Cut is a movie opaquely made to ride the coattails of the Scream franchise’s explosive success. At least, that is what I said about it two years ago in my foreign slashers article. Everything I said there generally stands; it does remind me a decent amount of Behind the Mask, though if you’re looking for a film as hilarious as that, you’re not going to be pleased. The story of egotist slasher Leslie Vernon was bottled lightning, and I don’t think we’re ever going to get a sequel to it, spiritual or otherwise.
Why Cut Stands Out as a Unique Australian Slasher
But, if you’re interested in a rare Australian slasher film made on a minuscule budget, you can certainly do worse than Cut for your next movie night. Although I stand by the idea that Cut was in essence trying to ride the wave of Scream, it ends up doing something different and surprisingly effective in how it comments on the genre.
Promising film students Raffy and Hester want to make a name for themselves with their final project. When they find out their film professor was part of the cursed slasher production ‘Hot Blooded’, a film that’s rumored to kill those who try to finish it, they know exactly what they have to do. Despite their professor’s protests, Raffy’s ragtag group gets ahold of the film reels and takes a trip to a secluded mansion in the outback to finish the story– with some minor rewrites. The guest of honor? Vanessa (Molly Ringwald), the diva who killed a murderous stuntman on the set of Hot Blooded and set the curse into motion. The unexpected guest? The vengeful reincarnation of that same stuntman.
Technical Flaws and Challenges of a Low-Budget Horror
On a technical level, Cut is rough around the edges, especially 25 years after the fact. First and foremost, it shows its age through its low fidelity transfer to digital. Its proper high-definition release or remaster is impossible to find, and certainly not popping up on streaming platforms anytime soon. This is begging for someone like Vinegar Syndrome to take it out of the region-locked hell its prohibitively expensive Blu-ray lies in. The film isn’t that long at all, but its pacing makes it feel in need of minor cuts throughout, which seems insane to say, considering it is only 82 minutes.
As far as slashers go, it has a semi-rare premise: our killer, Scarman, is a prototypical Bagul living in the reels of the failed film-within-a-film ‘Hot Blooded’. He might not have the creepiness that character brought to the table in Sinister, but the simple mask and motif fit the film well for what it’s trying to do thematically. Cut has a lot of late 90s dialogue, with some of the supporting characters ranging from enjoyable to grating. They make the slower second act of this film sometimes funny and other times irritating.
Molly Ringwald Shines as a Complex Final Girl
The highlight in the cast is, as expected, the always charming Molly Ringwald. Her turn here as a washed-up actress throws you for a loop, initially seeming to be shallow and one-dimensional for some cheap laughs. Vanessa as a character, however, turns out to be very endearing beyond the comedic relief she provides. She goes from irate movie star who expects to be waited on hand and foot by a crew of rowdy college students, to someone who clearly hasn’t dealt with any of the terrible stuff that happened to her. She makes for a surprisingly high-quality final girl.
Despite all the problems fraying the edges of the film, Cut has a special place in my heart. It’s a fun little slasher, with the story around its main character, Raffy (Jessica Napier), still managing to be compelling despite all its scuffs and scrapes. Cut isn’t just mindlessly poking fun at horror movie tropes and trying to be clever in the burnt-out trail of Scream’s meta-horror wildfire. It’s more so making fun of the way people perceive horror movies as a fruitless art, and it manages to be funny in how it does that.
Meta-Horror with a Purpose
One of the earliest pieces of dialogue in the film is Professor Lossman begging the girls to make something more worthwhile than a horror movie. It’s in that moment Cut lays bare what it’s really about: it is a meta horror movie about how disrespected the people making horror movies are.
In the vein of One Cut of the Dead, it laughs at the pains of film production. It reminds you of the thankless job it can be when you’re trying to make something you’re passionate about, as well as the thankless job it is having to sell that idea to other people. It’s about the mental grind of coordinating a bunch of different human beings to make your vision come true.
Why Cut Deserves a Watch
As corny as it sounds, movies about making movies put a smile on my face without fail. Cut is a good slasher, but its real strength is how it highlights the unexpected problems that pop up in the process of making art, and the prickly personalities forced to interact on set. So, despite its blemishes in runtime and script, it manages to be a fun spin on your typical horror comedy. In my opinion, it’s well worth watching.
