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!

A mysterious killer bumps off various students and teachers at a high school. Possible suspects include angry jock Dwight Ingalls (a moody turn by a pre-stardom Brad Pitt),troubled former mental patient Brian Woods (an excellent performance by Donovan Leitch),lecherous principal Mr. Dante (a deliciously leering Roddy McDowall),and creepy weirdo janitor Shultz (a hilariously manic Robert Glaudini). Sweet Paula Carson (winningly played by the adorable Jill Schoelen) finds herself caught in the middle of Dwight and Brian. Director Rospo Pallenberg, working from a witty tongue-in-cheek script by Steve Slavkin, milks the standard premise for maximum campy entertainment. The game cast give it their proverbial all: Pitt and Leitch make for fine adversaries, Schoelen is her usual pretty and appealing self, Martin Mull contributes an amusingly droll portrayal of Paula's bumbling dad William, Brenda James delightfully vamps it up as the luscious Colleen, and Dirk Blocker has a grand jerky time as browbeating ramrod Coach Harris. The nifty murder set pieces -- art teacher stuffed in kiln, vice principal killed by a Xerox machine (!),gym teacher impaled on a flagpole -- all do the trick. Avi Karpick's slick cinematography, Jill Fraser's funky shivery score, the cool'n'catchy 80's rock soundtrack (the fantastic New Wave band Wall of Voodoo have three songs featured herein),and the rousing conclusion are all up to speed. Good, goofy fun.

By the end of the 80s, the traditional slasher movie had pretty much run its course, the genre becoming too formulaic and over-familiar to its jaded audience. Rospo Pallenberg's Cutting Class is an attempt at sending up such conventions, but it's hard to poke fun at a genre that has already unintentionally turned to self parody, and the film winds up being virtually indistinguishable from the countless genuine films that it intends to mock.

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. Thank heavens for the lovely Schoelen, who is as winsome as she was in Popcorn and The Stepfather, and makes the whole film just about worthwhile by simply showing off her magnificent butt.