Netflix's latest horror thriller Time Cut is an energetic whodunnit movie leaping between modern-day gloom and early 2000s nostalgia. Fusing the fun of classic slashers like Scream with the time-traveling tropes of Back to the Future and its continued reimaginings, Director Hannah Macpherson, best known for mystery series T@gged and School Spirits, offers a new take on dealing with the past, its grief, and the consequences of forging a new future.
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Time Cut stars Madison Bailey (Outer Banks) as Lucy, a teenage, aspiring astronomer forced to grow up in the shadow of her sister Summer (Atonia Gentry) following her murder in 2003. After stumbling upon a time machine, Lucy is sent into the past, right before the masked killer who took the life of Summer and her friends begins his rampage. As Lucy searches for answers about a sister she never knew and a killer never caught, she must decide if she's willing to alter the past and accept its consequences. When the story's climax unfolds, time travel rules come into play to the plot's detriment.
Despite the film being generally entertaining, its ending leaves audiences confused with unanswered questions about Lucy's fate and the film's adherence to real scientific theory.
Time Cut
Director Hannah Macpherson Rating Cast Madison Bailey , Megan Best , Michael Shanks , Antonia Gentry , Griffin Gluck Runtime 95 Minutes Main Genre Horror Writers Michael Kennedy , Hannah Macpherson Expand ✕ Remove Ads What Is Time Cut About? Close
Time Cut begins with high school student Lucy as she grapples with the biggest decision most teenagers make: which future path to walk. After being accepted into a prestigious summer internship program for NASA, Lucy must deal with her grief-stricken parents' wishes for her to stay close to home. Their fears for Lucy are influenced by the unsolved murder of their first daughter, Summer, 20 years prior. With her emotionally absent parents stuck in the past, Lucy hesitates to move forward into her future, feeling like she doesn't even belong in her present.
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While visiting Summer's memorial site on the anniversary of her death, Lucy randomly comes across a time machine at the exact spot where she was killed. Curiosity thrusts Lucy on an unexpected journey back in time to April 16, 2003 -- two days before a masked killer (later nicknamed the Sweetly Slasher) ends her sister's life.
With the help of a newly befriended physics genius, Quinn (Griffin Gluck), the sister she always wanted to meet, and the discovery that she was only born because Summer died, Lucy must choose their destinies. Will she abide by the established time-travel laws of cause and effect, or change the course of history to save her sister from an untimely fate, regardless of her own?
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Ultimately, Lucy, Quinn, and Summer team up to stop the killer. Their plan: break into the SONR nuclear research facility to get the antimatter needed to power the time machine, and use Summer as bait to lure her murderer into a trap. With a stolen security badge, the teens have no trouble breaking into SONR. Noticing some antimatter has already been stolen, Lucy and Quinn make a critical, though predictable, realization: the Sweetly Slasher is from the future. It's the only conclusion that explains why he had never been identified or caught, why the killings didn't continue, and the time machine's origin.
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Unfortunately, the killer is obvious, even before his reveal. The only person who knew and had a motive against all of his victims, and possessed the scientific know-how to build a time machine is Quinn. Not the Quinn Lucy knows in 2003, but a vengeful Quinn from the future. Earlier in the movie, Lucy stops bullies Brian (Kataem O'Connor) and Ethan (Samuel Braun) from throwing Quinn into a river at school. However, in Future Quinn's timeline, the one where he develops his evil intentions, he does end up in the river. After years of ridicule, feelings of inferiority, and a romantic rejection from Summer, Future Quinn blames the past and goes back to rectify it. He kills Brian, his girlfriend Val, Summer's bestie Emmy, Summer, and leaves Ethan as a scapegoat.
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This is when the film becomes unclear. The trio surprises Future Quinn by running him over with a car before he can hurt Summer. Defying death, he gets up, and they escape back to Quinn's garage where the time machine awaits. Lucy rushes to start it up and makes sure both she and Future Quinn are sent back where they belong. After a suspenseful fight in the future, Lucy prevails and the killer karmically meets the same fate he forced on his victims. In Time Cut's final moments, Lucy returns to 2003. With Summer being saved, Lucy was never born in her timeline, so she decides to live her life with her new friends and the parents she always wanted in the past.
In the end, the film seems to view time as nonlinear, alterable, and full of different timelines. When it comes to consequences related to a time traveler's existence, only the death of that version of the individual can erase their bodily form. Future Quinn dies, while Quinn still exists in the new 2003 timeline. Similarly, Lucy can live in 2003 because her existence was erased from the minds of those she knew from the future, but not her physical form.
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This ending suggests less about time itself and more about how its characters exist within it. There are infinite versions of them, in infinite timelines, that can travel to and encounter each one; all are separate beings. Unfortunately, this begs the question: in a world of infinite timelines and infinite selves, is it logical to think the now-deceased, Future Quinn, was the only version of him building a time machine?
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Plot Holes and Unrealistic Science Close ✕ Remove Ads Wishy-Washy Time Travel Rules
In addition to unclear ideas about time travel, Time Cut's plot fails to answer several questions for viewers before the credits roll. In the end, Lucy is shown applying for the same NASA internship she was accepted into within her original timeline. Considering NASA's programs have been around for almost 70 years, the internship could exist in 2003. However, she was never born in 2003, so she doesn't have any of the identification information or academic records to send to their recruiters. It doesn't exist in the future anymore either. So, how would she get accepted into such a competitive position without any credentials?
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The movie also ignores some details about the killer's crimes. It shows that Future Quinn started up his time machine at Summer's memorial site. It's unlikely that such a calculating, masked individual would move his work to a public place that anyone could stumble upon. Is he motivated by his unrequited love for Summer to symbolically place it where he intends to kill her? No one can say for sure. Plus, nothing is mentioned about his security guard victim at the mall. In Lucy's original timeline, only Brian and Val die there. With endless talk of unintended repercussions for changing the past, killing someone who wasn't meant to die yet seems like a plot point worth addressing.
Does the Science Make Sense?
As for the science in the film, it's unrealistic. First, Time Cut includes a bootstrap paradox -- a contradictory loop of origin. One of its most famous examples is when Marty McFly in Back to the Future performs the song "Johhny B. Goode" in front of a fictional relative of its creator, Chuck Berry. McFly learns the song in the future, then goes back in time to play it for Berry -- so who created it if they both heard it from each other? Lucy's fate plays into this paradox. She travels back in time and prevents her own birth, so if she isn't from the past or the future, where did she come from?
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Additionally, the time machine's components, matter, antimatter, and rubidium, lack any real links to time travel. The film claims that they create a wormhole the characters can travel through. However, an explosion would likely be created instead. The machine itself also eludes logic. Time machines typically travel with their user to the time of their choosing. So, how does it exist for Lucy to use? Wouldn't it only be in 2003 with Future Quinn?
Overall, the film doesn't stick to reality or scientific theory . It's a fun horror flick for teens to contemplate grief (its effects and how to progress in spite of it) and the consequences of the decisions they make in their lives . Lucy must decide between theoretical rules and her moral compass. She must decide between Summer's life and her own. Despite plot holes and inaccurate science, Time Cut is still a worthwhile watch. It tells viewers they must make difficult decisions sometimes and do what they know is right for everyone, not just themselves. Time Cut is currently streaming on Netflix. ✕ Remove Ads