Time Cut (2024) by Hannah Macpherson


Director: Hannah Macpherson
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher

Plot:
Trying to adjust to her life, a teen is unexpectedly transported back in time to when her sister was attacked and killed by a masked killer who wrecked her family and sets out to stop his rampage to save her, inadvertently threatening to destroy her relationship in the process.

Review:

This was a lot better than its reputation. One of the finer features with this one is the strong and somewhat enjoyable starting point offering a fine way to undercut the emotional premise of what’s happening rather nicely. With the early build-up offering a quick introduction to the lives of the slain sister, the parents who haven't gotten over the incident, and her who wants to move out on her own without upsetting anyone else, it creates a quick guide to what’s going on within this one. As this creates the kind of building foundation where the different purposes and motivations are quickly and elegantly established so that by the time of her time-travel to the past, it sets up some intriguing storylines to unravel with the need to get involved in her sisters’ life. The idea of trying not to interfere or disrupt anything yet constantly being set up to foil the killer.

That leads to the series of encounters that are featured throughout here. As we get an idea of what the intended attack is supposed to be before the killer’s antics bring about a different way of doing things with the initial attack on the couple in the mall, the later interruption hoping to set things right instead turns into a solid chase scene featuring more involved deaths which render it quite fun and enjoyable. Other scenes involving the masked killer taking out the victims in their planned rampage leading into the finale where the battle to stop their final target including some fine twists and a generally intriguing reveal that manage to make for some positive points.


There are still some big flaws with this one. Among the biggest issues here is the highly dragged-out pacing that takes place where it feels far more about trying to mend fences with the sisterly bond than it is about trying to deal with the killer on the loose. Those scenes are kept to a minimum as there’s far more here involving the struggle to keep the family together and not to let the family legacy get between them as it decides to drop the revelation early on in the film after just barely meeting so everything feels built around it. Rather than the race to stop the deaths, a part of the film decides to let them carry on uninterrupted for fear of not changing the future so that a series of sisterly bonding can occur so it has the feeling that there’s more of an emphasis on that aspect than anything more involving the killer.

The other factor with the film is the series of infuriating production tactics that don’t need to be there. The series of attacks that are featured here are purposefully neutered and lacking in gore or bloodshed as the impact is usually kept off-screen so that it’s obvious what happened but the payoff doesn’t have the same enjoyment to it. The brief aftermath scenes aren’t enough to make much of a difference without the full-scale impact due to the reserved rating. This is similar to the last big drawback in the overall familiarity of the plotline to several other genre efforts based around time travel to work. The beats are mostly the same and work rather in the same manner, keeping it from being too surprising which is enough to bring this one down.


Overview: **.5/5
A better-than-expected if still flawed genre effort, this one works best as an undemanding lighter slasher than its contemporaries and as a fine entry point for younger viewers looking to experience the genre than more seasoned or hardcore fans. Viewers who fall into that side of the genre or are unbothered by its issues will have the most to like here while those seasoned genre fans might want to heed caution with this one.

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