Cutting Moments

I have seen the short film "Cutting Moments" on the Brussels 1997 International Festival of Fantastic Film. The film has some visual content you will remember for the rest of your life.

I was surprised that such a film was shown during a free afternoon screening open to everyone.

I would not recommend this film to sensitive people or children who can experience a very emotional reaction watching this film. Required are strong nerves and a strong stomach.

In summary I think this film could represent a once-in-a-lifetime viewing experience.

A great short film. Like many others on here I am fairly desensitised to "shock" films after watching absurd tripe like: August Underground Mordum, A Serbian Film (uncut version), Salo e.t.c and plenty of graphic footage off the internet.

This film is great on so many levels and is not overestimated like some morons on here would have you believe. They moan about it being low budget and crappy special effects and bad actors! Well surprise idiots! It is a low budget and very short film......Duh

The point I am trying to make is that even with the cheapo special effects this film still gets across its message hard and that just the thought of what she was doing was graphic enough for me. Another analogy I have is that a good game does not need good graphics for it to succeed or be enjoyed, the game play is what matters.

It starts off slow and boring for a reason and if you don't get why you really are a lost cause and should go back to watching your run of the mill "shock" films. The lack of dialogue just adds to the suspense and intensiveness of the build up.

All in all a great short film that I rate up there with the best "Horrors". It is funny that the most shocking gut wrenching films that I have ever seen are not horror or shock films but about real events that have happened. No film has ever moved me so emotionally or shocked me or disgusted me than "The Stoning of Soroya M" this is no horror film but the most "Horrific" film I have ever seen.

The final segment of the short story collection must be the most psychologically destructive short film I have ever witnessed...I still shudder thinking about it, and it has been 3 weeks since I pushed the DVD into the machine...This is definitely NOT for the faint-of-heart, nor should a child have the unpleasant opportunity of seeing it... The rest of the collection is dreary and unoriginal, and one wonders why they would place such a disturbing masterpiece amongst a pile of wasted junk...But, excluding those, the main event, aptly entitled Cutting Moments, should be witnessed by all afficionados of the horror genre and seems to have been lost in the worldwide DVD/VHS market...I discovered this work of genius in the thriller division of the local Look & Listen megastore, selling at a cheap price....

Five strange little horror films that, thanks to the inventiveness of the filmmakers, manage to rise above their obviously limited budgets. I received this from a friend on a double-sided DVD that also includes the movie Buried Alive. I watched this first, expecting it to be the lesser of the two, but hopeful, considering the Tom Savini quote emblazoned on the box art, that it might surprise me. It certainly did, and for a freebie, there is no cause for complaint. The acting - all seemingly from 'semi-professionals' - is uniformly awful, the effects cheap and nasty, but the ideas more than make up for that. Other posters have gone into the plots in detail, so I won't bother, but I agree that the Bowl Of Oatmeal is the least enjoyable segment. Interesting, but not as much fun as a crack-smoking mutt or a nagging old biddy driving her murdering husband nuts! The final titular short is thoroughly nasty, and even I, a David Cronenberg fan, had to watch it through my fingers! If you don't find the sight of a woman cutting off her own lips with a pair of scissors disturbing, I fear for your sanity...

My only question would be the year of production. There are next to no credits on the end of the Region 2 DVD, and although IMDb claims this was made in the late nineties, the cinematography would suggest it was all made on the cheap - perhaps as student films - in the 80s. In fact two of the films have clear 80s references; the old couple's gravestones say they died in 1987, and the teen-movie short has repeated references to Breakfast Club star Molly Ringwald. Have they tacked on four 80s flicks to the recently successful Cutting Moments short to make a feature? (If that's the case, what has happened to these filmmakers, who show a lot of promise in this collection?) Or are they all from the nineties and the two films I mentioned are 'period pieces' - Principles of Karma being a parody of the 80s teen-movie, for example? I hope someone else can update IMDb to ease my curiosity...

But anyway, if you can forgive the poor production values and you like macabre tales, you're in for a short, sweet treat!

A woman resorts to extreme methods to win back the attention of her bored husband: she uses a brush to scour her mouth and cuts off her lips with a pair of scissors. This seems to do the trick, and it's not long before the couple are together in the sack having fun with a shiny pair of garden shears!

The title of this 20 minute shocker, 'Cutting Moments', was used as the collective name for five disparate short films released together on DVD. On its own, Douglas Buck's bloody tale of desperation and self-mutilation would still be considered a worthwhile effort for purveyors of cinematic excess; however, when lumped together with four much weaker and less memorable stories, this sick little feature appears all the more impressive: the shining light in an otherwise rather dull and disappointing compilation (although 'Crack Dog's titular drug-addled mutt deserves an honorary mention).

With messy DIY facial surgery and a non-graphic-but-still-winceworthy penis removal, those who likes their horror to push the boundaries should enjoy this twisted little piece of nastiness.