The Corner Penthouse

The New Kids arrives on Blu-ray as part of Mill Creek Entertainment's Retro VHS Look Series, part of a growing trend of physical media releases with packaging designed to look like the VHS videocassettes of the 1980s and 1990s. I have reviewed several other titles in the series here on The Corner Penthouse.


The New Kids (1985) is the story of two all-American teens, Loren (Shannon Presby) and Abby (Lori Loughlin), who go to live with relatives in a small Florida town after their parents die in a car crash. Trouble begins once members of a vicious gang, led by Eddie Dutra (James Spader), bet on who'll be the first to seduce the innocent Abby. When she spurns their obscene advances, the thugs embark on a sadistic campaign of vandalism, arson, and assault. The savagery escalates until Loren must defend himself and his sister in a brutal fight to the death in a carnival midway.


Written by Stephen Gyllenhaal (father of Maggie and Jake) and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, who as the original director of Friday the 13th knows a thing or two about psychopathic characters, The New Kids is a horror thriller that is, essentially, a more brutal version of The Karate Kid. It earns its R rating with lots of cursing, lots of animal abuse and slaughtering, and lots of grisly murders.


James Spader is excellent as the psychopathic Dutra. The dyed blonde hair and eyebrows, which makes him look like an albino, adds to his creepiness. Lori Loughlin and Shannon Presby hold their own as the terrorized teens, while Eric Stoltz gives a good performance as Abby's new friend and potential love interest. Fans of the early 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman may recognize Eddie Jones (Jonathan Kent) as Uncle Charlie. Horror fans will get a kick out of seeing Tom Atkins (The Fog, Escape from New York, Creepshow, Halloween III, Night of the Creeps) in his brief appearance at the start of the film.


The movie is resplendent in its "1980s-ness", with not one, but TWO training montages set to the power ballad "Stand Up", written and performed by Bill Wray. Future voice of Wakko Warner on Animaniacs, Jess Harnell, wrote and performed the song "Edge of Survival", that also appears in the film. The movie goes back and forth between being cheesy and brutal.


The New Kids is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with a runtime of 1:29:28. On the audio side, there is only an English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Subtitles are available in English only. As is the case with most Mill Creek Entertainment releases, there are no special features - just like the original videocassette!


The real "bonus feature" here is the vintage-looking VHS-inspired slipsleeve, with faux wear and tear, and fake "rental stickers" on it, while giving the appearance of a videocassette being pulled out from the right side (though the original VHS may have been in a bottom-loading box), complete with tape label side on the right spine. Here's a complete look at this special slipsleeve. Click on it to get a better look.


The front artwork is based on the original U.S. VHS box art, as seen below. The back of the slipsleeve bears a similarity to the original VHS box art, using the same photos, but in a different orientation.


The case artwork underneath is of a modern style, which means that the VHS-style slipsleeve may only be available for a limited time. In the photo below, the slipsleeve cover is on the left and the case artwork underneath is on the right.


If you're not already aware of Mill Creek Entertainment, they are a budget company, which results in their products having a lower cost than the big studios. Right now, The New Kids is listed on Amazon for less than $10.


The "Retro VHS Look Series" includes the following Blu-ray releases, which are being listed in chronological movie order, and not the order they are being released onto Blu-ray. Some titles below may not have been released yet.



Images used come from the Internet Movie Database gallery of the film. The Blu-ray has been provided by Mill Creek Entertainment for review on this site.