IT CUTS DEEP
77 Minutes - Horror/Comedy
Released on November 13th, 2020 in Limited Theatrical and VOD
AVAILABLE ON
PREVIOUSLY ON
SHOWTIME | PARAMOUNT+ | SHUDDER | AMC+
DISTRIBUTED BY
2020 OFFICIAL FESTIVAL SELECTIONS
World Premiere at NIGHTSTREAM
(Boston Underground, Overlook, Brooklyn Horror, Popcorn Frights, North Bend)
Salem Horror | Grimmfest (UK) | Nightmares | Panic Fest (Tricks & Treats) | Other Worlds Austin (Orbiter) - Fantaspoa (Brazil)
REVIEWS
Projected Figures | Killer Horror Critic | Roger Ebert (Capsule) | Horror Obsessive | Dark Universe | Horror Buzz
B-Sides and Badlands | Should I See It | Bloody Good Horror | Nerdly | Morbidly Beautiful | Film Craziest
INTERVIEWS
The Horror Channel | The Overlook Hour | New Horror Express | Where the Scary Things Are | Civil Gore | Pop Horror
Texas Podcast Nightmare | Let’s Make a Horror Movie | Ginger Nuts of Horror | Columbia University | Cape Cod Times
ANNOUNCEMENT / TRAILER / POSTER / CLIPS
Screen International | Bloody Disgusting | Dread Central | What to Watch
Rue Morgue | Nightmarish Conjurings | Downright Creepy
SYNOPSIS
A film about the fear of getting married and having children.
While on Christmas vacation, a young couple contemplates their future together. Ashley is interested in getting married and having kids which terrifies Sam. When the more attractive and paternal Nolan enters the picture, Sam’s life spirals out of control as Ashley questions their relationship. Chaos reigns as Sam desperately clings to Ashley while fending off the threatening Nolan.
The feature directorial debut of writer/director Nicholas Payne Santos (HOLIDAY FEAR, MOTHER F**KER).
Starring Charles Gould (BONDING, SEARCH PARTY), Quinn Jackson (BLACKLIST) & John Anderson (30 ROCK).
QUOTES
New England filmmaker Nicholas Payne Santos skewers toxic masculinity, sometimes literally, in this darkly funny debut, about a man named Sam (comedian Charles Gould) who returns home with long-time girlfriend Ashley (Quinn Jackson), only for his fears about getting married and having kids to spiral out of control. When a handsome childhood friend (John Anderson) turns up on the doorstep, Sam quickly dispenses with the pleasantries as he senses a possible rival for Ashley’s affections. What initially plays like Santos’ anxiety dream about commitment soon reveals itself to be deliciously self-aware and bloodthirsty; like Josh Ruben's recent “Scare Me,” on Shudder, “It Cuts Deep” actively reconsiders its male gaze in shape-shifting between mumblecore, slasher, and psychodrama.
- Isaac Feldberg, RogerEbert.com
In his debut as a feature writer/director/editor, Nicholas Santos (a producer on this year’s punk gorefest “Uncle Peckerhead”) demonstrates a sure hand at melding disparate tones. Utilizing deft transitions and long takes that allow the cast’s banter to flow naturally, he crafts a portrait of a couple on some very jagged rocks. Gould and Jackson have great anti-chemistry, while Anderson keeps us guessing as to whether his threat is real or a figment of Sam’s mind. Kyle I. Kelley’s inviting cinematography of the Cape Cod locations seamlessly incorporates odd and unsettling details (such as a freaky outdoor Christmas display), complementing a movie in which troubled romance seems consistently on the verge of turning into something bloodcurdling.
- Michael Gingold, Rue Morgue
This being Santos’ first foray into feature-length filmmaking is a welcome addition to his career of producing many other wonderful oddities, including this year’s brilliantly disturbing Uncle Peckerhead. Santos has a wonderful sense of “outsider” entertainment and it is on full display in It Cuts Deep. His script is as disquieting in the little moments as it is in its glorious and intense finish. This is a film made by, and for, low budget genre enthusiasts who don’t want cookie-cutter narratives. It also allows the viewer into the headspace of its three leads and, while it presents a very uncomfortable viewing experience at times, it works wonders in every sense of the word.
It Cuts Deep proves the ties that bind us can also be our undoing. This is a film not to be missed.
- Justin Drabek, Killer Horror Critic
Sam’s unraveling paranoia about the ever-present Nolan infects It Cuts Deep like a sickness, bringing darkness to everything – and that tension between comedy and horror becomes the beating heart of writer/director Nicholas Santos’ feature debut. We know from the opening that this story is going eventually to spiral to a bloody end, but the direction that it takes still manages to surprise while using the mixed languages of genre to portray masculinity at its most toxically crazy. This is smart low-budget horror with a real core of character-driven emotional honesty shining through its psychothriller trappings. For the film cuts deep both ways.
- Anton Bitel, Projected Figures
Couple’s relationship tested during bromance reckoning from hell. For those who can dial into Nicholas Payne Santos' peculiar frequency of queasy cringe-com & psycho-horror, this is destined to be a future jet-black Xmas favorite.
- Letterboxd
Sometimes a film comes along that makes you re-examine popular film tropes with newfound appreciation. It Cuts Deep is one of those films – opening on a recognizable set-up of a young angry murderer well on his way to becoming a psychopathic serial killer a la many an 80s slasher classic.
Cut to Sam and Ashley, a 30-something couple who have hit a crossroads in their relationship. Ashley is ready for marriage and children while Sam prefers to avoid the topic altogether. They take a holiday to an isolated cabin where Sam used to vacation with his family before the aforementioned tragedy struck. Soon, they run into Sam’s childhood friend Nolan – a strapping, charming family man who possesses everything Sam is lacking as far as traditional “husband material” goes. As you might expect, their little holiday rapidly descends into chaos.
While this may sound like a story we’ve heard before, It Cuts Deep takes several hard turns through different genres, constantly subverting audience expectations. First-time feature filmmaker Nicholas Santos shows a brilliant ability to balance many tones at once, veering between relationship drama, dark comedy, slasher, and psychological horror with agility rarely seen in even veteran filmmaking.
Even more brilliant is Santos’s script, in which each line of dialogue is loaded with double meaning: surface-level politeness and a teeth-gritting tension based on years of history, resentment, and secrets between the trio. Everyone delivers their dialogue with perfect control, allowing both meanings and a snappy but subtle sense of humor to shine. A clever, economical, and effective send-off of the slasher film, It Cuts Deep aims to surprise and hits its mark at every turn.
– Boston Underground
A sour and misanthropic relationship comedy that veers off into psycho-thriller mode, this boasts the kind of slippery, genre-bending unpredictability that characterises the work of Grimmfest favourites Ricky Bates, Jr., and Rob Grant.
Nerdy, faintly seedy, commitment-evading schlub Sam, and his long-suffering girlfriend Ashley go back to his family home, where he is forced to confront both her desire for marriage and his jock-like boyhood friend Nolan, who seems unsettlingly needy and possibly dangerous. But how much of the perceived threat is in Sam's head, and what exactly did happen back then, anyway?
A decidedly queasy and uneasy exploration of male paranoia and performance anxiety, crammed full of witty, whip-smart, pungent, often provocative dialogue, delivered with pin-sharp timing and precision, and shot in an unobtrusive, performance-driven style, this is a bitter, blackhearted gem, genuinely laugh-out-loud funny and seriously twisted, pacing its various reveals and red herrings with masterful skill, and coming to a satisfyingly mean-spirited, and utterly gripping conclusion, as the various relationship tensions and repressed memories collide with savage force. Richard Curtis it ain't.
- Grimmfest