‘Time Cut’ Review: Netflix Original a Family-Friendly Slasher in time for Halloween

Netflix dropped “Time Cut” today, just in time for Halloween. It is a fun, lighthearted slasher film geared to teens and a more casual horror audience. Hannah MacPherson and Michael Kennedy wrote it, with the former also directing.

The story revolves around a teenager inadvertently traveling back in time to stop a serial killer. I was instantly reminded of “Totally Killer” which was released via Amazon in October of 2023. The similarities border on plagiarism at times and while not as enjoyable as “Killer,” “Time Cut” is fun and enjoyable to watch.

In 2003, a serial killer known as the Sweetly Killer has already slaughtered three teenagers. His fourth and final victim is Summer Field (Antonia Gentry).

Twenty-one years later, the Field family is still in mourning. Teenager daughter Lucy (Madison Bailey) stumbles into a time machine that sends her back to 2003. Armed with her knowledge of the killings, including that of her sister, she teams up with a physics nerd named Quinn (Griffin Gluck) to stop the killer.

Plausibility be Damned

It is a time travel movie, so there is a suspension of belief right from the start. It’s comical how quickly Lucy accepts the situation. Funnier still is how easily Quinn is on board, but movie has to movie.

I have not lost a child (or even found one). I did find it puzzling that the Field parents would still be grieving their daughter two decades later, especially at the detriment of their still alive child who needs her parents. The movie sets up some kind of arc with the parents becoming better off (akin to the McFly family) but it never gets touched.

Madison Bailey and Antonia Gentry are excellent as the leads. Both are faces of Netflix, with Bailey starring in “Outer Banks,” which I have not seen but based on the synopsis, sounds like something I should watch. I was familiar with Gentry, who co-stars in “Ginny & Georgia,” a show I have watched and thoroughly enjoy.

There is a masked killer with questionable motives, and like “Totally Killer” there is enough gore to make it a Halloween flick. Madison Bailey and Antonia Gentry have excellent chemistry, so I was glued in. Due to the dynamics of the Field family, Lucy has never met her older sister. It’s an interesting facet to the story. Hopefully, they will share the stage on future productions.

Am I old?

Realizing that 2003 and 2024 are separated by twenty-one years, it was striking at how little I noticed the changes. There’s the standard comical scene of Summer critiquing Lucy’s “weird clothes” but I couldn’t tell the difference. And Quinn is convinced of the time travelling element when Lucy displays her iPhone 15. Sure, he lives in a world with flip phones, but the first iPhone was only four years out and he reacts to Lucy’s device as though she pulled a schematic for the Death Star.

There are some funny lines about Facebook, MySpace, and of course the current political climate. “Is Arnold Schwarzenegger the president?” Quinn asks, a reference to Schwarzenegger just being elected governor of California. “It gets worse.” Lucy replies. It’s an interesting juxtaposition that shows how much change has come in recent years. The difference between 1955 -1985, or 1987-2023 (as in “Totally Killer”) are astounding in comparison to 2003-2024.

The ending is the ultimate Say What? The movie Yada Yada’s over some critical stuff— and at 91 minutes it’s not like it was too long to let some of the story breathe a bit.

In a cosmic way, “Totally Killer” was my 700^th review and “Time Cut” is my 775th. It’s fun. Fine. Able to be viewed by the whole family. But not as good as its predecessor.