PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I can’t help but say that Totally Killer is totally awesome. Guess which buzzword was one of my favorites as a kid in the ’80s?
Ten minutes into the film, I knew I was watching a new favorite. It’s a fun watch, even while navigating some pretty heavy themes. You have these tragic occurrences and intense situations, but there are plenty of laughs in and all throughout.
Jamie Hughes (Kiernan Shipka: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 2020) is the epitome of the modern teenager: socially conscious, everything is “cringe,” knocking on someone’s door when you’re there to see them is rude unless you text first… So needless to say, the disconnect between her and her Gen X parents is vast. But that’s any parent/child relationship, right?
The difference with their situation, though, is that her parents survived a series of brutal murders when they were Jamie’s age. The Sweet 16 Killings targeted three of the local high school’s most popular girls in 1987. They were mom Pam’s (Julie Bowen: Modern Family 2020) best friends and a part of dad Blake’s (Lochlyn Munro: Riverdale 2023) peer group.
So the Hughes are overprotective, to say the least. Especially Pam. But despite all of their precautions, Pam still gets murdered when the Sweet 16 killer suddenly remerges 35 years later.
Things take a crazy turn when Jamie is accidentally transported back to 1987 by her best friend Amelia’s (Kelcey Mawema: Superman and Lois 2023) science fair project… a time machine in a photo booth created from some notes out of her mom Lauren’s (Kimberly Huie: City on Fire 2023) notebook. From there, the laughs don’t stop as Gen Z Jamie navigates 1987, where she ends up finding the motivation to stop her mom’s killer. Without a major spoiler, all I have to say is… dodgeball.
Takeaways
On the more technical side of things, I absolutely love the camera work, color aesthetic, and VFX in Totally Killer. The editing is also on point. The actors’ performances are top-notch, especially the teen versions of the surviving adults. I can only imagine the young actors’ research in prepping for the characters they played. Olivia Holt (Cruel Summer 2021), who played Teen Pam, did especially well channeling the original mean girls Heathers vibe. And it goes without saying that Kiernan Shipka is incredibly dynamic going from detached and annoyed daughter to slasher-fighting badass.
Director Nahnatchka Khan (Always Be My Maybe 2019) did a damn fine job crossing over into the horror realm. And writers Jen D’Angelo (Solar Opposites 2020), Sasha Perl-Raver (Let’s Get Married 2021), and David Matalon (The Clearing 2020) made a pretty great team crafting a multi-layered and engaging story. I do have a couple of questions, though, about Kara Lim’s character and Amelia and Lauren’s roles in the overall story.
Worth the Watch? Totally…
I couldn’t stop laughing and there were so many great little Easter eggs and meta moments. Totally Killer feels like a cross between Scream (1996) and Back to the Future (1985). If you’re not into sci-fi or time travel movies, but dig modern slashers like the original Scream, you’ll enjoy Totally Killer. And of course, if you liked the Happy Death Day films, you will love this film. They have very similar tones and themes.
Totally Killer is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
