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THE NEW KIDS (1985) aka Striking Back Director: Sean S. Cunningham. Hacktors: Tom Atkins, James Spader, Eric Stoltz, Lori Loughlin. Rating/5: The lowdown: Friday the 13th director and producer Cunningham returns to the exploitation arena with this revenge/hillbilly/funfair cross-breed which offers much but delivers little. Two orphaned teens are sent to live with their uncle in his odd fairground in the deep south of America. They soon annoy the local hillbilly gang, who are led by the albino Dutra (Spader), and the rest of the film follows the increasingly violent conflict between the two sides. Good points: This is a well made, glossy studio teen exploitation flick. The cast acquit themselves well and credit goes to Spader, who conveys menace throughout the picture. Genre favorite Tom Atkins also provides a short but pleasing appearance. The New Kids has a weird vein of humour too: the main setting is Santaland, a bizarre Christmas-themed funfair where the kids live and the hillbillies have some funny lines, in-between the mayhem. The fast pace never flags and this is definitely better acted than the normal teen menace flick. Bad points: In England, back in the day, this was released on RCA/Columbia's video label as Striking Back with a 18 certificate. As this film has absolutly no on screen blood-letting, nor any nudity or sexual activity, that 18 certificate was entirely for the bad language, which is pretty strong. As a result this film seems like a bit of a cheat, especially given the pedigree of the director who helped create the stalk and slash phenomenom. It sets itself up well with some tense interaction but doesn't deliver come the end. This film is also plagued by some awful 80's power ballad songs and cheesy montages, a la The A-Team (What's wrong with The A-Team? - Howlin' Mad Ed). DVD Details: The disk reviewed is the Region 1 Columbia Pictures release. It has a 1.85:1 anamorphic print with a Dolby Digital soundtrack. It has English, French and Japanese optional subtitles and the only extras are a few trailers of other recent Columbia DVD releases. Overall: As a one-time watch this is entertaining if you can put up with its rather tame approach to the red stuff. It fits in with the early '80s fairground theme that was also seen in such genre pictures as Slayground, The Funhouse and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Overall, though, it sadly doesn't have much rewatch value and without any extras the disk offers little value for money. As Cunningham only directed one movie in the following 14 years it could be argued that his directorial career never lived up to its early promise after Friday 13th. However he works solidly as a producer and remains in genre fans affections for giving us not just the Friday franchise but the House series as well. Release Date: This has just been released on DVD in America and is currently not available in the UK. Reviewer: Jon Kelly. [Interview with Sean S Cunningham] [Check it out at Amazon US] [Reviews Menu] [Home] © Copyright Slasherama 2002-present