Cut (2000) Dir:  Kimble Rendall Cast:  Molly Ringwald, Jessica Napier, Simon Bossell, Sarah Kantis, Kylie Minogue, Frank Roberts Rated R, Approx:  82 minutes Trimark Video and DVD

"They just have to finish the film... before it finishes them."

Attempt At Reproducing the Post-Modernist Awareness of Scream Turns Out Far Better Than Expected.

As a fan of slasher films of yesterday, I have to admit that enjoying the slasher resurrection of the past few years has been damn near impossible.  It's really tough to appreciate a slickly made madman on the loose movie when the cast consists of popular television actors, the gore is almost entirely nonexistent (I realize this isn't always the case), the exploitation factor is pretty much nil, the endings are derived from 'Scooby Doo' and the dialogue is entirely hip and self-aware.  The joke back in Wes Craven's 1996 slasher flick, Scream, was that all of the victims knew the unwritten rules of scary movies but got butchered regardless.  Unfortunately for the horror fan, this was an idea that several imitators also ran with making those annoying 'hip and self-aware' in-jokes almost impossible to avoid in the genre during the late 90s.  With Cut, a late entry in the slasher revival (this one an Aussie import from down under), it appears that the unpleasant array of stupid jokes and clever dialogue will assault the viewer in full force but thankfully at times appearances can be deceiving.

A bit of the old with a bit of the new

In 1985, during the production of a slasher film called "Hot Blooded", the actor playing the hulking madman snapped, went crazy and brutally killed the film's abusive director Hillary Jacobs (the lovely Kylie Minogue, top billed in a very brief cameo) only to be killed himself by the film's spoiled star Vanessa Rand (Molly Ringwald).  Forward fourteen years later, a group of ambitious film students led by Raffy Caruthers (Jessica Napier) plan to finish the infamous slasher flick for their final collegiate project.  Despite warnings of the film itself being cursed (every time the film is screened, the viewer is found slaughtered), they recruit the now washed up Vanessa and set out to complete the picture.  Unbeknownst to them, the killer has also returned to put a stop to the film in his own bloody way.

Cut takes itself pretty seriously as a straight up slasher film and in today's age, that alone works to its credit.  Having been made more in step with the ideals of the older genre films in mind, it's very refreshing to see in a market that's currently saturated with limp garbage (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer springs to mind).  There are some moments where the characters do a little genre name dropping, saying that their film will be "scarier than Halloween..." but it's acceptable as these kids are film students making a horror picture and it doesn't really feel forced or out of place thankfully.  Although the very idea of a line like "face/off Wes Craven style!" may be enough to turn some people off immediately, this isn't a dissection of the genre and doesn't exploit clichés in favor of itself.  It's merely made in fun no matter how dumb.

As far as the leads go, this is a fairly well cast movie.  Molly Ringwald and Jessica Napier really outshine the rather obnoxious supporting players and make those minor annoyances forgivable.  As the spoiled bitch of an actress Vanessa Rand, Ringwald absolutely shines in the part.  Vanessa is a character that you can't help but enjoy watching despite a few terrible lines strewn throughout the proceeding.  It's forgivable and Ringwald is clearly having a good time with her character.  As the more traditional heroine Raffy, Jessica Napier is appealing as the cute director of the doomed film.

A fast pace keeps things from becoming stale

With a pace that moves like gangbusters, director Kimble Rendall makes sure things never get slow and that it never outstays its welcome.  Clocking in at 82 minutes, Cut is just the right length.  Aside from one really lame killing where someone is decapitated and the head looks around briefly after it's severed (at least it didn't speak!), the slayings are fairly bloody for today's slasher.  The gore won't make anybody forget Friday the 13th, but it's nice to see messy throat slashing and impalements back on the screen again.  Unfortunately this one gets stingy in the exploitation department.

With a cast featuring several attractive ladies, it's disappointing that director Rendall didn't seize the moment and throw a little skin our way (you'd think that Kylie Minogue would've showed at least a little bum).  The lack of nudity in potentially exploitative material is quite the disheartening trend in today's films.  I can't site that as a detriment to the film without sounding like a pervert, I realize but honestly when was the last time a little nudity in a horror film actually hampered anything?

At least the film features a dynamite killer to make up for what it's lacking.  It's all at the hands of a madman called Scarman, a really effective psycho.  Clad in jumpsuit and a menacing mask with a wicked grin, the killer wields a mammoth pair of menacing shears.  Scarman is one that has some true potential in returning for a sequel.  The character falters a bit in the climax when he's unmasked, but give this one some points for making its murderer inhuman (rather than some snotty teenager) and thusly skipping over that vomit-inducing "here's my motive" climax.   The finish in this film doesn't really work either, but I applaud the effort to make something a little different.

Cut isn't great but it's fun.  One of the handful of decent slasher flicks to emerge from the post-Scream era of genre filmmaking that doesn't try to belittle the genre.  It's not likely to make any fan forget their favorites, but those looking for something fun to watch and easy to enjoy should at least give it a look.    There's a VCD of this one from overseas (Japan, I believe) in which its actually titled Scream 4, I'm not sure if it was actually released as such over there or not, but there's also a region 3 DVD which claims to be uncut, I haven't been able to find that one so I have no idea how much gore was actually cut from this R rated version.

Matt's Rating: * * 1/2  out of 5 Reviewed by Matt Serafini 6/6/02