‘Time Cut’ Review – A Time Travel Slasher With a Case of Been There, Done That

A sense of déjà vu is inevitable when watching Hanna MacPherson’s Time Cut. Just like Totally Killer, a movie that came out only a year ago, this new slasher flings a final girl to the distant past so that she can solve a loved one’s murder. Yes, Time Cut was technically announced first, but the movie has the misfortune of being released later rather than sooner. And today, in an age where nostalgia bait runs rampant, the plot already feels outdated.

While the ‘80s and ‘90s tend to be the go-to destinations in these kinds of movies, Time Cut takes us back to the less visited early-aughts. 2003, to be exact. Madison Bailey’s character Lucy realizes her new surroundings like any teen time traveler might nowadays: by song. In this needle dropper set to Hilary Duff’s “So Yesterday,” the movie rolls out a parade of the decade’s greatest fashion don’ts. The puka shell necklaces, the low-rise jeans, the Uggs — the mere sight of these and other sartorial eyesores is ultimately more dread-inducing than the movie’s actual horror parts.

For a slasher, Time Cut doesn’t do a whole lot of slashing. The requisite opening kill sets things in motion, yet largely, the movie ends up concentrating on the sibling relationship between Lucy and her older sister Summer (Antonia Gentry). There are chase sequences and deaths, albeit a very few, but they neither make the pulse race nor leave any lasting impression. They feel more like something the story needs to get out of the way so it can return its focus to Lucy and Summer, as well as their mutual friend Quinn (Griffin Gluck). The intent here is to mend a lifelong rift between sisters who have never met before. So for those expecting a lot of carnage, they will be disappointed.

Since Summer’s death at the hands of the Sweetly Slasher, Lucy has been trying to fill an impossible void at home. That type of sadness casts a heavy cloud over the story, which only amounts to a very unfun protagonist. It also doesn’t help that the movie is oddly serious, as opposed to co-writer ’s previous slashers and . We’ve become accustomed to funny time-travel tales over the years, so if this was intended to be another time-based horror-comedy, this was not a successful venture. Jokes here are both scant and lackluster.