By now it's becoming old-hat for indie films to poke fun at the Hollywood system and the opening scenes in Cutting Room! do just that by having Troma president Lloyd Kaufman (who's making a second career doing cameos in any micro-budgeted film he's asked to and hamming it up here) playing a big-time movie executive who chastizes filmmakers Lyla Sullivin and Trent Haaga about the movie they've spent the last year making. A dejected Sullivin is depressed about the meeting while Haaga (who I assume is supposed to be the "producer") tries to convince her they should re-edit out some of the gore and nudity to make it more audience friendly.

This really sends our already upset director over the edge and she decides to invite the cast members over to the house for a wrap party in order to show her "appreciation", but before that writer-director Krist Rufty decides to throw-in an entirely pointless masturbation scene (where one of the actresses is fantasizing about winning an Oscar as wacky sound effects play in the background) and kill off Haaga in a scene involving a lawnmower that's directly copied from Sleepaway Camp 2 - which is too bad because he's one of the best things in this.

Eventually the cast shows-up at the house and after being unable to locate their host they make their way into the house in order to wait for their director, maybe have a few chance sexual encounters, order pizza, and generally complain about how being an actor and getting no big roles really sucks. Soon enough though they start to wander off alone (and mostly wander outside) which gives our nutty filmmaker the chance to kill them off in various bloody ways.

Because of its micro-budget, Cutting Room! isn't the most solidly made horror movie to come along as there's plenty of moments where the camera is quite jumpy and the sound is really badly recorded and edited, but if you're willing to forgive these things (and you aren't too distracted by the constant shifts in sound quality) then you might just get some moments of enjoyment from it.

Rufty has packed his movie full of riffs on Hollywood and shows a decent wit with some of his dialogue while the amateurish cast does okay eventually managing to win you over with all their clowning around. Plus there's a few moments that are just so bizarre you can't help but wonder what Rufty was thinking (such as the "News on the March" snippet) and the finish is just demented enough to please. However, the gore effects are pretty low-grade (what's with the pinkish blood?) and they've packed the soundtrack full of mostly poor indie bands.

But what it all comes down to it your enjoyment of the movie will depend a lot on your tolerance for movies that look like they are made by a couple of friends who've maxed out their credit cards and are filming during weekends. This isn't particularly a bad thing, it just somewhat limits the audience as a lot of people won't go near anything they can't easily rent at the local video store.

Visit Lazurus Entertainment for more info. (Chris Hartley, 11/28/05)

Directed By: Krist Rufty.
Written By: Krist Rufty.

Starring: Lyla Sullivin, Noelle D'Amato, Shaun O'Rourke, Chace Ambrose.