The New Kids (1985)

A brother and sister arrive in a small town to help their relatives run an amusement park, and they find the town is terrorized by a local street gang.

Director:

Sean S. Cunningham

Writers:

Stephen Gyllenhaal (screenplay), Stephen Gyllenhaal (story)

Stars:

Shannon Presby, Lori Loughlin, James Spader

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shannon Presby	...	Loren
Lori Loughlin	...	Abby
James Spader	...	Dutra
John Philbin	...	Gideon
David H. MacDonald	...	Moonie
Vince Grant	...	JoeBob (as Vincent Grant)
Theron Montgomery	...	Gordo
Eddie Jones	...	Charlie
Lucy Martin	...	Fay
Eric Stoltz	...	Mark
Paige Price	...	Karen (as Paige Lyn Price)
Court Miller	...	Sheriff
Tom Atkins	...	'Mac' MacWilliams
Jean De Baer	...	Mary Beth MacWilliams (as Jean DeBaer)
Robertson Carricart	...	Deputy

Storyline

Abby McWilliams and her brother Loren are particularly normal teenagers. Their parents Mac and Mary Beth are killed in an accident. It's decided that Abby and Loren live in Glenby, Florida with their Aunt Fay and Uncle Charlie who own a gas station and an amusement park. Loren and Abby don't have much trouble making friends at their new high school. Loren starts dating Karen, the local sheriff's daughter while Abby starts dating Mark. Loren feels uncomfortable when he sees a blond-haired guy harassing Abby in the lunchroom. Mark tells Loren and Abby that the blond-haired guy is Eddie Dutra, a teenage drug addict who is the leader of a gang of redneck thugs. Loren helps Abby keep Dutra at a distance. Dutra's retaliations keep getting more vicious until Dutra forces a showdown at the amusement park by kidnapping Abby.

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Plot Keywords:

man in underwear | underwear | revenge | homoeroticism | homoerotic fight | 

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Taglines:

A new ticket to terror from the director of "Friday the 13th."

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 January 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Striking Back

Filming Locations:

Hotel Redland, 5 S Flagler Ave, Homestead, Florida, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$199,108, 20 January 1985, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$199,108, 20 January 1985

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Fogbound Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min 89 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shannon Presby decided to give up acting shortly after making this movie.

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Goofs

During the shower scene, Abby is wearing a vest to hide her nudity.

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Quotes

Gideon: There's this movie playing out at the drive in. I've seen it about five times. It's called "Saturday Night Girls."

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Alternate Versions

The 1988 UK Columbia video (released as "Striking Back") was cut by 54 secs by the BBFC to edit drug scenes, a shot of a girl's underwear being removed and a scene of girl being covered in lighter fluid.

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Connections

Referenced in Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape (2010)

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Soundtracks

Edge of Survival
Music by Michel Rubini
Lyrics by Jess Harnell
Performed by Jess Harnell

User Reviews

Cunningham nails it!

THE NEW KIDS is top-of-the-line moviemaking with a gleefully sleazy gloss.

Cunningham, director of the first FRIDAY THE 13TH and the godawful DEEP STAR SIX, really does himself proud in this Southern-set rape/revenge thriller.

Two kids, whose parents have died, start a new life at their uncle and aunt's luridly low rent carnival.

Lori Laughlin, who plays one of the kids, becomes the target of sociopathic Dutra (James Spader in his best perf ever) and his gang of disgusting miscreants because she's so damn delicious looking. Essentially, the boys want her booty and will break any law to get it.

The film succeeds so well because it embraces its exploitation elements (sex, drugs, violence, teen lust, guns, vicious dogs) with such relish and delivers on its promise unpretentiously but stylishly. It is extremely well directed and acted and moves at a peppy clip.

You really do care about the characters and the film's Lalo Schifrin score nails the drama like a whore to a floorboard,

The carnival setting is a doozy and a triumph of production design; and the film's final scene has a black, perverse feel to it that had me nodding with approval.

A classic, and I'm not going to follow that with "of it's genre" because I'm tired of reviewers singling out films like this as less noteworthy because they're nasty.

Nope, a classic piece of cinema in anybody's book and titled STRIKING BACK in some markets.