Netflix's New Sci-Fi Horror Movie Dominates Global Streaming Charts

Move over, "Back to the Future," because there's another time-travel movie currently tearing it up on streaming that's making an entire generation of moviegoers feel their age. Marty McFly famously took that classic DeLorean for a spin in 1985 and transported himself 30 years into the past to the age of "The Honeymooners," Enchantment Under the Sea dances, and other throwback details ripped straight out of the '50s. This time around, well, the year 2003 is apparently considered long enough ago to merit an entire movie aimed towards Gen Z, where teenaged characters travel back a whopping 20 years to a long-ago time of low-rise jeans, Walkmans (look it up, kids), and needle drops of Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday." Every Millennial reading this probably just felt a chill go up their spine.

"Time Cut" is the latest Netflix movie that has found its (very, very young) audience on the major streaming platform, thanks in no small part to stars Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry, and Griffin Gluck. The film comes from writer/director Hannah MacPherson and co-writer Michael Kennedy, the latter of whom also was a co-writer of 2020's Kathryn Newton-starring body-swap horror-comedy "Freaky" (which /Film's Chris Evangelista reviewed here and called "the best, and most inventive, slasher movie since 'Scream'"). "Time Cut" was first announced back in 2021 with one of the most appealing elevator pitches you'll ever hear: "Back to the Future" meets "Scream." Three years later, the movie has finally made its debut and, not surprisingly, Netflix subscribers are tuning in en masse. Reliable data-wrangler website FlixPatrol reports that the movie has jumped all the way to the very top of the platform's Top 10 list as of today, November 4, 2024, leading the pack in terms of both "hours viewed" and total viewers.

But what's fueling this rapid rise in viewership? Is it only positive word of mouth, or perhaps a little bit of controversy on the side?

Every time Hollywood tries to recreate an era that a significant amount of moviegoers actually lived through, you can expect a fair amount of pushback. Boomers and Gen X have gone through this countless times before thanks to movies and shows featuring flattened, one-dimensional depictions of any time period between the '50s through the '80s and, most recently, the 1990s. Now, it's Millennials who are now crying foul at the glossy, yet (allegedly) inauthentic representation of the early aughts as seen in "Time Cut" — and it's causing a bit of a stir on social media. Consider this a cinematic rite of passage, folks.

"Time Cut" debuted on Netflix on October 30, 2024, and follows Lucy (Bailey), a high school senior whose older sister Summer (Gentry) was a victim of a serial killer 20 years ago. When Lucy stumbled upon a time machine and is thrown back to a time when her sister was still alive, she attempts to save her from her would-be murderer and change the future in the process. In no time at all, however, users took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to voice their displeasure:

I don't know how to explain it but this feels like what a 10 year thinks 2003 was like and not actually what it was like. There's something unauthentic about it. There's something missing https://t.co/gNOVUqPSaY

— Make Oxtail Cheap Again (@simsimmaaz) October 31, 2024

One of the more viral posts lobbed the most popular criticism at the trailer for the movie, saying: "I don't know how to explain it but this feels like what a 10 year thinks 2003 was like and not actually what it was like. There's something unauthentic about it. There's something missing." Users were quick to respond in the affirmative, claiming that those of us who actually remember the 2000s don't recall it looking anything like how it's shown in the film. Is that a deal-breaker? It shouldn't be! Even if this is a bit of a misrepresentation, there's absolutely nothing unique about this particular instance. Hollywood has been playing fast and loose with period details for as long as cinema has been a medium. It's just our turn to finally cry foul.

You can check out "Time Cut" right now and see for yourself, as it's currently streaming on Netflix.