AKA: The New Kids

Tag Line : Just one term in a new school and they graduated to killing.

Following on from the success of "Friday the 13th", director Sean Cunningham's next offering was this tale of terror and revenge in a small town. In this, Shannon Presby and Lori Loughlin star as teenage brother and sister Loren and Abby MacWilliams, who move to the small country town of Glenby to live with their aunt and uncle following the death of their parents.

Settling in to their new home, everything seems to go well at first, until the kids enrol at the local high school. There they quickly fall foul of the school bully, a rather unsavoury chap named Eddie Dutra (as played by a young James Spader) and his gang of delinquents, who not content with harassing them at school, proceed to target their uncle's property.

With the police unable to intervene without any proof, the two siblings decide to take matters into their own hands, touching off a series of like-for-like revenge attacks that culminates in a final bloody showdown during the films climax.

Also starring Tom Atkins and a young Eric Stoltz, overall this isn't a bad movie, but proves to be considerably less shocking than the packaging would have us believe. The film seems to borrow a few ideas from "Class of 1984". Indeed, James Spader's character even looks similar to the gang leader from that film, and the group of youths that follow him round seem almost like that gangs "country cousins". However the plot seems to move rather slowly, the violence is rather tame and too much time is spent establishing the central characters.

In many ways this came across as just a another 80's teen college flick, but is certainly worth a watch and should appeal to lovers of 80's B-movies.

Overall Marks : 8/10.

Terrifying Trivia.

• Alternate tag lines "They can't afford to lose", "They are alone. On their own. Without parents. Without friends. Trying to make it in a new town. Facing a dangerous new enemy. A gang that will stop at nothing to add one new word to their lives. Terror.", "A new ticket to terror from the director of Friday the 13th.", "The kids learned three things about southern hospitality, blood, sweat and terror"!

• Lori Loughlin also played Susan in "Amityville 3". She is currently a prominent actress in various US TV shows.

• The films musical score was by Lalo Schifrin, who also scored "The Amityville Horror".

• Shannon Presby had previously starred in the US series "Five Mile Creek". This was to be his last acting credit, his current whereabouts since leaving the industry are unknown.

• The town used in the film was actually Homestead in Florida.

• Tom Atkins also starred in "Halloween 3" and was a regular in John Carpenters earlier films.

Cast & Crew.

Buy the UK DVD. [not available]

Buy the US DVD.

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