Scissors Review: A Sharp, Bloody Twist on the Slasher Formula

By Justin D Williams

One of the things I have enjoyed about covering HollyShorts is never quite knowing what kind of film is going to come next, and Scissors was easily one of the more entertaining surprises. Directed by Hannah Alline, the short takes a familiar slasher setup, throws in a healthy amount of dark comedy, and then flips the traditional victim and killer dynamic completely on its head. I liked this one because it understands the genre it is playing with while still having enough personality to stand on its own. Ethan Embry plays a man who enters the story looking like the kind of character who would normally have complete control in a slasher movie. He is threatening, unpredictable, and seemingly positioned as the danger everyone else should fear. The problem for him is that the women he encounters do not react the way horror movie victims are supposed to react. That simple idea becomes the foundation for much of the film's humor, and watching the situation continue to move further away from what he expects is where Scissors really comes alive.

The comedy was probably my favorite part of the film. Scissors is bloody and definitely embraces its horror roots, but it never takes itself so seriously that the movie stops being fun. There is a playful quality to the violence and the characters' reactions that makes the short feel like it was designed to be watched with an audience. You can easily imagine a festival crowd laughing together as each new situation gets a little more ridiculous. The cast deserves a lot of credit for making that tone work. Embry commits completely to his role, but the women surrounding him are just as important to the movie. Their chemistry gives the film its energy, and instead of feeling like characters waiting around for a killer to pick them off, they feel like actual friends thrown into an increasingly absurd situation. That makes the reversal of the usual slasher formula even more satisfying.

There is also some clever commentary underneath all the blood and laughs. Scissors plays around with ideas about gender, masculinity, queer identity, and the way women have traditionally been portrayed in horror. What I appreciated is that the movie never feels like it is giving the audience a lecture. Those ideas are built directly into the joke. The film knows the rules that decades of slasher movies have taught us, then gets its entertainment from refusing to follow them. More than anything, though, I simply had a good time watching Scissors. Not every short film needs to leave you emotionally devastated or contemplating the meaning of existence when the credits roll. Sometimes you want something clever, violent, funny, and completely aware of what it is. Scissors delivers exactly that.

As part of my HollyShorts viewing, this was another film I was glad I checked out. It takes one of horror's oldest setups and gives it a fresh, queer, comedic spin without losing the bloody fun that makes slashers entertaining in the first place. The killer may think he knows how this story is supposed to go, but Scissors has very different plans for him.