Cut!

Cut!

Cut! poses a pretty simple yet interesting concept: a couple of aspiring filmmakers plan on scaring people in real life and filming it to turn into a horror movie with genuinely fearful performances. But what if the scaring goes too far? What if someone really gets hurt? What if someone gets killed? Does that all then just become part of the movie?
These are the questions that are raised throughout Cut! as we see the two main characters get deeper and deeper into their desperate situation. Lane (David Banks) and Travis (David Rountree, also writing and directing here) are two wannabe filmmakers who find themselves working for a production company that is soon to close it's doors due to bankruptcy. In one rather fun scene, we see the two at first seem desperate to get Gabrielle Stone (playing herself) to star in one of their upcoming movies and when she says no, Lane (an ex convict with a chip on his shoulder) begins to tell her off in a way that all but guarantees no future contracts with the rising indie film actress. It's a scene that shows where these two are in their career and in life: they are out of options and have nothing left to lose.
When the idea arises to set up and film real people in life threatening situations, the two men turn to prostitutes. They bring a girl to a dark and secluded room and say they'll be right back. Instead, a large homeless man who has been paid off by Lane and Travis enters the room and proceeds to pretend to kill the girl so that her terrified reactions can be filmed and spliced into a movie. But the homeless man really kills her and so begins the descent of the two men into a dark and twisted scenario that has them taking the lives of their "actresses".
Some interesting inner struggle takes place throughout the film as well as struggle between the two men; Lane is all in on the experiment and Travis has serious concerns but he never seems to fully commit to them and instead goes along with the plan for the most part. Fame and ultimately a sense of purpose are what's at the center of Travis and Lane's actions. They are so consumed by their dream of being filmmakers and distraught by the closing of their failed production company and careers so far that they they have lost touch with what film is in the first place: an imaginative platform to create and tell a story. Instead, they are so stuck in the emptiness of their reality that the only story they can create is by stealing moments from other peoples real lives. And, in the end, their actual lives as well.
There are a few pretty decent and bloody and intense scenes here and there (one involves a bathtub and a saw) but I was left feeling underwhelmed by the movie. The trailer for the film promised a brutal and bloody experience, but about half way through the movie itself I was feeling disappointed that that wasn't going to be the case and I started to lose interest.
Cut! definitely had me thinking about fame and how far some people will go to achieve it, and kudos to the filmmakers for that. But I never felt very invested in this movie as the story focused a bit too much on the characters and left me longing for that bloody movie that was promised in the jarring trailer. Don't get me wrong, I love character driven stories, I just feel as though the script and the acting ability of the two leads weren't up to the task of creating sympathetic characters in such a twisted situation. Also, the filmmakers couldn't help themselves and threw in a ridiculous twist at the end that couldn't possibly have surprised a single viewer. Overall, Cut! seems to squander it's interesting premise with a weak script and suffers from somewhat unconvincing performances. It isn't a bad movie, but it isn't a very good one either.