Cut! Review

It wouldn't feel like Friday the 13th without a horror flick, which coincidentally the horror-thriller Cut! will arrive in theaters for a one-week engagement (Feb. 13th-19th) at the Arena Cinema Hollywood this Friday. It will be available on DVD and VOD on Tuesday February 24. The film stars David Branes, David Rountree (whom also co-wrote and directed the film), Sam Scarbier, Suzie Lanier-Bramlett (Hills Have Eyes 1 and 2), William McNamara, Dahlia Salem, Gabrielle Stone, Chris Moir and Allen Maldonado. Produced by Psycho Rock Productions and Dog House Post, Cut! won BEST FILM, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST LEADING ACTOR, and the AWARD of MERIT for AUDIO at the 2014 Independent Film and Television Festival. It was called one of the one of the TOP 5 HORROR MOVIES of 2014 by Movie Rankings.


Cut! follows a wannabe director, Travis Simon (played by David Rountree), and his ex-con buddy Lane Hayes (played by David Banks) trying to make their own low-budget horror flick. They want to make the death scenes realistic, so they come up with a plan to have the homeless man (Sam Scarber) they hired as the film's killer to scare a prostitute (played by Dahlia Salem). Unfortunately for duo, the prostitute is murdered and they have to quickly dispose of her body.


While Travis has second thoughts about their film, Lane wants to continue filming, but he wants the death scenes to be more realistic, even if it means killing off co-workers, movie stars and anyone else that gets in his way.


Good old-fashioned horror movies are hard to find anymore as the ones being released to theaters are either unwanted remakes or watered-down PG-13 Exorist ripsoffs. The only intriguing new horror flicks are the limited-run ones or the ones that get a direct-to-DVD release. Cut! falls into both of those categories as it had a independent production, followed by a run through the indie festivals, a one-week run at theaters (Feb. 13th - 19th) and finally arriving on DVD & VOD later this month. I've seen numerous low-budget horror films; some are classics, some are tolerable and the rest are just plain unwatchable. While Cut! is no a classic, it is still 100% better than the horror garbage that is being released by the big production studios. The directing and the cinematography is well-done. For the most part, the acting is above average for the genre. Call me nitpicking, but the dialogue could have better written. The plot could have been a little tighter, though I did like the horror movie within a horror movie theme. Overall, Cut! is an entertaining horror-thriller. I wouldn't call it a perfect, but it is a "cut" above the rest of the recently released horror flicks.

For information about the film, please visit thecutmovie.com.
For showtimes, please visit www.arenascreen.com.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary screener in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.