Loren (Shannon Presby) and Abby (Lori Laughlin) are brother and sister. They love their dad, “Mac” MacWilliams (Tom Atkinson) and do a weird obstacle in the morning and punch a bag. He leaves that afternoon to receive an award, but tragically dies on the way home with their mother.
Loren and Abby are adopted by their Uncle Charlie (Eddie Jones) and go to Florida to live with him on his rundown amusement park and gas station.
At school Abby meets Mark (Eric Stoltz) and they start to flirt. Less accommodating to the new kids are a gang of no-good buttheads lead by Dutra (James Spader).
When Abby rejects Dutra he wages war on them and it leads to a showdown at the amusement park.
The New Kids was directed by Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the 13th) and he never fully captures the spirit of that film as The New Kids sorta just drags along. Cunningham also seems bored as he doesn’t push himself at all, where Friday the 13th had edge and a driving force, here he just points his camera at stuff and lets it play out.
The cast is quite good. James Spader delivers a menacing performance that does fill the film with dread. Shannon Presby is fine as the brother and Lori Laughlin is nicely cast as the friendly, pretty girl.
The soundtrack is awful. The opening montage song is a Kenny Loggins wanna be that isn’t catchy or interesting.
The climax is fun but it does take awhile to get there, especially for only a 90 minute film, it feels way longer.
Grade: C
The New Kids Video Quality
The New Kids slug it out on an ok not great transfer from the folks at Mill Creek. I am not sure how much Mill Creek could have done with this film as the colors are not that eye-popping. Most of the film takes place in drab Florida, it does excel in the day time when more light is afforded the film.
Grade: B-
The New Kids Audio Quality
The New Kids bring a 9mm to the gun fight when they needed a shotgun. The film sounds fine with the dialogue coming through clearly but the film again is not that much of a home theater thumper. I don’t blame Mill Creek as the audio mix is just ok for the film anyways.
Grade: C+
The New Kids Extras
No extras to be found on the disc, lame. But the retro packing in the style of a VHS tape from a rental store is dope.
Grade: D
The New Kids Overall
Meh. The New Kids is an ok movie. It struggles with what it wants to be, is it a thriller, a drama or a horror film. Maybe a little of both. The direction by Sean Cunningham is uninspired but the young cast is stellar. Mill Creek’s retro tape release of The New Kids isn’t going to win any awards, but at least it’s on blu-ray. For fans of teen angst drama with some violence.
Overall: C