The slasher genre sustains itself on tropes, so it’s no surprise that Netflix’s Time Cut shares more than a few similarities with Prime Video’s Totally Killer. It’s understandable how the setups and mystery of “who is the killer?” venture into the formulaic territory; however, there is a need to diverge at some point. After all, Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees love to treat people as piñatas, but Halloween and Friday the 13th differ from each other as viewing experiences.

On the other hand, Time Cut and Totally Killer appear to fall strictly into the “it’s okay – copy my homework but change it just a little” category. Some minor details aside, they’re literally the same premise. The question is: How did no one notice this beforehand? Alternatively, maybe time-travel slasher is the next big subgenre of horror and this is a taste of what’s to come?

What is Totally Killer about?

Jamie Hughes’ (Kiernan Shipka) mother, Pam (Julie Bowen), was friends with three victims of the notorious Sweet 16 Killer back in 1987. In the present day, the Sweet 16 Killer returns to finish off Pam. Jamie encounters the killer, too; however, she accidentally activates a time machine and gets sent back to 1987. In the past, she feels like a fish out of water, eventually meeting the younger Pam (Olivia Holt) and her friends. Jamie decides to change the course of history by putting a stop to the killing spree before returning to her own timeline.

What is Time Cut about?

Lucy Field (Madison Bailey) accidentally stumbles upon a time machine that sends her back to 2003 – the year her sister, Summer (Antonia Gentry), was murdered by a serial killer. In the past, Lucy feels like a fish out of water – presumably confused about why the world loved Limp Bizkit and Creed – and meets her sister. Summer decides to change the course of history by stopping the killer and saving her sister’s life.

These stories sound way too similar, but…

Reading these two synopses, one would believe they’re practically identical films, apart from the era in which the protagonists travel back to and how Totally Killer plays out more like a horror comedy while Time Cut values more seriousness. It’s almost as if someone in Hollywood woke up one day and said, “Wouldn’t it be cool to do a horror version of Back to the Future where someone tries to stop a serial killer?”

Totally Killer released in October 2023, while Time Cut hit Netflix in October 2024. Even though that implies Totally Killer came first, that isn’t the case in terms of which went into production initially. The shooting for Totally Killer took place between May and June 2022, and it was released a year later.

Conversely, Time Cut was filmed between June and July 2021. In fact, it was one of the final projects that cinematographer Halyna Hutchins worked on before she tragically died on the set of Rust after a prop gun featuring live ammunition went off and hit her. Despite the principal photography for the film ending in 2021, it was only released three years later.

The average viewer won’t see these details, so it appears like Time Cut is a Totally Killer ripoff, when it should really be the other way around. That said, it wouldn’t be the first time in Hollywood in which two “twin” movies were released around the same time and it was entirely “coincidental.” Look at Antz and A Bug’s Life as a prime example: Both released in 1998 and feel like the same movie, though there were accusations that one studio copied the other. Not a new phenomenon in Hollywood either.

The time-travel slasher concept isn’t unique to either Time Cut or Totally Killer

While fans may argue if it was Time Cut or Totally Killer that made the time-travel slasher premise so hot right now, both films owe a debt of gratitude to author Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls. The 2013 novel explores a story where a killer seemingly hops through decades and murders various women, as Kirby Mazrachi hunts down this mysterious fiend.

The book received a live-screen adaptation as it was turned into a 2022 Apple TV+ miniseries, starring Elisabeth Moss as Kirby and boasts other talented actors such as Wagner Moura, Amy Brenneman, and Jamie Bell. While it received an 84% critical approval rating and 86% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Shining Girls didn’t garner the mega attention it deserved when it debuted. Presumably because a lot of people are still sleeping on the Apple TV+ streaming service that values quality over quantity. Regardless, that doesn’t take away anything from how good and original it is.

In the end, though, if the time-travel slasher subgenre is about to be the next big thing in horror, neither Time Cut or Totally Killer can claim to be the inventors of it. Although, there must be a few people involved scratching their heads about how eerily similar these two Halloween releases are.