Cut
The film begins with a film crew shooting a scene for an '80s horror
film entitled Hot Blooded. The backstory is described as a vengeful
bloodbath at the hands of a young man, Charlie, after being scarred for
life in a fire. Leaving his sister, Chloé, unscathed from the fire,
Charlie is outraged because of this and his parents' neglect in leaving
them home alone. The guise used by the killer in Hot Blooded is a
disturbing, featureless mask which has stiched lips.
Uptight and controlling actress, Vanessa Turnbill (Molly Ringwald,
known
best for her former "brat pack" status), is portraying Chloé and has
had enough of the heaps of fake blood being splattered on her. Brad
(Frank Roberts) is humilated in front of everyone for his poor
performance as the film's villain, which pushes him to the brink and
causes him to viciously attack and kill the film's director, Hillary
Nichols (Australian singer, Kylie Manogue), with a pair of enhanced garden shears.
Vanessa
manages to stop the maniac from striking again after she discovers
Hillary's dead body.
Move ahead twelve years where a college film class is being lectured by
Prof. Lossman (Geoff Revell), who was involved with the production of
Hot Blooded, about the failed production of the film, even after many
others tried to finish the film but were eventually found murdered,
gaining a curse surrounding the film. Of course, coed, Raffy Carruthers (Jessica
Napier), and her friends have to take a crack at wrapping up Hot
Blooded as a graduation project. They even manage to drag Vanessa
Turnbill back aboard, even after her traumatic experience.
Production begins, but Vanessa is very maticulous and difficult with
the
crew members. Also, it seems as if someone wearing a "Scarman" mask
is
making filming even more hard to accomplish when he starts to stalk and
kill everyone involved with the film. They ignored the possible
consequences of the curse, and now they have to face them, along with a
pair of long, sharp shears!
This 2000 Austrailian slasher was big talk with horror fans everywhere.
Unfortunately, it didn't receive worldwide recognition in theaters,
which was similar in the case of Cherry Falls. Directed by Kimbell
Rendall, Cut was another new horror film I was highly awaiting to be
released in the US.
The start of the film may lead you to think of familiar subject matter
dealing with slasher antics and the usual whodunit outcome, but as it
evolves, there's a pretty different and creative plot twist involved.
The pace is very well-developed and doesn't let you down from start to
finish.
Also, I really enjoyed the idea of an '80s horror movie within the
movie. It gave off a favorable mood from the beginning, making the
film
succeed even more in entertaining. A thrilling time filled with tense
moments, shocks, gore, and plenty of laughs sure to please any horror fan.
The thing that stood out in the film from the usual bunch is the idea of the killer being animated from the "creative energy" put into Hot Blooded, so whenever footage of the unfinished film is shown, the killer is let out into the real world. The film reels have to be destroyed to actually get rid of the menacing killer.
Watch video clips of Cut
