Totally Killer joins Happy Death Day (2017) and Freaky (2020) as a welcome addition to an awkward genre that combines the slasher movie with outright comedy.
The story concerns a teen girl named Jamie (Kiernan Shipka). Her mother (Julie Bowen) is murdered in the present day by an assailant dubbed “The Sweet 16 Killer,” whose real identity is unknown. He went on a killing spree back in 1987, and was never caught. Now, it seems he has returned.
Conveniently, Jaime’s friend Amelia (Kelcey Mawema) has invented a time machine for her science project. So Jaime uses that to travel back 36 years to when her mother was a teen (Olivia Holt) so she can stop the criminal during his original reign of terror. Then, Jamie must return to 2023 before she is trapped in the past forever.
Totally Killer is an enjoyable meta-film, cognizant of horror tropes. The combination of self-referential humor and scares can trace its roots to the cult classic Scream. Meanwhile, the time-traveling aspect borrows from Back to the Future. The screenplay is aware of this, and even acknowledges the homage. A social commentary on how life was back in the 1980s compared to the present is a bonus. People smoking in cars or calling kids “fat” are examples. Actually the list of socially unacceptable comments is an ongoing joke.
I preferred the comedic element to the bloody horror. Watching people get stabbed with excessively loud slashing noises is not my cup of tea. However if you can stomach (or even relish) those infrequent moments, this 1980s period piece is intelligent and funny.
Totally Killer was released to Amazon Prime Video on October 6.
10-28-23
One Response
This was very good. Loved all the decade comparisons. Funny too. 3 1/2 stars ⭐️