The New Kids You know, for the longest time I thought the only thing Sean Cunningham had directed was Friday the 13th and basically, that was it as far as I knew. Then over time I discovered a series of 80s box office flops which bore his name as director. One of them was called The New Kids, which starred Eric Stoltz, James Spader, Lorri Loughlin. Quite a cast, especially for something like this. I must say when I saw the film, I was entertained thoroughly. It was 80s camp, but it was fun. The plot centers around two orphaned teens Loughlin ("Full House") and Shannon Presby ("Five Mile Creek") who go to live with their uncle in Florida. The uncle being played by veteran Eddie Jones ("Lois and Clark") who runs a half-assed amusement park. A group of thugs, run by Spader grows obsessed with Loughlin and makes a bet which could bang her first, and they decide to rub out the brother in the process. It is a fun, thriller which is supposed by the cast. I am not sure the film would have been as fun for me if it were not for the notable cast, which were not so notable at the time but now are. The film is visually an 80s style film, and 80s style low budget due to fact that there is a lot of consolidating of camera shots. Cunningham uses lots of group shots and two-shots, with the occasional semi-closeup. It certainly did not take away from the enjoyability of the film. The cinematography is done by Steven Poster (Donnie Darko, Rocky V, Blade Runner, Big Trouble in Little China) and is edited by Rita Roland, who has an extensive television editing career but this is her last credit. After The New Kids she just stopped working as an editor. Normally, for such a thing, I'd say it must be the job she did, but she did fine editing this movie. Musically, well, let's just say this, Lalo Schifrin did the score. That is top notch. Plus Michael Rubini whose work on Manhunter was eerie. Funny little side-note, Rubini scored Manhunter, and Lalo played an orchestra conductor in the remake Red Dragon. Lalo's score for The New Kids is fun and lively, and very much like comedy/action scores are in the 80s with some jazz spice to it. The original score was written by veteran horror composer Harry Manfredini, but studio execs at Columbia were dissatisfied. They tossed it and hired Lalo, who they were sure would deliver a score they'd like. What do the studio execs know anyway? I am sure Manfredini's score would've rocked. In the main title of the film there is a song by Bill Wray "Stand Up" which is reminiscent of Rocky's theme song and Karate Kid songs, very up-beat and hope-filled. Has a nice catchy beat. The rest of the film is filled with 80s style songs, which are poppy which Michael Rubini wrote, and Brock Walsh performed. Another very interesting side note, John D. LeMay, who later worked on the "Friday the 13th" TV series and starred in Jason Goes to Hell, which was produced by Cunningham, was a bit-player in this. He doesn't have any dialogue and he is really part of a crowd so you don't see his face well, but on the www.imdb.com it mentions he is in this, so I thought I'd mention it. This film marks the second of two pictures Cunningham did for Columbia Pictures, the first being Spring Break which was also campy and fun. And on that film Harry Manfredini actually got to use his score on the film. I recommend The New Kids for fans of 80s camp style. Contributed by Royce Freeman. >>Back<< >>Archive Index<<