Smash Cut

Television reporter April Carson turns to the services of private investigator Isaac Beaumonde to find her missing sister, a stripper known as Gigi Spot.{{cite web | url=http://jennileemurray.blogspot.com/2008/05/these-days.html | title=These Days | first=Jennilee | last=Murray | date=24 May 2008 | accessdate=2008-07-28 }} Carson assumes a role in a horror movie in the process, eventually learning that the director, Able Whitman, is not only the culprit, but that he has rendered her sister's body into props.{{cite magazine | url=http://www.playbackonline.ca/articles/magazine/20080526/bigscreen.html | title=The Big Screen: Slasher film risks running afoul of C-10 | accessdate=2008-07-27 | date=26 May 2008 | first=Etan | last=Vlessing | magazine=Playback }}{{cite news | title=Adult-film star Grey segues to slasher fare | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN1343783720080514 | publisher=Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter | accessdate=2008-07-27 | date=13 May 2008 | first=Etan | last=Vlessing }}[http://zedfilmworks.com/films_smashcut.php Zed Filmworks: Smash Cut description] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820013422/http://www.zedfilmworks.com/films_smashcut.php |date=20 August 2008 }}

Whitman requires more "props" for his film, meaning more body parts, which in turn requires a killing spree. Meanwhile, Beaumonde pursues an increasingly deadly and grisly case.[https://archive.today/20130103135834/http://www.imagination-llc.com/Smash_Cut/ Imagination Worldwide: Smash Cut synopsis]

• David Hess as Able Whitman
• Sasha Grey as April Carson
• Michael Berryman as Philip Farmsworth Jr.
• Ray Sager as Reverend Ezekial Boone
• Herschell Gordon Lewis as Fred Sandy
• Jesse Buck as Isaac Beaumonde
• Jennilee Murray as Georgina Carson / Gigi Spot
• Michael Dubue as Alan Dackman
• Barry Blake as Armand Parys
• Peter Michael Dillon as Oswald "Ozzie" Kohlberg
• Rusty Nails as Kohlberg / Oswald

Director Lee Demarbre cast cult horror actors David Hess (The Last House on the Left), Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) and Ray Sager (The Wizard of Gore).{{cite magazine | title=David Hess, H.G. Lewis make a SMASH CUT | url=http://www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=6590 | magazine=Fangoria | access-date=2008-07-27 | date=20 May 2008 | first=Michael | last=Gingold | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526200853/http://www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=6590 | archive-date=26 May 2011 | df=dmy-all }}{{cite news | title=A bloody good time on Ottawa film set / Director Lee Demarbre gives us a look at what goes on behind the scenes | url=http://www.charlatan.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20249&Itemid=154 | publisher=The Charlatan | accessdate=2008-07-27 | date=29 May 2008 | first=Michelle Anne | last=Olsen }} Herschell Gordon Lewis, considered the inventor of the splatter film genre, appears in the film's opening, advising the audience to "watch if you must". The film was the first non-pornographic role for adult film performer Sasha Grey.

Investors were concerned that Smash Cut would be hindered by the proposed Income Tax Amendments Act, 2006 law (Bill C-10) that could restrict tax benefits for films whose content the federal government deemed objectionable. These concerns were particularly prompted by the casting of Grey, but Demarbre retorted, "I don't want to make a porn movie. I want to make a movie with Sasha Grey. I want to take her right out of the porn genre."

Principal photography took place from 9 May to 4 June 2008 in Ottawa, Ontario, at area locations including the Mayfair Theatre and Rockland.{{cite web | url=http://www.odessafilmworks.com/news/index.html | publisher=Odessa Filmworks | title=Extras wanted for the 5th Feature Film from Odessa Filmworks | date=11 May 2008 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020103133148/http://www.odessafilmworks.com/news/index.html | archive-date=3 January 2002 | df=dmy-all }}{{cite news | url=http://www.cbc.ca/allinaday/listenagain.html | publisher=CBC Radio One | date=16 May 2008 | accessdate=2008-07-28 | format=ram | title=Extras Wanted | work=All in a Day | first=Adrian | last=Harewood |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080602070849/http://www.cbc.ca/allinaday/listenagain.html |archivedate = 2 June 2008}}{{cite web | url=http://www.gat.ca/press/2008/2008-05-07-SmashCut-filming-in-Ottawa.shtml | accessdate=2008-07-27 | title=Ottawa's Zed Filmworks assembles A-list cast of B-film actors for new film Smash Cut | date=7 May 2008 | publisher=GAT }}

File:SmashCut.jpg

Smash Cut premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on 18 July 2009.{{cite web | url=http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2009/en/films/film_detail.php?id=69 | title=Smash Cut | accessdate=2009-08-28 | archive-date=23 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223155901/http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2009/en/films/film_detail.php?id=69 | url-status=dead }} It was followed up on 29 August at the London FrightFest Film Festival in the United Kingdom.{{cite web | url=http://www.frightfest.co.uk/09films/film10.html | title=Smash Cut (Saturday 29th) | publisher=London FrightFest Film Festival | access-date=2009-08-28 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710121745/http://www.frightfest.co.uk/09films/film10.html | archive-date=10 July 2009 | df=dmy-all }} The film was released direct-to-DVD.

Critic Todd Brown wrote in Screen Anarchy that the film was "a campy dose of low budget splatter" and "[i]f you aren't inclined towards early splatter pics, you're going to be bored. There's really no way to take it seriously outside the context of its tradition."{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Todd |title=Whistler 09: SMASH CUT Review |url=https://screenanarchy.com/2009/12/whistler-09-smash-cut-review.html |website=Screen Anarchy |date=8 December 2009 |publisher=ScreenAnarchy LLC |access-date=2022-04-13}}

Writing for Home Theater Info, critic Douglas MacLean wrote that the film "occupies the nadir of the film industry," consisting of "ultra cheap effects and one take shots that provide no time for artistry or nuance."{{cite web |last1=MacLean |first1=Douglas |title=Smash Cut |url=http://www.hometheaterinfo.com/smash_cut.htm |website=Home Theater Info |access-date=2022-04-13}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.smashcutmovie.com/}}
• {{IMDb title|1245735}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:2009 films

Category:2009 horror films

Category:2000s Canadian films

Category:2000s English-language films

Category:2000s slasher films

Category:Canadian slasher films

Category:Canadian splatter films

Category:English-language Canadian films

Category:Films directed by Lee Demarbre

Category:Films shot in Ottawa

Category:Shriek Show

Category:English-language horror films