The New Kids

1/18/19851h 26m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ The kids learned three things about southern hospitality, blood, sweat and terror. ~

Overview:

A brother and his young sister come to a small town to find out a local gang terrorizes the population.

Director:

Sean S. Cunningham

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$199,108.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

high school
street gang
bullying
bully
decapitation
redneck
gang
attempted rape
amusement park
school dance

Cast

Lori Loughlin

~ as ~

Abby MacWilliams

Jean De Baer

~ as ~

Mary Beth MacWilliams

James Spader

~ as ~

Eddie Dutra

Paige Price

~ as ~

Karen Goodsell

John Philbin

~ as ~

Gideon Walters

Vince Grant

~ as ~

JoeBob

Margaret Welsh

~ as ~

Friend

Brian Wimmer

~ as ~

Student

Eddie Jones

~ as ~

Charlie MacWilliams

Eric Stoltz

~ as ~

Mark Warfield

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

Wuchak
Written 1 year(s) ago
6
A brother & sister face the challenges of a new life and school south of Miami

After a tragedy, military siblings (Shannon Presby and Lori Loughlin) are forced to stay with their eccentric uncle & aunt in southern Florida, where they offend the local toughs at their school. Eric Stoltz plays a guy who’s interested in the sister while James Spader is on hand as the lead antagonist.

"The New Kids" (1985) is cut from the same cloth as “The Karate Kid” from the year prior, just without the sports angle. It has similarities to “Tuff Turf,” which was released one week earlier and also features Spader, albeit as the protagonist. This one lacks the musical and comedic elements of “Turf” and is comparable to “Dangerously Close,” which came out the next year. Stoltz would go on to star in “Some Kind of Wonderful” a couple of years later.

Loughlin is smart and winsome, but it’s blonde Paige Price who stands out on the feminine front as Karen.

If you like any of the 80's teen movies mentioned and their contemporaries, “The New Kids” is worth checking out, although it’s not great like "The Karate Kid,” not to mention "Dangerously Close" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" are superior. One issue is that it’s overlong by about 15-20 minutes. Speaking of which…

The film runs 1 hour, 50 minutes, and was shot in Miami-Dade County, Florida, including Homestead and Perrine, which are in extreme southeastern Florida.

GRADE: B-