Cutting Class (DVD/Lionsgate)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: D     Film: C-

 

 

Simple because it is an early performance by Brad Pitt, who does not get as much screen time as his placement in the formula film it is, Rospo Pallenbergh’s Cutting Class (1989) is a very slight, dumb film about a series of murders.  When a young lady’s father (Martin Mull) disappears, she becomes disturbed by a student (Pitt) interested in her.  Could he be a killer, or is it the school head (Roddy McDowall) or the class teacher (Donovan Leitch Jr.) with something going on?

 

Who cares!  It is so boring, Steve Slavkin’s script is dead on arrival and so is this film.  All in all, this is curio for the most curious only.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is soft and shows its age, likely shot on lesser stocks and this print was not preserved so well.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 mix is barely stereo and has no surrounds.  The combination looks more dated than 1989, but designs are definitely 1980s.  There are no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo