Who Is The Killer In Time Cut? The Twist Ending Explained

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The seeds for the “Back to the Future” trilogy were planted when co-writer Bob Gale asked an intriguing question after seeing his father in a yearbook photo, thinking to himself, “If I had gone to high school with my dad, would I have been friends with him?” That germ of an idea grew into one of the greatest time-travel stories of all time. The idea of going back in time and interacting with a younger version of a family member is also at the heart of a horror movie hidden gem on Netflix called “Time Cut.”

In “Time Shift,” the main character is Lucy Field, a socially awkward but intellectually gifted teenager living in the future (the year 2024). One day, she stumbles upon a time machine and travels back to the past, landing in the year 2003. There, she encounters her older sister Summer Field (Antonia Gentry), who is still alive at this point but is about to be murdered by an unknown killer. Lucy must navigate the challenges of the early 21st century while trying to prevent her sister’s tragic fate. The series airs on Netflix.

Lucy must now try to find a way back to her own time with the help of the nerdy Quinn (Griffin Gluck) — Summer’s friend who has a crush on her — while Lucy also debates if she can, or even should, change the past. She has a chance to save Summer’s life, after all, but would that cause a paradox? Would saving her sister from a terrible fate destroy the space-time continuum? And who exactly is the masked killer, anyway? For the answers to all of those questions and more, read on.

What happens at the end of the Netflix movie Time Cut?

The tragic death of Lucy’s older sister Summer at the hands of an unknown killer in 2003 left her parents heartbroken and devastated. In an attempt to fill the void left by their loss, they conceived Lucy years later, who was a teenager in 2024 while Summer would have been almost the same age if she were still alive.

After a memorial commemorating Summer’s death, Lucy discovers a random time machine in the middle of nowhere that sends her back to 2003. There, Lucy befriends the nerdy-but-sweet Quinn, and the younger version of her popular — and very much still alive — older sister Summer, who’s currently the same age as her. Lucy then convinces Quinn surprisingly quickly that she’s a time-traveler (in one of the most clever bits, she displays just how advanced cell phone technology has actually come in the last twenty years), and eventually convinces Summer as well.

Initially hesitant due to the likelihood of her own nonexistence if Summer lived, Lucy ponders saving her sister. However, when Summer learns this secret, Lucy manages to return to 2024, and Summer chooses to let the time-traveling slasher murder her so that Lucy can exist. Regrettably, Lucy uncovers the truth that this killer can traverse time, explaining why he remained elusive in 2003. Ultimately, Lucy decides to rescue her sister, disregarding potential paradoxes.

The true identity of the killer in Time Cut

Lucy and Quinn eventually save Summer from the masked killer by Lucy goading Quinn into driving his car through an isolated barn — the location where Summer was originally killed in 2003 — and running the dastardly killer over. Yay! The villain is defeated, Summer is alive, and the day is saved! However, this is a horror movie, so the killer, of course, isn’t killed. Worse, Quinn’s car is now stalled and stuck inside the barn after the self-inflicted crash. The killer eventually gets up, stalks the three teens in the car, and finally takes off his rubber mask to reveal himself as… Quinn!

Oh my gosh, I can hardly believe it! The lovable character we’ve all grown to admire, Quinn, is unmasked as the killer in this unexpected twist. Let me clarify that I’m talking about the adult version of him from the future, not the sweet teenager who just saved Lucy and Summer’s lives moments ago. Even young Quinn seems just as bewildered and stunned by the revelation as Lucy and Summer are. He passionately denies ever becoming such an evil character, but can he truly predict his own fate? The truth is, none of us – not even him – know what the future holds at this point in time.

Why did Quinn become the killer in Time Cut?

Early in the film, there’s a scene where a large bully — who also happens to be Summer’s douchey jock ex-boyfriend — attempts to throw the scrawny Quinn into a river near the school, claiming it’s some archaic town tradition. Luckily for him, the time-traveling Lucy stands up for Quinn and saves him from the public humiliation. However, in the original timeline, Quinn wasn’t saved from being thrown in the river, which was the beginning of his growing murderous resentment. Worse, he witnessed the love of his life, Summer, laughing at him with the rest of the school.

After the movie starts, I (Quinn) mustered up courage to tell Summer how I felt, scribbling my heart out in a note. As I imagined it, she brushed me off rudely – something I didn’t realize until later that she was just not interested romantically because she’s a lesbian. In hindsight, I confessed my feelings during an emotionally charged moment, when her friends had been killed. It’s possible that this sensitive timing might have made her respond curtly. Let me clarify that she wasn’t obligated to reciprocate my feelings just because I consider myself a “nice guy.

So, due to his ego being crushed, he became a loner incel in adulthood. Then, in 2024, he used a time machine — that he either built himself or stole from a shady corporation, it’s never made explicitly clear — to go back in time and kill Summer and all her friends as a twisted act of revenge.

Does Lucy survive in Time Cut?

Lucy is understandably conflicted on how much she should be involved in changing events in the past, as Quinn keeps warning her that doing so could lead to dire and unexpected consequences. In fact, toward the middle of the film, Lucy tries to save the first victims of the killer. Not only does she fail in doing so, but her involvement got a security guard killed — someone who originally didn’t die in 2003. Furthermore, since it seemed clear even in her own time that Lucy’s parents gave birth to her as a way to fill the void left by Summer’s death (and this was pretty much confirmed when she asked the 2003 versions of them if they wanted more children), saving Summer could lead to Lucy no longer existing.

Of course, as we’ve already established, Lucy decides to do the honorable thing and save her sister. Luckily, it seems the film’s universe goes by “multiverse” rules — as in, duplicates can exist in one timeline at the same time (foreshadowed by two Quinn’s existing at once). However, Lucy is indeed right that she wasn’t born in the alternate 2024 where Summer survived, since Summer’s survival meant their parents decided to not try again with a second child. The film then ends happily with Lucy deciding to stay and live in 2003 with her sister Summer. So, yes, Lucy does indeed survive “Time Cut.” Which, to be fair, isn’t always guaranteed — the final girl doesn’t always survive in horror movies.

Is a Time Cut sequel happening?

Is a “Time Cut” sequel happening? The short answer is no. At least, not currently. None of the main cast or crew have spoken about the possibility of a follow-up since the film’s release. However, that doesn’t mean there can’t be one in the future. And, judging by how horror movies — especially when you consider the evolution of slasher films — can mostly be made cheaply and quickly, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that this universe can be returned to at some point. After all, many slasher franchises reach entries near or in the double-digits, often spread out over many years.

“Time Cut” co-writer Michael Kennedy also co-penned other fun takes on the teen slasher genre (like 2020’s “Freaky,” a horror version of body switch movies like “Freaky Friday” or “Vice-Versa,” and the recent “Heart Eyes,” a horror take on classic rom-coms). While he hasn’t commented specifically about a sequel to “Time Cut,” Kennedy has talked about sequels to his other genre-slasher films, like potentially crossing “Freaky” with “Happy Death Day.” He clearly likes to flesh out the fictional worlds he creates in his mind, so it’s possible that more “Time Cut” stories are brewing behind the scenes. With its fun time-travel conceit, the possibilities for “Time Cut” sequels are pretty much endless.

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2025-03-18 23:53