By George & Josh Bate
In recent years, movies like Happy Death Day and Totally Killer have creatively blended the slasher and sci-fi genres together to create something refreshing, light-hearted, and innovative. Genre fusion like this has the potential to go awry, but such films managed to situate a classic slasher film in the context of a sci-fi film with surprisingly remarkable effect. Time Cut, a film debuting on Netflix right on time for Halloween, now marks the latest attempt to blend the slasher and sci-fi genres together, achieving mixed results in the process.
Time Cut stars Outer Banks’ Madison Bailey as Lucy Field, a high school senior whose sister Summer (played by Ginny & Georgia’s Antonia Gentry) was murdered by an unknown killer over 20 years ago in 2003. When Lucy stumbles upon a time machine that takes her back to 2003, she uses the opportunity to try and save the life of her sister with the help of her friend Griffin Gluck (played by American Vandal’s Griffin Gluck).
It may be strange to think that a time-travel movie could involve characters journeying 20 years into the past to the year 2003. For many, 2003 feels just like yesterday, so the notion of a period-piece of sorts situated in the year seems odd to say the least. It wasn’t long ago that Stranger Things ushered in an era of 1980s nostalgia, leading to various movies (like the aforementioned Totally Killer) and television shows taking place in and exploring the aesthetic of that decade. Time Cut treads relatively new territory in this sense by grounding its time-traveling adventure in a relatively more recent era. And, for this alone, Time Cut will be worth the watch for many. Opening up with Fat Joe ‘What’s Luv?’ and featuring fashion and slang unique to the early 2000s, Time Cut wonderfully embraces its 2003 setting and will resonate with those old enough to have memories of this era. Even when other aspects of the film, including acting and plot, lag, the setting in which the Netflix film takes place continues to captivate with an admirable attention to detail to make it really feel like 2003.
While the commitment to its 2003 setting makes Time Cut a fairly memorable and enjoyable, other areas of the film required more refinement. The film features a solid cast, many of whom have excelled in other Netflix projects, but there seems to be a disconnect between the movie the actors think they are acting in and the movie audiences will experience. In other terms, Madison Bailey and company produce rather on-the-nose performances in which lines are delivered overtly and any attempt at subtly is abandoned. In a sense, the acting is akin to what one would find in a typical sit-com, acting that doesn’t bother as much with convincing the audience that the movie is realistic. This style of acting would be acceptable if it wasn’t for its discrepancy from the film’s tone. Time Cut certainly keeps things light, but it is not self-aware or poking fun at itself. Unfortunately, the film’s acting would not be out of place in a far more self-aware and self-deprecating movie. As a result, there is definitely a disconnect between the acting and tone.
Narratively, meanwhile, Time Cut proceeds in entertaining, albeit conventional, fashion. The movie doesn’t waste a single moment and quickly plummets Lucy and the audience back in time to 2003. From there, the film does well to not get bogged down in the potentially convoluted mechanics of time-travel, instead offering streamlined explanations for the sci-fi elements of its plot. Meanwhile, the mystery of who is the masked murderer of Lucy’s sister Summer isn’t anything the slasher genre hasn’t seen before, although the final reveal is delightfully unexpected.
It is difficult to review Time Cut without referencing Totally Killer, which debuted on Prime Video last Halloween season. For those who missed Totally Killer, the film starred Kiernan Shipka as a girl who travels back in time to 1987 to stop a masked killer from murdering her mother. If that sounds like the synopsis of Time Cut, that’s because the two films are extremely similar, both tonally and narratively. Inevitably then, these parallels invite comparison. By releasing one year after Totally Killer, Time Cut inherently feels less unique, although it probably surpasses Totally Killer in terms of overall novelty due to its 2003 setting. Totally Killer, however, certainly features sharper writing, both in the development of its characters and use of humor. For the most part, the two films’ mysteries unfold in similarly unpredictable fashion and do well not to deteriorate into convoluted territory as many time-traveling stories do. Totally Killer bolsters a more consistent tone and stronger acting, which, ultimately, probably pushes that film just slightly above Time Cut in terms of quality. Together, however, the two would make a fun double feature.
VERDICT: 6/10
Following in the footsteps of Happy Death Day and Totally Killer, Time Cut is the latest fusion of the slasher and sci-fi genres. The new Netflix film brilliantly embraces its 2003 setting, with a clear intent and effort to make the era feel authentic. The novelty from its period-piece setting, however, is offset by ill-fitting, soap opera-esque acting that runs discrepant to the light-hearted, yet realistic tone the film attempts to achieve. An entertaining, albeit conventional, mystery concludes well and unpredictably, while the film never gets bogged down by convoluted time-travel mechanics. Comparisons to the extremely similar movies Totally Killer from Prime Video are inevitable and, while Time Cut feels more unique due to its 2003 setting, Totally Killer just surpasses its Netflix counterpart in terms of overall quality. Those looking for a fun genre blend like Happy Death Day will have a good time with Time Cut, and those old enough to remember 2003 will enjoy the myriad of fashion choices, songs, and more from the era featured in this new film.
Time Cut is now streaming on Netflix.