Final Cut finds James, a screenwriting student, in a compromising position after a rival student, Adler, steals his screenplay. Unable to prove that Adler plagiarized his script, James and his crew are forced to start from scratch to create an entirely new film in a very short amount of time. Rachel, the film's director and James' longtime girlfriend, suggests that they make a horror film, which prompts James to quickly get to work, researching genre films and the psyche of serial killers. Production gets off to a good start, and things seem to be going swimmingly for the cast and crew. Unfortunately, before the crew can wrap, an actual masked murderer shows up on set... one who is hellbent on bringing their slasher film to life.