‘Totally Killer’ (2023) Review: Slasher Comedy Pays Homage to Genre Movies
Nahnatchka Khan’s Totally Killer blends horror-comedy and slasher elements with obvious references from Back to the Future and Scream. It follows a teenager who travels back in time to find a serial killer and reverse the events to make things right. It is a fun slasher movie that isn’t shy about horror references and understands the silliness of time travel without overcomplicating the rules of it. Khan adds silly rules to keep the focus on the main plot. With connections to other genre movies, the film has campy characters and is a fascinating welcome to October’s spooky Halloween season.
The film begins with Jamie Hughes (Kiernan Shipka), who has a complicated relationship with Pam (Julie Bowen). She is extremely overprotective. Upon Pam’s desire to protect her daughter, she has taken self-defence classes and carries a rape whistle in her bag. While it has strained their relationship, Pam has her reasons. It is because she is a survivor of the 1987 murder of the Sweet Sixteen Killer. Her friends were victims of the serial murderer. On Halloween night, the murderer returns to claim its fourth victim. Jamie accidentally travels back to 1987, days before the Sweet Sixteen Killer strikes its first victim. She teams up with her teen mom (Olivia Holt) to stop the murders before she gets stuck in the past forever.
Putting aside all the Back to the Future references, Totally Killer doesn’t try to question the logic behind time travel. It pokes fun at other time-travelling films and avoids unnecessary expository scenes. Time-travelling stories can be messy, but Khan puts comedy first and horror second, and it’s intentional. Jamie’s best friend, Amelia (Kelcey Mawema), rebuilds the time machine for the science school fair. All of these plot details are important to the story’s development. But Khan doesn’t try to overcomplicate it. Instead, she focuses on Jamie’s conflict of having a limited time to solve the murders.
One of the best aspects of the film is the comedy. Khan doesn’t overdo the comedy but finds the right balance to interject humour, horror, and political correctness because it’s the 80s. Jamie is the character who points out the problematic and toxic rhetoric of the 80s, added with contemporary awareness to bring a few humorous moments. Shipka plays the teenager with an unforgiving attitude. She is the perfect actress to pull off the comedic chops, even if some gags don’t land.
Totally Killer brings in elements from various genre movies, like Back to the Future and Scream, and references them without focusing too much on the technical parts of time travel. Khan doesn’t care to show the most horrifying and slashy moments, and that’s totally fine! It’s a fun slasher movie with campy characters and an incredible cameo performance by Bowen to deliver her ‘Scream Queen’ moment. It is a crowd-pleasing film that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. It is a comedy slasher to watch during the weekend.
Totally Killer is streaming on Prime Video now.
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