A Little Too Late
TIME CUT
2024/92m
“This murder is set on repeat.”
Director/Writer: Hannah Macpherson / Writer: Michael Kennedy / Cast: Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry, Griffin Gluck, Megan Best, Samuel Braun, Sydney Sabiston, Katem O’Connor, Michael Shanks, Rachael Crawford.
Body Count: 6
Laughter Lines: “Do I make it on broadway? Do I get married? Shall I invest in Blackberry?”
VHS vs. Betamax. Laserdisc vs DVD. Freddy vs. Jason. Most successful things have their counterparts or rivals, and it’s usually victory for the one that makes it to market first, leaving the competitor in the dust, even if said competitor took the time to finesse a better product.
Such is sadly not the case when it comes to Time Cut, a title which was around quite sometime before it went into production, but crucially long enough for Totally Killer to slink right in there and score a touchdown for a time travelling slasher movie. In that film, Kiernan Shipka is inadvertently zapped from 2023 back to 1987 where she tries to prevent the future murder of her mom.
In Time Cut, overprotected teen Lucy is zapped from 2024 back to 2003, where she tries to prevent the murder of the sister she never knew, the killer never identified. While the plots are staggeringly similar on paper, and both girls seek help from a handy high school nerd to get the time machine working so they can go back to their own time, and the killers don shockingly identical masks – where am I going with this?
It’s undeniable, they’re almost twins, although where Totally Killer wisely lampooned all the colourful cliches of the late 80s, Time Cut can’t quite manage to do the same for a year that honestly feels like it was a few weeks ago, and eschews the comedy for a more sentimental route. We still get Heely shoes, the pain of a dial-up modem, Buffy posters on walls and Vanessa Carlton on CD, but there’s comparably little to laugh at. The fashions weren’t that outlandish, the hair not that big, the music still pretty cool.
The best asset here is Lucy’s realisation that, should she save her sister, she might cease to exist herself, as their parents wouldn’t have needed to ‘replace’ their lost daughter. This leaves her with an additional moral dilemma, as her interference in the other murders has already resulted in one doomed person saved, but another killed when they originally weren’t.
The outcome isn’t entirely predictable, but is perhaps poured on a little thick and with extra treacle, but this is likely in an effort to differentiate itself, with more focus on the relationship between two sisters who never existed at the same time.
Decent but clearly existing in the shadow of the film that got there first with a better era to be beamed to. Final word: burning mix CDs will always be better than, what, curating a playlist!?
Blurbs-of-interest: Megan Best was in Seance; Samuel Braun was in Bring It On: Cheer or Die; Rachael Crawford was in Slasher: Flesh & Blood. Christopher Landon, writer of Happy Death Day and Freaky, produced.