Scissors (2025) – Film Review
Scissors is short horror film that was released direct to the internet on January 1, 2025. Produced in the United States by Sparks Entertainment, it’s intended to be a tribute to slasher movies from the 70s and 80s. It’s not in the same league as classics such a Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, and it has many flaws, but Scissors is a fun film that many viewers may enjoy.
Strangely, as a slasher film, Scissors struggles to make the grade. Although there are a few bloody scenes, viewers who watch a lot of slasher films may find Scissors a little too tame because the blood smears and spurting blood aren’t that realistic. The quality of the acting is a more universal turn off. It’s so terrible that I have to wonder if it is deliberately so—perhaps to pay homage to low-quality B-movies such as The Toolbox Murders and Slumber Party Massacre.
Most of the action centers around, college student, Courtney (Jill Kassidy), who becomes a primary target of a serial killer named Scissors the Clown.
The film begins with a short introductory section set in 2019, at the Hinsdale county fair, where Scissors is busty doing his thing. Then the story moves to Los Angeles, in 2023, where a hot lady called Tiffany (Katie Morgan) is multitasking in her kitchen. In addition to preparing a meal, she is flashing her assets via a live-cam website, where her fans are encouraging her to go extra spicy. Things get nasty when Scissors joins the chat, and, after introducing himself, tells Tiffany he’s going to cut her throat. Shortly afterward, the lovely Tiffany is lying dead in a pool of blood on the floor, and it looks like all that food prep was for nothing.
Courtney is introduced in the following scene. She’s attending a therapy session, where she tells her psychiatrist (Alex Coal) she’s been having nightmares about Scissors, who recently attacked her and some of her friends during a party. This is the cue for a somewhat surreal dream sequence featuring Courtney cavorting on a bed in front of her phone, while a creepy clown statue (Scissors) quietly watches from a chair. The scene is obviously inspired by the urban legend with a similar theme, and actually works quite well.
The rest of the film is told in flashback as Courtney explains more about how her situation with the killer clown arose. She’d been having the dreams before she even went to the party, causing her to oversleep and arrive late for her psychology class. Noticing her distress, Courtney’s best friend, Kendra (Avery Jane), invites her to the topless bar she works, so they can have a girl’s night out when her shift if over. After Courtney arrives at the bar, her friend tells her she can stop worrying about Scissors because the police have him in custody. The focus of the film then shifts to an abysmal interrogation scene that boasts some of the worst acting and dialogue I’ve ever encountered. Being such a badass clown, Scissors kills three police detectives, escapes from the precinct, then crashes the party at the booby bar, and has a stab at Courtney after all.
The fact that Courtney was having bad dreams before he near fatal encounter with Scissors, initially seems a little odd. As does the clown’s fixation with her, but as the story develops, it emerges the two have had a previous run in.
If you decide to watch Scissors, one of the first things you will notice is the generous helping of bare boobs, but many of the cast members, including writer and director Harry Sparks, are best known for their work in the adult entertainment industry, so perhaps this isn’t surprising. However, unlike many classic slasher film, Scissors has zero sex scenes. There is almost one, between a doctor and nurse, but the killer clown shows up and “cuts” it short.
The soundtrack is on point, you may notice that too. The choice of music is highly reminiscent of the old slasher movies that inspired the film, and the picture quality is excellent. Whoever was behind the camera obliviously knew what they were doing. There is no shakiness, and the footage is always clear and in focus. I particularly like the dream sequence where Courtney is being rushed into surgery. You see a lot of scenes like this in films, and they are usually more or less the same. This one is different. Instead of zooming in on the person on the trolley and the medical staff around it, the camera shows the underside of the trolley and the three pairs of legs that are powering it forward. There’s a similar scene earlier in the film where the camera is set at ankle-level in a busy street.
If you can overlook the poor-quality acting, you may find Scissors has a certain charm. Unfortunately, the ending is ridiculous. It contradicts earlier parts of the film, and may have been cobbled on to stretch it out to a full hour; or simply because Sparks ran out of ideas. The bottom line is, Scissors isn’t perfect, doesn’t even come close, but has many redeeming features, and, although it’s unlikely to scare too many people, it’s still got plenty of entertainment value, along with a certain je ne sais quoi.