261 Days of Horror, Day 54: Cut
Mar. 15th, 2007 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiCut. 2001. Directed by Kimble Rendall. Written by Dave Warner. Released by Lion's Gate.
Today's film, Cut, is a low-budget Australian release that's too damned short to justify any sort of massive introduction. Let's just dive right into it:
We start with a teenager listening to Split Enz on the radio (proving that the movie takes place in the '80s). When she gets out of the shower, she sees a message saying "now you die" written in the condensation on the bathroom mirror. She chalks this one up to her little brother playing a trick, but when she finds her cat dead on the bed, she realizes that something is wrong. Soon, a killer is at her throat, but as her throat is slashed, the director yells, "Cut!" Yes, it's a movie-within-a-movie! One called Hot Blooded*.
The director, the always-hot Kylie Minogue, chews out the killer, who was supposed to rip open the victim's blouse first. Meanwhile, the actress yells at him for groping her during the scene. This sends him over the edge, and he later accosts the director, cutting off his own finger to show how serious he is before telling her that he'll cut out her tongue. We assume he follows through on this threat, as we soon see a severed (and fake-looking tongue) in the room. The starlet comes in and is grabbed by the killer, but she struggles, and she eventually grabs his shears and stabs him, which somehow also electrocutes him.
We now find out that this was all a flashback, and that the former assistant director is regaling his film-school students with the tale fourteen years later. Turns out that a director who was hired to finish the film years later had his throat slashed, and the producer was electrocuted. Oh no! A curse!
The film students have the brilliant idea of buying the rights, grabbing the former starlet (who has grown up to become Molly Ringwald), and finishing the movie. Surely nothing could possibly go wrong, right?
Ringwald, now a spoiled and somewhat washed-up soap star, agrees to take the part, but is shocked to realize how low-budget the film is. Still, she's stuck in Australia, and a part's a part. The producer's widow sells the rights to the girls (the producer and director are both female students -- it's just like Slumber Party Massacre!).
The cast and crew gather to screen the old footage, and the cranky projectionist goes on an absolutely priceless rant about how watching violent movies didn't make him a killer, and how stupid the idea of movies influencing people is. As everyone watches the movie, we see someone creeping around the theatre, and the director looks up to see that her producer and everyone else (except Ringwald, who has left because the screening brought back memories) has been killed! She screams and runs, and then finds out that it was all a practical joke! Things take a sinister turn, however, when the producer looks for the projectionist but finds him missing.
We get some token exposition, with two of the boys on the set talking about the current love triangles between characters, none of which really matter, since only the producer (Hester) and the director (Raffy**) really have personalities. We also learn that the professor and former AD is accompanying Ringwald to the set, an old home in the woods a few hours away. We also learn about the film-in-the-film, as a twisted survivor of a childhood fire has been killing his family off.
We cut*** to later that night, with Ringwald raiding the house fridge. The guy who is playing the killer in the movie sneaks up on her, and asks, "Scare you?" She responds by kneeing him in the groin and saying, "Hurt you?" It's a priceless scene.
Later, we see Bobby, the actor playing the killer, putting on his latex mask, after which he seems to get a little angry. We also see a whole bunch of spare masks, in case the actor loses the first fifteen. So when we see a guy that everyone assumes is Bobby wandering around, we don't know if it's really him.
We cut back to the city, where we discover that the projectionist had been disemboweled! Oh noes! I had no idea that was coming!
Back at the set, two disposable crew members are making love in the house kitchen while the filming is going on, and the female looks up to see "Bobby" in costume. He grabs a cleaver and chops off the head of her paramour before he even realizes something is wrong. The girl fights back for a while, but is eventually killed when the killer throws the surprisingly balanced-for-throwing cleaver into her chest.
Back at the hotel, Raffy hops in the shower, and someone sneaks into her cabin and surprises her. It's just her boyfriend, though. Meanwhile, the professor offers to keep Molly Ringwald company. They talk about how horrible the murders on the original set were, which passes for character development here, and the director and her boy have one of those conversations that make it clear that there's a Dark Secret in her past.
The cops show up the next day and enquire about the murdered projectionist, and Raffy is creeped out. Hester attempts to calm her down, but Raffy points out the the two victims never came back to the hotel last night. Hester points out that killers aren't that common, and then calms her with a kiss. Yay, lesbianism!
That night, they head back to the old house, but the house owner seems to have gone missing. As have some of the extra masks. Surely neither of those things could bode ill. The set's electrician is about to head to town to see if he can get some equipment when he sees "Bobby" in the back seat. When he confronts the actor, he's surprised to find that the prop knife isn't a prop.
Later, after another messed-up take, Hester heads to the woods to make a cell phone call. Some blood drips from a tree onto her phone, followed by the body of the victim from last night. Oh noes! She runs, encounters the killer, and eventually escapes to a deserted cabin. We get the usual crap in which she looks out the window, assumes she's safe, and then is way more surprised than the audience when the camera pans back to show the killer standing there. After a struggle, poor Hester is tossed into a log-splitting device, splattering blood everywhere. Insert your own Scarlet Letter joke here.
Back at the set, the professor and Raffy spend some exposition time revealing that Raffy is the daughter of the director killed in the opening scene. They then discover that their tires have been slashed.
Back at the set, poor Bobby meets his double (thus establishing that he's not the killer), and assumes it's a joke. He gets gutted for his trouble, and the double takes over on the set. He swaps out the rigged prop shears for a real pair, and is ready to kill Molly Ringwald! Fortunately, the shoot is interupted by car horns, and the producer's wife shows up, cautioning that "the evil is back!" She asks for the original print of the film, and explains that there's an inhuman and evil force at work that needs to be destroyed. She somehow convinces the professor to break up the shoot, just as Molly's about to die. For some reason, the cameraman doesn't run, and gets knifed in the head as he's still filming the faux "Bobby" (who waves into the camera before killing him).
Outside, the makeup artist and one of the other disposable folks get immolated by the killer in their car, and the professor and the old lady, offscreen, have discovered that the house owner is dead in his bedroom (with the owner's dog lapping up his blood). This gives the widow a fatal stroke, but the professor explains**** to the director and Ringwald that the killer is really the embodiment of all the creative energy that went into the movie. Before they can destroy the movie, the professor gets a pole through the neck, but Ringwald distracts the killer long enough for Raffy to start burning the film (using the convenient car fire outside). Just as the killer is starting to dissolve, the cops come and drag her away. The male cop goes into the house, where he attempts to shoot the now-demasked killer (who looks like a fourth-rate Freddy Krueger and now makes quips). This fails, and he gets beheaded. The female cop follows, and after also failing to kill the bad guy, is chased and trips down some outside stairs, where she's impaled on a spigot. Seriously.
The killer goes back after Molly, who escapes by falling out a window. By the time the killer (with a bucket of petrol) catches her, Raffy manages to get more of the film reels burned, and although the killer attacks her, the professor (somehow still alive with a pole in his neck) helps throw the remaining film reels into the fire, causing the killer to melt away completely (and disgustingly).
Thanks to some newspaper headlines, we learn that Ringwald survived being burnt, and the professor recovers from his neck wound. The professor and Raffy visit Ringwald in the hospital, and we seem to have a happy ending.
Yeah, right. We cut to an unnamed NYC film school, where we learn that the students are about to watch the only print of a film that killed everyone associated with it. And yes, it's Hot Blooded! As the professor sits in the audience, we see sparks fly from the projector, and the killer appears behind her as we cut to the credits.
The moral of the story, of course, is, "never use digital film if there's a chance of it becoming haunted and causing a killer to come to life."
Cut is a surprisingly fun little movie, although one that can be frustrating at times, as there clearly was so much more that could have been done. At 85 minutes, it's way too short, and good transitions and some character development would have made things much more enjoyable. Still, there's a nice sense of irony around the movie -- similar, if not as effective, to the one Popcorn generates -- and the leads are all pretty solid. Ringwald is more than willing to poke fun at herself, and is still as much fun to watch as ever. Throw in some witty dialogue and decent f/x, and there's plenty to entertain the audience. Cut's probably not worth owning, but it's on TV often enough to watch, and it's certainly a fun way to kill a little time.
*Check it and see.
**She doesn't sing children's songs, thankfully.
***There are a lot of scenes that cut to others with no sense of transition. If I were feeling generous, I'd say they're playing with the title. Realistically, I think that the film's editor was probably drunk.
****"This sounds really weird, but sorta makes sense."
Today's film, Cut, is a low-budget Australian release that's too damned short to justify any sort of massive introduction. Let's just dive right into it:
We start with a teenager listening to Split Enz on the radio (proving that the movie takes place in the '80s). When she gets out of the shower, she sees a message saying "now you die" written in the condensation on the bathroom mirror. She chalks this one up to her little brother playing a trick, but when she finds her cat dead on the bed, she realizes that something is wrong. Soon, a killer is at her throat, but as her throat is slashed, the director yells, "Cut!" Yes, it's a movie-within-a-movie! One called Hot Blooded*.
The director, the always-hot Kylie Minogue, chews out the killer, who was supposed to rip open the victim's blouse first. Meanwhile, the actress yells at him for groping her during the scene. This sends him over the edge, and he later accosts the director, cutting off his own finger to show how serious he is before telling her that he'll cut out her tongue. We assume he follows through on this threat, as we soon see a severed (and fake-looking tongue) in the room. The starlet comes in and is grabbed by the killer, but she struggles, and she eventually grabs his shears and stabs him, which somehow also electrocutes him.
We now find out that this was all a flashback, and that the former assistant director is regaling his film-school students with the tale fourteen years later. Turns out that a director who was hired to finish the film years later had his throat slashed, and the producer was electrocuted. Oh no! A curse!
The film students have the brilliant idea of buying the rights, grabbing the former starlet (who has grown up to become Molly Ringwald), and finishing the movie. Surely nothing could possibly go wrong, right?
Ringwald, now a spoiled and somewhat washed-up soap star, agrees to take the part, but is shocked to realize how low-budget the film is. Still, she's stuck in Australia, and a part's a part. The producer's widow sells the rights to the girls (the producer and director are both female students -- it's just like Slumber Party Massacre!).
The cast and crew gather to screen the old footage, and the cranky projectionist goes on an absolutely priceless rant about how watching violent movies didn't make him a killer, and how stupid the idea of movies influencing people is. As everyone watches the movie, we see someone creeping around the theatre, and the director looks up to see that her producer and everyone else (except Ringwald, who has left because the screening brought back memories) has been killed! She screams and runs, and then finds out that it was all a practical joke! Things take a sinister turn, however, when the producer looks for the projectionist but finds him missing.
We get some token exposition, with two of the boys on the set talking about the current love triangles between characters, none of which really matter, since only the producer (Hester) and the director (Raffy**) really have personalities. We also learn that the professor and former AD is accompanying Ringwald to the set, an old home in the woods a few hours away. We also learn about the film-in-the-film, as a twisted survivor of a childhood fire has been killing his family off.
We cut*** to later that night, with Ringwald raiding the house fridge. The guy who is playing the killer in the movie sneaks up on her, and asks, "Scare you?" She responds by kneeing him in the groin and saying, "Hurt you?" It's a priceless scene.
Later, we see Bobby, the actor playing the killer, putting on his latex mask, after which he seems to get a little angry. We also see a whole bunch of spare masks, in case the actor loses the first fifteen. So when we see a guy that everyone assumes is Bobby wandering around, we don't know if it's really him.
We cut back to the city, where we discover that the projectionist had been disemboweled! Oh noes! I had no idea that was coming!
Back at the set, two disposable crew members are making love in the house kitchen while the filming is going on, and the female looks up to see "Bobby" in costume. He grabs a cleaver and chops off the head of her paramour before he even realizes something is wrong. The girl fights back for a while, but is eventually killed when the killer throws the surprisingly balanced-for-throwing cleaver into her chest.
Back at the hotel, Raffy hops in the shower, and someone sneaks into her cabin and surprises her. It's just her boyfriend, though. Meanwhile, the professor offers to keep Molly Ringwald company. They talk about how horrible the murders on the original set were, which passes for character development here, and the director and her boy have one of those conversations that make it clear that there's a Dark Secret in her past.
The cops show up the next day and enquire about the murdered projectionist, and Raffy is creeped out. Hester attempts to calm her down, but Raffy points out the the two victims never came back to the hotel last night. Hester points out that killers aren't that common, and then calms her with a kiss. Yay, lesbianism!
That night, they head back to the old house, but the house owner seems to have gone missing. As have some of the extra masks. Surely neither of those things could bode ill. The set's electrician is about to head to town to see if he can get some equipment when he sees "Bobby" in the back seat. When he confronts the actor, he's surprised to find that the prop knife isn't a prop.
Later, after another messed-up take, Hester heads to the woods to make a cell phone call. Some blood drips from a tree onto her phone, followed by the body of the victim from last night. Oh noes! She runs, encounters the killer, and eventually escapes to a deserted cabin. We get the usual crap in which she looks out the window, assumes she's safe, and then is way more surprised than the audience when the camera pans back to show the killer standing there. After a struggle, poor Hester is tossed into a log-splitting device, splattering blood everywhere. Insert your own Scarlet Letter joke here.
Back at the set, the professor and Raffy spend some exposition time revealing that Raffy is the daughter of the director killed in the opening scene. They then discover that their tires have been slashed.
Back at the set, poor Bobby meets his double (thus establishing that he's not the killer), and assumes it's a joke. He gets gutted for his trouble, and the double takes over on the set. He swaps out the rigged prop shears for a real pair, and is ready to kill Molly Ringwald! Fortunately, the shoot is interupted by car horns, and the producer's wife shows up, cautioning that "the evil is back!" She asks for the original print of the film, and explains that there's an inhuman and evil force at work that needs to be destroyed. She somehow convinces the professor to break up the shoot, just as Molly's about to die. For some reason, the cameraman doesn't run, and gets knifed in the head as he's still filming the faux "Bobby" (who waves into the camera before killing him).
Outside, the makeup artist and one of the other disposable folks get immolated by the killer in their car, and the professor and the old lady, offscreen, have discovered that the house owner is dead in his bedroom (with the owner's dog lapping up his blood). This gives the widow a fatal stroke, but the professor explains**** to the director and Ringwald that the killer is really the embodiment of all the creative energy that went into the movie. Before they can destroy the movie, the professor gets a pole through the neck, but Ringwald distracts the killer long enough for Raffy to start burning the film (using the convenient car fire outside). Just as the killer is starting to dissolve, the cops come and drag her away. The male cop goes into the house, where he attempts to shoot the now-demasked killer (who looks like a fourth-rate Freddy Krueger and now makes quips). This fails, and he gets beheaded. The female cop follows, and after also failing to kill the bad guy, is chased and trips down some outside stairs, where she's impaled on a spigot. Seriously.
The killer goes back after Molly, who escapes by falling out a window. By the time the killer (with a bucket of petrol) catches her, Raffy manages to get more of the film reels burned, and although the killer attacks her, the professor (somehow still alive with a pole in his neck) helps throw the remaining film reels into the fire, causing the killer to melt away completely (and disgustingly).
Thanks to some newspaper headlines, we learn that Ringwald survived being burnt, and the professor recovers from his neck wound. The professor and Raffy visit Ringwald in the hospital, and we seem to have a happy ending.
Yeah, right. We cut to an unnamed NYC film school, where we learn that the students are about to watch the only print of a film that killed everyone associated with it. And yes, it's Hot Blooded! As the professor sits in the audience, we see sparks fly from the projector, and the killer appears behind her as we cut to the credits.
The moral of the story, of course, is, "never use digital film if there's a chance of it becoming haunted and causing a killer to come to life."
Cut is a surprisingly fun little movie, although one that can be frustrating at times, as there clearly was so much more that could have been done. At 85 minutes, it's way too short, and good transitions and some character development would have made things much more enjoyable. Still, there's a nice sense of irony around the movie -- similar, if not as effective, to the one Popcorn generates -- and the leads are all pretty solid. Ringwald is more than willing to poke fun at herself, and is still as much fun to watch as ever. Throw in some witty dialogue and decent f/x, and there's plenty to entertain the audience. Cut's probably not worth owning, but it's on TV often enough to watch, and it's certainly a fun way to kill a little time.
*Check it and see.
**She doesn't sing children's songs, thankfully.
***There are a lot of scenes that cut to others with no sense of transition. If I were feeling generous, I'd say they're playing with the title. Realistically, I think that the film's editor was probably drunk.
****"This sounds really weird, but sorta makes sense."