for two ex-best-buds, overbearing basketball jock Dwight Ingalls (Brad Pitt) and creepy loner Brian Woods (Donovan Leitch).
When Paula is left on her own for a week while her father, a district attorney, goes duck hunting, she promises to behave, but with rival friends fighting for her attention, the school principal (Roddy McDowall) perving over her ass, and a crazy murderer bumping off her schoolmates, staying out of trouble is going to be harder than she thinks.Cutting Class certainly makes sure to pack in all the standard genre clichés, with red herrings and misleading clues a plenty (hands up who though that sodium chloride would actually save the day: I know I did), but veers awkwardly between silly humour (Paula's bumbling dad somehow surviving to the end of the film) and genuine attempts at horror (the killing of the school's vice principal), delivering crappy gore featuring patently rubber props and uninspired direction along the way.The acting also does little to improve matters, with future A-lister Pitt being unmemorable, unlikeable and offering no hint of star quality, Leitch giving an equally unimpressive turn, and a performance from poor old Roddy McDowall that can only be described as extremely embarrassing.
Jill Schoelen is convinced that the killer is either a formerly crazy friend (Donovan Leitch) or her popular, good looking boyfriend (Brad Pitt, yes that's right BRAD PITT in an early role!!!)Rated R; Nudity, Violence, Sexual Situations, and Profanity.
Trivia: Brad Pitt and Jill Schoelen were an item during and after filming.
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.
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.
So Brad Pitt is just one of the many line of actors more or less starting out in the horror genre and he'll sure won't be the last.Basically the story goes there's a killer on the loose in a local high school and it's up to our plucky young heroine Paula (Jill Schoelen) to figure out who it is, could it be her boyfriend Dwight (Brad Pitt) the high school jock or Brian (Donovan Leitch JR) who just got out of the mental hospital for killing his father and he's attracted to Paula and plus she's slightly interested in him as well.Cutting Class is a campy fun horror movie that shouldn't be taken too seriously, the attempts of humour do fall flat in some places and plus there is zero tension and some of the performances fall flat in some places too.
Martin Mull even shows up as Paula's father who gets shot with an arrow at the beginning and spends the rest of the movie walking home which is totally unrealistic and plus Two kids and a teacher disappear AND NO ONE SAYS ANYTHING!
I guess the budget couldn't include a cop car or a fake badge for the sake of credibility.When you first see this movie, yes it is surprising to see Brad Pitt but after a short big he blends in with the rest of the woodwork, Jill Schoelen does a fine job but she does fall flat in some places (The Stepfather) was her better horror movie in which she turns in a much better performance and Donovan Leitch JR is OK but you can't whether it's his intention to not take himself to seriously or is he just a bad actor but anyway I enjoyed his emotional performance, he's really funny.Anyway Cutting Class isn't a total waste of time but there are better high school slashers out there and that does a better job of covering up who the killer is in the very end like in this movie it's totally obvious..
It actually has a good cast featuring Jill Schoelen, Brad Pitt, Roddy McDowell and Donovan Leitch.
But even with these actors the movie is a complete failure, in my opinion.Leitch plays the part of Brian who has been released from a psychiatric ward for murdering his Father fives years ago.
Suddenly, teachers and students are turning up missing or dead and it comes down to whether Brian is the killer or Dwight is the killer.I saw this film many years ago and had trouble sitting through it then.
The story is boring, the actors may look good but play quite bad (incredible Brad Pitt became so succesful after that trash film) and the jokes make you wanna cry.
But like I said: When you wanna have fun and make a video party and don't wanna watch intelligent films like "Nightmare on Elm Street" (every movie's intelligent when you compare it to "Cutting Class"!) then go and see that one!.
He was listed third in the top billing but he gets a lot of screen time being the boyfriend acting like a jerk.The story is about students who are being murdered one by one, and as an audience we keep on guessing who the killer is until the finale in this "whoduit" concept.
If you want to watch slasher film that you don't need to take seriously or need something to watch while doing something else or if you're just curious about seeing Brad in his first major role before he became a star, then this movie may be for you.
The lack of a story line usually does not pose a serious problem for most "B" movie fans as long as there are other components of the film that make it fun to watch.
if you're looking for a decent horror movie with brad pitt, go for it, but if you're looking to get scared, look elsewhere.
brad pitt doesn't seem like the type of person who would have any desire to be a murder type character, but i can see him being someone who is aggressive and passionate about killing the killer.
She promises her father she won't be "Cutting Class" while he goes on a hunting trip, or have brawny basketball boyfriend Brad Pitt (as Dwight Ingalls) sleep over.
But, the best role (perhaps the film's ONLY good role, a manic janitor) is essayed by Robert Glaudini (as Shultz).**** Cutting Class (1989) Rospo Pallenberg ~ Donovan Leitch, Jill Schoelen, Brad Pitt.
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.
"Cutting Class" is easily one of the most awful slasher flicks from the late 80's.Brian returns back to college aged 18 after spending five years in a mental asylum for killing his father.He tries to worm his way back into the lives of his ex-best friend Dwight and Paula his old flame.And suddenly a bunch of people start dying,in the most bizarre and stupid ways in slasher film history.There is for example death by pottery kiln,death by photocopier,but my favourite is the old classic,flagpole under a trampoline so the fascist Gym teacher gets impaled on the American Flag."Cutting Class" is a stinking piece of crap filled with silly jokes and a little bit of gore.The acting is downright horrible and the characters are completely flat.There is no suspense and the killings are lame.This film is clearly as bad as "Hollow Gate" or "Return to Horror High".Avoid it like a plague.1 out of 10..
Jill Schoelen is the only good thing in a movie where every other character SHOULD get killed.
The movie begins with us finding out that a teenage boy who killed his father is being released from a mental institution, clearly the writers wanted us to suspect him from the start.
Brad Pitt plays short tempered Dwight who is going out with Paula (Jill Schoelen).
We get a lot of classroom scenes and love triangle scenes which, at times, make 'Cutting Class' feel like more of a teen drama rather than a slasher film.
It was interesting to see Brad Pitt in one of his early movies, he did a decent job given the material he had to work with.
Roddy McDowell and Martin Mull had comedic roles, but didn't really make an impact on the movie at all.What stopped 'Cutting Class' from being a great horror/slasher film was the lack of scares and the lack of kills.
(** out of *****)Notable mainly for starring Brad Pitt in an early role (and foreshadowing some of the morally ambiguous characters he would later play), this mediocre horror-comedy also stars former Pitt-girlfriend Jill Schoelen (from "The Stepfather") and Roddy McDowall and Martin Mull in humorous cameos (Roddy as the school principal who has a thing for the student body -- the female student body, that is -- and Mull as a yuppie duck hunter who spends the entire film staggering home with an arrow in his chest).
When people talk about the greatest Brad Pitt films - Cutting Class rarely gets a mention, and I just can't understand why.
The film takes place at a high school and top student Paula Carson's father has gone away on a hunting trip.
Around the same time, her boyfriend's former friend Brian Woods has been released from a mental hospital and his appearance has coincided with a string of murders at the school.Naturally the biggest talking point of this film is the lead performance from Brad Pitt.
The other two leads are not so great; Jill Schoelen (best remembered for role in the 1987 classic The Stepfather) is awkward, while Donovan Leitch looks a bit ridiculous in his long black coat.
Cutting Class (1989) 1/2 (out of 4) Incredibly bad slasher film sat on the shelf for many years but finally got released after Brad Pitt became a huge star.
This is a really bad film and there's no way around that fact but seeing someone like Pitt in a movie like this makes it somewhat entertaining.
Martin Mull plays the girl's father and his scenes are the strangest of the film as they come off as a spoof yet these scenes go against everything else going on in the movie.
He falls for sweet lovable Paula (Jill Schoelen) but she loves "bad boy" Dwight (Brad Pitt).
Pitt is a bad actor in this & still is a terrible actor now...The problem with this film is the acting, plot, setting, music etc....
A slasher flick is a slasher flick, but when the dialog is terrible and the actors aren't much better, it becomes just another ho hum event; one that I am sure that Brad Pitt would like to forget.Pitt had his first credited movie roles in 1989.
With Roddy McDowall, Martin Mull, and Ione Skye's brother (Donovan Leitch) as the slasher, it was fairly predictable; down to the lame attempt at humor with the cheerleader taking off her panties before the game.I am surprised that the American Legion or VFW hasn't protested the use of the American Flag in this movie.
And don't forget about some gratuitous female nudity as well (so keep your eyes peeled).The story surrounds a would-be love triangle between high school outcast Brian Woods (Donovan Leitch), cheerleader Paula Carson (Jill Schoelen), and her basketball-hunk boyfriend Dwight Ingalls (Brad Pitt).
Now that he's been released, it isn't long before a series of gruesome murders begin occurring on campus and low and behold, Brian is the main suspect."Cutting Class" does has some pretty cool deaths - a burning in a pottery kiln, an impaling here, a death-by-copy machine there, an ax to the brain - that are flawlessly executed.
The film builds him up to be a sympathetic, misunderstood outsider but instead he turns out to be way too creepy, sneaking around in the dark and even once appearing in Paula's bathroom as she washes her hair."Cutting Class," perhaps if the filmmakers weren't busy cutting class themselves during their film school years, maybe they could have made a better than average teen slasher flick.3/10.
its a good movie, it gets your heart thumping (the storyline that is not Brad Pitt), and if you like a good 80's high school murder horror, you'll love it, but it definitely not A class.
When I bought this movie (for a very cheap price) I considered it could not be to bad, because Brad Pitt is one of the main actors.
And Roddy McDowall as the perverted high school principal, looking up the cheerleader's skirts (And we get to see too!).People start turning up dead, and the movie actually does a nice job of keeping us guessing who the killer is.
I guess its the "I've been in too many horror films and not enough 'decent' films" syndrome that has caused her demise.Cutting Class is yet another I-get-picked-on-too-much-at-school-so-now-I-will-put-an-axe-in-your-head movie.
Brad Pitt plays the jock, Donovan Leitch plays the mental case, and poor Jill, like in many of her movies, gets stuck in the middle of it all.
Not so much for a horror movie, but because you miss those cheesy 80's teen slasher flicks.
Brad Pitt is pretty funny as the school basketball star, he obviously has no skill, and the over all set up of the "psycho kid" is hilarious, I mean that guy is everywhere, and the whole missing dad thing is stupidly hilarious too.
"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.
This pretty bad slasher film would be completely forgotten today, if it did not feature an early appearance by future super-star Brad Pitt.
The parts with Dwight are quite enjoyable, particularly during the start where he is driving his car to School late, and near to the end where he saves Paula from Brian.It's all good, and very enjoyable to watch.
This is probably one of the worst slasher flicks that came out in the 80's and that's something to say.Jill Schoelen is the best thing about the movie.
It may surprise you that Brad Pitt in my opinion was not the stand out actor in this movie it was Donovan Leitch jr.
You could easily play a drinking game to Cutting Class where everyone has to take a shot when Jill Schoelen bends over and you would be wasted when this flick is through.
Most of them are him drooling at Schoelen, like every other male character in the movie.Not a huge gore level, but some interesting kill scenes.
A neat little off screen death with a teacher being melted in a kiln takes place, also.There is also an enjoyable tool duel at the end with obvious stunt doubles a blazin'.IT said that Brad Pitt and Jill Schoelen were engaged after starring in the movie together, but split up shortly afterward.
Is it her hot-headed boyfriend Dwight(Brad Pitt)or the recently released(from a mental institution, no less)Brian Woods(Donovan Leitch), often hiding behind bushes and other objects to stare at Paula?
The film follows Paula's uncertain search for the killer;as the film continues, she's not quite sure if it's Brian(who does seem like an appropriate suspect)or her beloved Dwight.CUTTING CLASS is the 80's slasher formula on it's last legs..the well has dried up and creativity is lacking.
I'm going to guess that 'Cutting Class' became a cult classic only because it stars a very young pretty boy that we all know as Brad Pitt.
About ninety percent of the movie plays out like an after school special, focusing on the troubled life of the aggressive pretty boy, Dwight (Brad Pitt).
He's the jock who often finds himself competing with former mental hospital patient, Brian Woods (Donovan Leitch) for the attention of the classic horror movie virgin, Paula (Jill Schoelen).
Taking place in a high school with the typical cast of characters, focusing on three...cheerleader chick Paula(Jill Schoelen), basketball star and self-proclaimed stud Dwight(Brad Pitt)and an obligatory crazy guy Brian(Donovan Leitch).