Time Cut
Director: Hannah Macpherson
Writer: Michael Kennedy, Hannah Macpherson
Cast: Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry, Michael Shanks, Griffin Gluck, Megan Best, Samuel Braun, Sydney Sabiston, Kataem O’Connor, Rachael Crawford
Seen on: 1./2.3.2025

Plot:
Lucy (Madison Bailey) has always been haunted by the shadow of her sister Summer (Antonia Gentry) who was murdered by a serial killer before Lucy was even born. Their parents‘ (Michael Shanks, Rachael Crawford) grief has been a constant companion for Lucy who is hoping to discover something else in the NASA internship she just secured. But before she gets the chance, she stumbles upon a time machine at the site of Summer’s murder – and is taken back to 2003, just days before her sister is killed. Now Lucy has to figure out how to get back to her own time – and if she can possibly save Summer from her fate.

Time Cut is entertaining though not without its failings. Its biggest problem is probably that it somehow looks and feels like a comedy, but it’s not. This cognitive dissonance makes the film feel unmoored, though not uninteresting.

Time Cut is a teenie slasher, but it is very easy on the slashing. Given that there has been a humorous tone to a lot of the genre entries in recent years, and given that there is something ridiculous about the way Madison just stumbles on the time machine, the film does a pretty good imitation of a horror comedy.

Apart from a few jokes, though, and some on the nose soundtrack choices that are geared towards people who were teens in 2003 themselves (hello!), the film really doesn’t try tob e funny. It is actually almost bitter in the way it shows the rot that can happen when grief takes over, when it’s never properly worked through but festers. Unfortunately it then reaches the naive conclusion that misfortune has to be avoided, so there is no grief in the first place. Which, I guess, is par for the course in a time travel movie where you can fix even the most unfixable things, but is also a missed opportunity. (Don’t get me wrong, it is way better for somebody to be alive than to be grieved poperly, but, you know, none of us live forever and it could also have been a conclusion the film includes since there actually are victims.)

It’s not just the shiny pop feeling that the film exudes that supports its comedy vibes despite its content, but also the fact that the cast seem to be in different films, too. Bailey and Gentry have a good rapport, as do Bailey and Gluck, but the rest of the cast are all over the place – and all over the genres.

And yet, there is something about Time Cut that made me like it, and I don’t think it’s just my love for time travel shenanigans. It’s not a great film, but it’s a film that is entertaining to watch every minute, even if those minutes don’t add up to a coherent whole. And I might like this a little better than a film that is always on cue, but never fun.

Summarizing: I’ve seen worse for sure.