William Carson, a wealthy district attorney decides to take a hunting trip, leaving his lovely daughter, Paula (Jill Schoelen) alone at home. Before going, he leaves her with some rules, such as no boys in the house, no partying, and no cutting class. While out hunting, Mr. Carson takes an arrow to the chest and is left for dead by someone that knew him. Before you know it, teachers and students from Paula's school start turning up missing and some, dead. Could it be the redneck pot smoking custodian, the perverted principal (the excellent Roddy McDowell) who loves catching ass shots, Paula's no brain jock boyfriend, Dwight (Brad Pitt, nice hair *chuckles*), or an old friend of Dwight's who just recently got out of the hospital for being, *dramatic pause* f***ed in the head? This sometimes funny on purpose, sometimes-unintentional 80's horror romp actually had me guessing until the end! It is an assumption of mine that director Rospo Pallenberg had a huge goal of showing many an angle, many a long pause of the lead heroine's butt while making this movie. Not to mention the teasing side nude shots that I have grown to both hate and love. And who better to perform these tasks than Jill Schoelen? She may not be the greatest actress, but definitely nice to look at. The director pretty much flaunts her here. 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. There is even one scene where her art teacher has the whole class drawing her, while she is modeling in a body suit either bent over, or standing on her tiptoes trying to grab an apple from a significantly taller boy. Did they really have a class like this in high school? If so, how did I miss it? I would get into the gymnasium scenes, but we would have a Jill Schoelen bending over discussion overload.The movie is filled to the brim with hilariously bad dialog. So bad that it is utterly enjoyable. Particularly one scene where the custodian tells Paula and Dwight that he's "the custodian of their f***ing destiny"! I had to play that part a few times, and my stomach hurt afterward from laughter. The acting is downright awful. Brad Pitt must have used whiteout on his resume. Sadly, Roddy McDowell only has a few scenes in the flick. 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. My favorite is the gym teacher being impaled by a flag while doing body flops on the school trampoline. The aftermath of a cheerleader (who removes her panties before the basketball game) and her boyfriend being murdered under the grandstand is messy. 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. Donovan Leitch from the Blob '88 also stars.Not great, but not bad 80's horror comedy smoke n' joke flick.

When people talk about the greatest Brad Pitt films - Cutting Class rarely gets a mention, and I just can't understand why. Nah, I'm just kidding; but actually I was surprised to find that this film is nowhere near as bad as its reputation suggests. Sure, it's a long way from brilliant - but what do people seriously expect when going into an eighties slasher? Anyway...it has to be said that it's never really clear exactly what director Rospo Pallenberg is aiming for; there's not enough scares for a horror film, not enough (intentional) laughs for a comedy and nowhere near enough suspense for a thriller...but in spite of all this, the film somehow manages to succeed in being an entertaining mess. 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. I'm sure that the man himself would rather forget that this film ever existed; but to his credit, he leads the film well and this performance does show some early promise. Besides that, I'd rather watch this than recent rubbish such as Oceans Eleven (and sequels). 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. The film tries to be something of a whodunit; but unfortunately forgets to add in any red herrings, which means that it's always more than a little obvious who the murderer is. The film does feature a few decent murder scenes that are fairly imaginative; though not particularly bloody. There's not a great deal of suspense in the film and it tends to rely a lot on the characters and situation; which is usually interesting enough to keep the film ticking over. It all boils down to a decent conclusion and we are treated to some interesting reasoning behind the murder's motives. All in all, Cutting Class is not great; but it's decent entertainment at least and is worth a look.

After doing five years of rehabilitation time, for killing his father, a still disturbed-looking Donovan Leitch (as Brian Woods) returns to town. The local newspaper, headlined "Boy Who Killed Father Released From Institution", is picked up by luscious-legged Jill Schoelen (as Paula Carson), wearing a T-shirt only. 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. The action moves, mainly, to the local high school, where Mr. Leitch, Ms. Schoelen, and Mr. Pitt are students. According to some of their scripted conversations, the three have had some past relationships/rivalries.As dead bodies pile up, Schoelen is torn between Pitt and Leitch.Leitch, Schoelen, and Pitt do the best they can, under the circumstances. Leitch is the son of, not the original "Sunshine Superman", Donovan. Despite this being an early role for future superstar Pitt, he is too old to be playing a high school teenager. Schoelen, who played several roles like this, is also well past sixteen - but, bending over, she is still sweet. The three attractive "teenagers" are supported by the likes of randy Roddy McDowall (as Mr. Dante) and Martin Mull (as Mr. Carson). 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

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. This was one of them, and the lesser of the two according to most fans. He plays a dumb jock that isn't even a good jock. Fortunately, he has his girlfriend (scream-queen Jill Schoelen) to save him from the slasher. Why do these girls hook up with the dumb jocks? Maybe because it's Brad Pitt! 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. Maybe they figured no one saw it.I'm not sure if this was released first or Happy Together was. It could be Pitt's film debut. Anybody know?