Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    HORRORSCREAMS VIDEOVAULT – SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR
    • Home
    • Film Reviews
      • Films Beginning With Numbers or Symbols
      • A – C
      • D – F
      • G – I
      • J – L
      • M – O
      • P – R
      • S – U
      • V – X
      • Y – Z
    • Book Reviews
    • Franchise Corner
    • Competitions
    • Horror Screams Podcast
    • Contact Us
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    HORRORSCREAMS VIDEOVAULT – SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR

    Film Review: IT CUTS DEEP (2020)

    Steven WestBy Steven West15th March 2021No Comments3 Mins Read

    IT CUTS DEEP **** USA 2020 Dir: Nicholas Santos. 77 mins

    Riffing on the slasher tropes built into his earlier shorts (notably HOLIDAY FEAR) debuting feature writer-director Nicholas Santos captures the relationship holocaust of Christmas in IT CUTS DEEP. Opening with an archetypal festive slasher prologue – a horny young couple butchered by a mystery killer – it swiftly shifts into something more relatable, more human before nodding again to the sub-genre for a bloody denouement.

    Sam (Charles Gould) and Ashley (Quinn Jackson) have been together for several years. She is sensible and loyal and yearns to take their relationship to the next level: i.e. marriage and kids. He’s a terrible cook with an adolescent fixation on “trying the butt stuff”. He deflects serious talk about raising a family with anal sex jokes. The couple take a vacation in his hometown, where Sam is awkwardly reunited with the old work friend, Nolan (John Anderson) whose text messages he has continually ignored.

    A psycho thriller narrative bubbles under the surface of IT CUTS DEEP, with Nolan’s mood swings and sideways glances suggesting a potential maniac, but most of the “cuts” are of the more painful emotional kind. Santos’ perceptive, witty script has a sharp eye for telling detail: Nolan’s partner Lauren is so defined by her role as “his wife” that Sam fails to remember her actual name, getting it wrong even when she reminds him. The deftly played observational humour extends to low-key slapstick: note Sam’s inadequacy in performing the manly task of chopping firewood.

    At the core of the story is Sam’s inability to conform to the expectations of both his gender and his age group. As played by Gould, he’s emotionally stunted, prone to crap jokes and at times maddening – but also wholly empathetic. Resent the pressure of holding a friend’s baby even though you have no interest in kids? Feeling the weight of getting a phone call from your mum that’s just a reminder of how much she wants grandchildren? Sam knows your pain. Nolan, maniac or not, personifies the peer pressure that comes with being in your thirties and in a long term relationship.

    Sam’s own insecurities and existing paranoia are heightened by the unwanted reunion with Nolan and the annual pressures of That Most Wonderful Stressful Time of the Year. The film has a simmering tension even in its observational humour about ridiculous masculinity (note the funny / unnerving confrontation that arises from the insistence “I’ll get the wood”). In the least showy role of the trio, Quinn Jackson brings a lot of heart to her own emotional arc as a smart, tolerant woman with her own hang-ups and fears. Confronted by two representations of fragile male egos during the climactic showdown, she provides this clever, offbeat character-driven indie horror with its suitably bittersweet punchline.

    Review by Steven West

     

    IT CUTS DEEP IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

     

    Facebook0Like0Share0Tweet0Pin0
    Charles Gould Christmas Dark Sky Films holiday fear It Cuts Deep John Anderson male ego nicholas santos Quinn Jackson Slasher

    Related Posts

    SRS Cinema slash their way to BLOOD COVE for latest release

    5th May 202203 Mins Read
    Read More

    SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT: THE GAME Is Coming Down The Chimney

    20th December 202102 Mins Read
    Read More

    SRS Cinema release Christmas terrors PSYCHO SANTA 1 & 2

    17th December 202101 Min Read
    Read More

    SRS Cinema release Mark Polonia Christmas horror SISTER KRAMPUS

    16th December 202101 Min Read
    Read More

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Search The Website
    Recent Posts
    • North American Trailer Released For ‘Hollow’ Ahead Of Its Release on VOD & DVD
    • Wyrmwood: Apocalypse the Zombie thrill-ride sequel gets Home Entertainment release this May
    • HORROR SCREAMS PODCAST: Episode 29 – I Walked With ROB ZOMBIE
    • Film Review: ENDANGERED SPECIES (2021)
    • Film Review: JAKOB’S WIFE (2021)
    Archives
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.