Cut is a 2000 slasher film directed by Kimble Rendall (Bait, 7 Guardians of the Tomb, & The Jesters). Rendall is mainly known for being an second unit director on such films as The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Ghost Rider, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Gods of Egypt, & I, Robot. It was written by Dave Warner (Garage Days, Restraint, Rescue Special Ops, & McLeod’s Daughters). It was produced by Gary Hamilton (Dog Eat Dog, Lord of War, Wolf Creek, & Storm Warning) & Martin Fabinyi (Chopper, Bait, WolfCreek, & Storm Warning). Fed up with Brad (played by: Frank Roberts from The Vacant Room & Nobody I Know) the antagonist’s on-screen foul-ups, his director Hilary Jacobs (played by: Kylie Minogue from Street Fighter, San Andreas, Bio-Dome, & Moulin Rouge!) publicly humiliates him & fires him on the spot in front of onlookers. As he comes hoping for one more chance, she further degrades him in her office which causes the actor to go berserk. He starts mutilating himself then he cuts out her tongue using the modified prop shears as his real-life signature weapon.
Before he can harm anyone else, his co-star Vanessa Turnbill (played by: Molly Ringwald from The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, & Office Killer) gives him a makeshift tracheotomy which ends in Brad being seemingly electrocuted as P.A. man Lossman (played by: Geoff Revell from Wolf Creek, Bad Boy Bubby, Kiss or Kill, & Finders Keepers) looks on. As Brad dies, he curses the perceived source of his misery which is the movie “Hot Blooded!” & all who would work on it. In present-day Australia, Lossman is a teacher using his personal experiences as warnings to his students that any attempts to complete filming or even screening of Hot Blooded! has ended up with lives lost in mysterious & disturbing ways. Some of his pupils, seeing the chance as too much of a temptation decide to finish the film as a graduation grade. They contact Vanessa Turnbill to co-star. When she arrives at the airport she is greeted by Raffy (played by: Jessica Napier from Ghost Rider, Echo Point, & Wildside) & Hester (played by: Sarah Kants from The Deep Blue Sea, Sense8, & Lecture 21) who take her to a press conference to give the film publicity. As the amateur crew makes the movie, the Scarman returns & kills several of them one by one carrying out his blood thirsty revenge.Can this new crew achieve what the original one couldn’t? Will they finish the film & survive this psychopath????
Cut is a little above average slasher from Australia. Besides the awesome opening, it starts out a little slow for awhile. The Scream franchise was still popular at the time & lots of similar productions were spawned during it. The late 90s & early 2000s pumped out so many of these type of movies because they always made them easy money. The script was solid & it made fun of low budget film making so it provided some humor every once in awhile to go with all the murders. The special fx were good here & I really liked the look of “Scarman” for this. It had it’s fair share of blood plus a few of the kills were brutal. Most of the other stuff you have already seen in this sub-genre. Molly Ringwald was great as the egotistical lead actress. Kylie Minogue had lots of fun as the ruthless director, it’s a shame her part was so small because she was one of the best things about Cut. The rest of the cast didn’t help much & they were nothing special besides maybe a few of the females when it came to eye candy. This was a fun watch when everything started to pick up & the Scarman went on his killing spree. Most of the characters were unlikable so it was easy to watch them get slayed. This won’t make your top slasher list of all time but it’s still worth checking out, RECOMMENDED!!!!
Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Umbrella Entertainment! This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer is from a brand new 4K restoration from the original 35MM interpositive. This is the blu ray worldwide debut for the feature. It’s only been available on DVD & VHS in the past when it comes to home video. This is a massive upgrade compared to the 2001 DVD from Trimark which was the last time that I’ve seen the movie. Cut takes full advantage of it’s film within a film scenario so it has all kinds of interesting locations. The English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is solid. The dialogue is clean, all the madness is elevated, & the music has a nice boost to it. It also has English SDH subtitles.
Let’s discuss the special features from Umbrella Entertainment! “Audio Commentary” with director Kimble Rendall & writer Dave Warner. They both have very good memories about this production. They chat about locations, fx, story, the cast, performances, & the overall shoot. They bring up Scream during their conversation here. They tell a few stories about the production. They go over the kills & they say some had to be improvised during filming. They both have fun revisiting their film Cut. The little over 2 minute “Behind the Scenes of CUT” gives you an inside look at the crew putting together a few scenes for Cut. It has around 18 minutes of “Interviews with Cast & Crew” with each person having their own segment. Lots of people get interviewed here from the film which includes MOLLY RINGWALD, SARAH KANTS, JESSICA NAPIER, KYLIE MINOGUE, SAM LEWIS, GEOFF REVELL, SIMON BOSSEL, KIMBLE RENDALL, MARTIN FABINYI & MICHAEL GUDINSKI! They chat about the script & working with the cast. They talk about their experience here & horror films. Each segment is short & it’s straight to the point. These were all from the original E.P.K that was shot when Cut was being promoted for release. A little over 3 minutes of “Storyboards”. The 1995 11 minute short from the same director titled “Hayride to Hell” with Kylie Minogue.”Theatrical Trailer” for Cut is also included. It has a nice variety of bonus material on this release. Just a warning, it’s all in standard definition but it’s still cool to have. It has reversible artwork. Umbrella Entertainment is the best when it comes to Australian cinema & this smaller slasher finally gets some proper treatment. BTW, this release is Region Free despite saying B on the back. It’s available at most spots, CHECK IT OUT!!!!
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