Why people can’t stop comparing Netflix’s Time Cut to ‘best film of the year’

*Warning, this story contains major spoilers for Time Cut and Totally Killer*

A new Netflix film sees a student go back in time to try and prevent her sister’s murder but despite the unique sounding premise, it’s not the first of its kind.

Time Cut is a mix of genres with elements of the horror slasher being mixed with the sci-fi of time travel.

While the film has only just landed on the streaming platform in time for Halloween, an earlier release shares the same premise, although with some key differences.

Totally Killer was released in September 2023, and similar to Netflix’s latest offering it sees a teenager accidentally sent back in time and solve a series of murders. It stars Sabrina star Kiernan Shipka as 17-year-old Jamie, who comes face-to-face with her mother’s killer after they resurface 35 years after their original killings.

She ends up being sent back in time and partners up with her teenage mother to solve the crimes. One review stated that it was ‘one of the best films of the year’ when it was released.

Here’s everything the films have in common and places in which they stand apart – warning, below contains major spoilers for both Time Cut and Totally Killer.

While both films are slashers with added time travel, one basic difference is their choice of decade to journey back to.

Time Cut chooses the year 2003 while its Prime counterpart goes further to 1987.

Although both films make the most of fashion and music to reflect their chosen time period. Totally Killer is the title more aware of the time difference, with many references to

While Time Cut’s killer is dubbed the Sweetly Slasher and Totally’s is named Sweet Sixteen Killer, both have similar motives and targets.

Each of them target a specific group of girlfriends to pick off one by one and all them are close with the main character’s relative.

Speaking of, in the Netflix film, it is the sister the protagonist is trying to save while the Prime movie focuses on the character’s mother.

One familiarity is that the killers in both films wear all black paired with a creepy mask, with black holes where the eyes should be.

There a minor differences in the choice of mask, with Totally Killer’s also possessing an earring, the hair slicked back and the teeth showing.

Although the Sweet Sixteen Killer is more brutal in his killings, stabbing each victim exactly 16 times and the film overall has a much darker, graphic tone albeit with more jokes.

Another key part of the films, which is similar is both killers also time travel but in very different ways.

In Time Cut, it is revealed that a version of Quinn, who has been helping the main character throughout the film, has travelled back to become the Sweetly Slasher.

While in Totally Killer, there ends up being two different culprits. One is Doug, who is out for revenge after the death of his girlfriend in a drink drive incident.

The second is the true crime podcaster, who kills Jamie’s mother at the beginning as a copy cat killer but travels back in time to stop the original crimes being prevented.

Unlike Time Cut, Totally Killer saves a moment to explain what would happen if the main character changes the past enough that her parents would not get together in the same way.

Rather than just disappearing, she is told she would just have no home to go back to as no one would know who she was anymore.

In fact, while Time Cut finishes with quite a few questions, Totally Killer offers answers for its characters.

The mother of Jamie’s best friend whose younger version helps her get home, hands her a notebook titled ‘Everything that has changed’ in the final scene. It includes revelations that she has a brother and her name is different, as well as the fate of the second killer in the new timeline.

Time Cut is streaming now on Netflix and Totally Killer is streaming now on Amazon Prime.

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