User reviews

Rough Cut is an extremely disturbing and absolutely bone chilling documentary about an amateur filmmaker who agrees to murder his friend's wife to pay for his low budget horror movie. Todd Klick uses interviews with family, friends, police and the cast of the horror film in question, along with news footage, stills and actual footage of the filming of "Hike Through: A Ghost Story" to paint a haunting portrayal of filmmaker Blaine Norris and friend Brian Trimble, who carried out a brutal act that could serve as a plot for any horror film. Klick's documentary is equal parts fascinating and horrifying as it paints a portrait of two Pennsylvania friends who, at first seem like your average film nerds/geeks but, the deeper we are pulled into their worlds and the more we learn about them, we start to find out that they both (especially Norris) are actually two very disturbed individuals. The documentary starts up with Randi Trimble's brutal murder in January 2003 and then traces back to her and Brian Trimble's wedding and Blaine Norris' subsequent quest to make a low budget horror film. We then move forward using the police investigation and the other interviews to gradually unveil how problems in the Trimble marriage and the financial burden of Norris' film brought these two emotionally deranged individuals to plot the vicious murder of Randi Trimble which Norris would agree to carry out in exchange for enough money to pay off his movie debts. This is a very haunting journey filmmaker Klick takes us on from the opening news footage of Mrs. Trimble's murder to the final frames that rest on her grave. It is a true story of two very unhinged men that will stay with you long after the documentary is over. A powerful and deeply affecting film.