horror

Time Cut is a 2024 American science fiction slasher film directed by Hannah MacPherson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Kennedy. It stars Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry and Griffin Gluck. The plot follows Lucy, a girl who accidentally travels back in time to 2003 and attempts to save her older sister from a masked killer.

The film was released by Netflix on October 30, 2024.

Plot

On April 18, 2003, high school senior Summer Field unenthusiastically attends the senior class celebration Spring Fling, as her close friends Emmy, Brian and Val have recently met their demise at the hand of the serial killer The Sweetly Slasher. Her lifelong friend Quinn tries to give her an envelope she brushes aside, neither is she interested in dancing with her recent ex-boyfriend Ethan.

As Summer is in a back bathroom, the police are shutting down the party and everyone is rushing out the front. A masked figure lunges at her with a knife, so she escapes out back towards the barn where he takes her down.

21 years later, high school student and amateur inventor Lucy Field feels largely invisible, as the town and her parents are strangely fixated on the date. Downtown seems eerily vacant, people continue to talk about the unsolved murders and Lucy accompanies her parents to the small shrine to the victims in front of the barn.

Noticing a light flash from a nearby hay barn, Lucy accidentally finds a time machine and travels back to 2003, the year and two days before her sister Summer was murdered by an unknown killer. Disoriented by how not run-down Sweetly is, she goes to the high school to consult with her mentor, science teacher Mr. Fleming. Quinn overhears her asking about time travel, and insists it is too irresponsible to undertake.

Moments later, when Quinn is swept up by a wave of students to be this year's victim of the senior prank, Lucy intervenes. She stops the group, and sweeps Ethan onto his back. At first Quinn is resentful, but she soon confides in him that she accidently came via the time machine. Knowing he is good at physics, Lucy enlists his help in refueling it.

When Quinn has to head out to his mall job, Lucy asks for a lift to her house, surprising him, as he did not realise the connection. She is invited in, under the guise of helping Summer with her chemistry homework. The house and her parents are very different. It is messy, her parents are relaxed and Summer and her mother cook together daily.

The serial killer is later revealed to be a future Quinn from an alternate timeline, driven insane by the rejection and bullying that he had undergone. Quinn had traveled back in time, seeking revenge on Summer and her friends, inadvertently creating Lucy as a result. Lucy transports herself and the future Quinn back to 2024 where she manages to electrocute and stab him to death. Discovering that she doesn't exist in this new timeline, Lucy decides to return to 2003 to live her life in the past with Summer and Quinn, applying for an internship with NASA.

List of deaths

Name Cause of Death Killer On Screen Notes
Brian Palmer (second timeline) Stabbed Old Quinn No
Val Vaughn (second timeline) Stabbed Old Quinn No
Emmy Golden (second timeline) Stabbed Old Quinn No
Summer Field Slashed Old Quinn Yes
Brian (final timeline) Stabbed Old Quinn Yes
Val Vaughn (final timeline) Blunt force/mauled Old Quinn Yes
Mall Security Guard (final timeline) Stabbed Old Quinn Yes
Old Quinn (final timeline) Electrocuted Lucy Field Yes

Cast