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

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."

Instead of the cool 1980s kid Marty McFly trying to connect with his nerdy father in the 1950s, Netflix's "Time Cut" follows the aloof but brilliant teenage loner Lucy Field (Madison Bailey) in the modern day (2024, specifically). She time-travels back to the year 2003, coming into contact with her popular older sister Summer Field (Antonia Gentry) — days before Summer is killed by a masked slasher who was never caught.

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.

The untimely death of Lucy's older sister Summer at the hands of a masked slasher in 2003 devastated her parents. Years later, they conceived Lucy in a desperate attempt to replace Summer (explaining the wide age gap between Lucy, who's a teenager in 2024, while her sister Summer is also a teenager nearly twenty years earlier).

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.

However, Lucy is initially conflicted about saving her sister, since there's a strong possibility Lucy would never be born if Summer survives. Summer discovers this, and once Lucy finds a way to get back to 2024, Summer decides to let the slasher kill her so Lucy can be born. Unfortunately, Lucy discovers that the killer is a time-traveler as well, which is why he was never caught in 2003. In the end, Lucy decides to save her sister — paradoxes be damned.

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!

Yes, Quinn, the lovable nerd archetype, is ultimately revealed to be the killer. To be clear — this is the adult Quinn from the future, not the teen version of Quinn who just risked his life saving her moments earlier. Teen Quinn seems just as confused and shocked as Lucy and Summer at the reveal of the killer being an adult Quinn. Teen Quinn even sincerely decries that he'll never become that evil, but can he really be certain of that? In truth, he doesn't know what the future holds, and neither do Lucy or Summer at this point.

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.

Afterward, Quinn tried to confess his love to Summer with a note (we see this moment at the beginning of the film), and — in his mind — she rudely rejected him (unbeknownst to him, she's a lesbian). He gave her this letter after he knew that her friends had been murdered, meaning he potentially deliberately used an emotionally vulnerable moment to spring his confession, which probably led to her curtness. Not to mention the obvious fact she's not obligated to become romantically involved with him simply because he's 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.

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? 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.