When the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” returns 35 years after his first murder spree to claim another victim, 17-year-old Jamie accidentally travels back in time to 1987, determined to stop the killer before he can start.
Pam says
Imagine mashing together “Back to the Future” and “Halloween” and you’ve got “Totally Killer,” a witty, smart, and sometimes brutal time travel movie. Starring Kiernan Shipka as Jamie, a typical teenager who wants to hang with her best friends on Halloween night whose mom, Pam (Julie Bowen), freaks out on this holiday every year. You see, 35 years ago, The Sweet 16 Killer murdered her three best friends. Jamie then finds her mom brutally murdered by the return of this killer on this dreaded holiday. And now, the killer is after Jamie and she is running for her life. As luck would have it, Jamie’s best friend Amelia (Kelsey Mawema) has built a time machine for a science project and Jamie is able to escape the killer via time travel. Of course, she lands smack dab in the middle of 1987, days before the murders began. Can she find and stop the killer in time to save these girls and more importantly, her mother?
“Totally Killer” starts off light and almost silly, but as Pam is murdered, that levity quickly changes to horror. The writers play with the lightness of humor and the darkness of murder to create a well-balanced movie filled with laughter and dread. While there are several murderous moments, there’s more commentary about how times have changed and as we witness Jamie changing, we don’t seem to focus on the gruesomeness of it all.
The real fun begins when Jamie meets her mom and her clique of friends back in ’87. She takes complete advantage of the laxness of the era and enrolls herself in her mom’s school as a foreign exchange student…from Canada. Meeting Mom as a teen has its own comedic elements and Jamie’s quick-thinking backstory helps her insinuate into this tight-knit circle.
In fact, every official action is easy as pie, showing us that just 40 years ago, the world truly was a different place.
Jamie learns more than she could have imagined about her mom, allowing her to see her in a different light. She also grows up a bit herself as she better understands who her mother was; longing to bring her back and never take her for granted again.
We spend most of our time in 1987 where the teenagers Pam (Olivia Holt), Tiffany (Liana Liberato), Lauren (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson) and Marisa (Steph Chin-Salvo) party, talk, and bully others. Jamie possesses incredible maturity compared to this group of girls and her intelligence allows her to manipulate them all. Their conversations are what hook us as — if you’re around my age — they bring us back to a more innocent time, but one could argue that perhaps it really wasn’t better in many ways.
Shipka’s deadpan, nonchalant manner creates its own comedy as she perceives each situation and reacts accordingly, adding to this already smart script. The writers, doing a stellar job of balancing the tone and using commentary about the era with have plenty of “gotcha” moments as they recognize all the horror movies that came before. Additionally, all that tone shifting make every scene a lot of fun as they’re filled with surprises. I found myself laughing out loud and then gasping in horror. Shipka is a delight as Jamie and the younger version of the adults do an incredible job of pulling off their roles in a believable way as they tap into the fashion and vernacular of the 80’s.
3 Stars
I had a great deal of fun with Nahnatchka Khan’s “Totally Killer,” and I imagine most people my age will. However, if you didn’t live through 1980’s, you might not appreciate it as much as those who lived through “the decade of decadence.” This time travel, horror parody drops the viewer right into that era and if you know nothing about Devo, Gordon Gecko, or Atari, you’re likely to be as lost as Sam Beckett in the time space continuum. Still, a delightful turn from Kiernan Shipka may keep you hooked, the young actor bringing the right amount of snark and irony to the film.
The setting is the New England town of North Vernon where a series of killings took place 35 years earlier. Seems three 16-year-olds were each stabbed 16 times, the assailant’s identity hidden under a grotesque Max Headroom-like mask. Never apprehended, the murderer’s presence looms over the community. Now, it seems as though he’s returned, attacking and slaying Pam Hughes (Julie Bowen), who was best friends with the other three victims in high school.
Obviously, this turns her daughter Jamie’s (Shipka) world upside down. However, as fate and screenwriters David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver and Jen D’Angelo would have it, our young heroine inadvertently steps into a carnival attraction that’s been converted into a time machine by her friend Amelia (Kelcey Mawema), while she’s being chased by the killer. Sure enough, it takes her back to 1987 on the eve of the first slayings.
One clever bit trips on the heels of another as we witness Jamie’s culture shock. She’s aghast at the wonton cruelty of dodgeball in gym class, can’t believe how lax everyone is with their personal information, and frowns throughout at the casual bullying that takes place. However, meeting her mean girl mother (Olivia Holt) and himbo father (Charlie Gillespie) as teens is what proves truly shocking. Jamie’s reaction to their and their peers’ promiscuous nature is continuous and never gets old, her 2023 outlook on relationships running counter to her folks’ more free-wheeling approach.
Jamie’s efforts to prevent the initial three killings, surprisingly, prove ineffective, yet that doesn’t mean that a tragic ending is assured. Where there’s time travel, there’s a way and how everything turns out is inspired. Briskly told and enthusiastically rendered, “Killer’s” ironic gaze at the 80’s, as well as, the slasher genre is an unexpected delight, a genuine treat among the plethora of genre entries that inundate viewers this time of year.
3 Stars
