Totally Killer (2023) User Reviews

Totally fun!

[vithiet · 7/10 · 23 October 2023]

I'm glad I went in knowing absolutely nothing about it; I thought it was just going to be a vaguely humorous slasher movie so I was very pleasantly surprised!

It was a fun ride from beginning to end that kept me engaged the whole time. The cast is doing a great job and the script has enough originality paired with poking fun at its own clichés that it doesn't feel like reheating the same formula. And the script manages to keep us guessing for the most part of the movie, if not until the end.

So all in all this was a great unexpected find and I do recommend it, especially as an alternative to the usual scary movies for spooky season.

Back to the Future + Scream = Radical 80's Fun

[zack_gideon · 8/10 · 7 October 2023]

What a great film! So happy something like this comes out, juxtaposing life in 1987 vs now. It's very well written and one of my favorite movies of the last few years.

The dialogue is hilarious and the acting is as well. This type of script is hard to create effectively and the writers and director knocked it out of the park. Such a fun movie with enlightened tension and laughs to keep most people going right from the start.

My guess is there will be a sequel to this, because the 80's versions of the adult characters are so freaking great. The lead actress and her high school mother really steal the show the entire time. What a fun movie!!! 8.2/10.

Fun time travel slasher excels thanks to Kiernan Shipka

[adotson-98233 · 7/10 · 6 October 2023]

"Totally Killer" is basically a "Back to the Future" type slasher movie and it succeeds quite often in what it does.

Starting with the good the best part of this movie is by far Kiernan Shipka. She is great in the movie and her character as well is very likeable and extremely funny. Everyone else in the movie is also quite good. The comedy in the movie is really well done for the most part. The movies got some plentiful bloody moments that had me satisfied. Along with that I thought the directing was also pretty good. There's some fun chase scenes and a pretty fun final act I felt the pacing as well was very good, it starts at pretty fast and doesn't really stop. And finally I thought they captured the 80's aesthetic very well.

Now this isn't a perfect movie and unfortunately it does have a few issues. Starting with the films plot holes. There are quite a few plot holes that are raised in the finale that weren't really explained. I thought the other characters aside from the lead were rather unlikable, well acted but still. I wish there was a couple more sequences with the killer as he actually isn't in the movie much for the middle portion. And finally the killer I felt was very obvious, they didn't do the best job at hiding it.

Overall despite some plot holes and a pretty obvious killer, I thought that this movie was still a pretty good time. It's well acted, has good comedy, and some decent kills.

It's not bad...

[bangel3322 · 6/10 · 7 October 2023]

I was expecting this film to be a lot funnier. It isn't easy to do horror comedy and this fell flat in a few places. It was slightly ruined by all the PC references all throughout and it made the movie really aggravating. The main character calls out people for calling others fat, calls out racism, calls out homophobic people, a reporter comments on how strange it is to see men showing emotion....it's all just a bit much. Even Kiernan Shipka couldn't save this. She should have swapped roles with Olivia Holt. Might have been slightly better. Nevertheless I liked the end reveal, and parts of it were funny, but it had way more potential.

Murder is so 1987

[MB-reviewer185 · 7/10 · 7 October 2023]

This movie is combined with slasher movies like Scream (1996) with the time traveling of the movie Back to the Future (1985) along with it being a horror comedy, and that is why I saw this movie. The movie Totally Killer (2023) was a fun and entertaining slasher movie with an interesting idea, good performances, an entertaining killer, and some funny moments; but there are some slight issues with the movie involving the use of the time traveling or the slasher part of the movie. Also, the whole 1987 setting when she goes to the past was well done, and felt like we were in that year, even when certain things are exaggerated for the movie.

I liked the main character Jamie Hughs played by Kiernan Shipka and thought she did an excellent job as this teenager accidentally going back in time and trying to stop this killer; I also liked how Jamie and her younger mom, played by Olivia Holt, bonded despite not knowing that much about the year 1987 or 2023. Jamie Hughs's teenage mom played by Olivia Holt was also good in the movie, and much like the other teenage versions of people Jamie knows, they are either unlikable or annoying, but you can tell that it is intentional because they are teenagers in the 80's.

The Sweet Sixteen Killer had a simple looking design with a weird mask, and 80's looking clothes; he stabs people sixteen times, and it is cool seeing him killing people, but I would have liked to see more variety on how he kills someone than just stabbing them. Though it was entertaining to watch him show up to kill people, I would have liked more of him, because there were moments in the movie that I wanted him to show up in. I liked the use of time traveling in this, but it was explained too much on how it works, when they could have used it more; the movie was funny at times with it making fun of certain things in the 80's and referencing Back to the Future (1985) on how time works.

The reveal of the killer could have been better, but the movie has a fun fight against the killer and a cool third act climax on spinning ride at an amusement park. Despite some of the issues, Totally Killer (2023) was a fun and entertaining horror comedy like Happy Death Day (2017) or Freaky (2020) that people would like if they liked those movies; there might people who do not like horror comedies with some people just wanting a horror movie and some just wanting a comedy movie, but as long as you have fun and are entertained by the movie then you will like it.

A fun watch... totally!

[vqurxpnpy · 7/10 · 8 October 2023]

If you're into campy slasher movies and 80's films you will love this movie. I started watching this without any preconceived notions but realized quickly that it would be a sort of Scream/John Hughes hybrid.

I was pleasantly surprised with all the throw back memories and innuendo. It is completely cheesy but that good cheesy that can make you miss a time/memory and yet still have room for that comedic killer feel.

It's not a perfect movie and doesn't claim to be but it is fun and will keep you entertained for almost two hours. Honestly, I wish there were more movies like this and I certainly wouldn't be mad if there was a part two.

Halloween meets Back To The Future

[lisafordeay · 6/10 · 6 October 2023]

Totally Killer is a 2023 slasher horror starring Kiernan Shipka(Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina),Olivia Holt(Girl Vs Monster),Lochlyn Munro (White Chicks)and Julie Brown(Tangled Animated Series).

The plot follows a 17 year old girl named Jamie(Shipka) who is grieving the death of her mother Pam(Bowen) who was faithfully stabbed by a masked figure(sporting a Billy Idol mask)on Halloween night. When the masked killer tries to get Jamie,she runs into her friends invention,a photobooth that happens to be a time travelling machine and travels to 1987 to meet her mother and stop the killer from killing teenagers(especially 16 year old girls).

Now Jamie must find out who the masked killer is and who is behind the mask?.

Overall if you like Halloween,Back To The Future(which is mentioned alot in this film) and Scream then you'll get a kick out of this film. Not original but it's still a decent flick. Available now on Amazon Prime.

Finds a great balance between the comedy and horror

[jtindahouse · 9/10 · 30 September 2023]

This movie ticked all the boxes for me. A genuinely funny whodunnit with some great suspense scenes and likeable characters everywhere you look. That's basically the summation of my ideal film. This one was a blast.

The time travel between 2023 and 1987 opens up some great opportunities for comedy, pointing out the differences between the two time periods. The film does a great job of taking advantage of these without over-doing it.

It's a film that finds a really good balance in almost all areas. For example, when you are balancing comedy and horror it can be easy to lean too far in one direction and take away from the other when those scenes come up. That isn't the case here. When the film is funny, it is funny. When it is trying to be suspenseful, it is suspenseful. One genre never feels like it gets in the way of the other.

The best thing this film has going for it though are the characters. Every single character in this movie is perfectly crafted. The ones who are meant to be likeable are extremely likeable. The ones who are meant to be despicable are truly despicable. There are no throwaway characters. Even the adults are well crafted and fleshed out.

'Totally Killer' was a great film to see in the cinema at Fantastic Fest on closing night. The audience all seemed to love it and I was right there with them having a great time myself. 9/10.

Totally filler

[karlevans-75682 · 6/10 · 10 October 2023]

I wanted so much to like this after reading good and bad reviews.

There is so much to like and dislike about this horror comedy come time travel movie.

The idea which is pretty cool but executed pretty badly there is a total lack of comedy and a total lack of horror it plods along from one skit to the next, the only saving grace is the lead aka sabrina spellman from the previously rebooted sabrina the teenage witch series who plays the wise beyond her years Jamie thrust back into 1987 by a very cool time travel photo booth!

From there on in its a sub scream parody with some annoying teenagers getting wasted along the way as Jamie tries to stop a time travelling serial killer.

The end sequence on the quantum drop fairground ride is by far the best part of the movie.

If you have a spare hour and forty minutes free I recommend a rainy Sunday afternoon watch. It won't win any awards that's for sure!

Yeah the 80s Got It All Wrong

[kiranmpat · 4/10 · 13 October 2023]

This movie is average at best. They tried to make it fun by mixing classic 80s slasher movies with wholesome 80s movies such as Back to the Future but the execution fails.

The 80s weren't that bad. It makes 80s kids seem like Neanderthals who had no idea of political awareness and how everything was so messed up. Smoking in cars, calling kids fat, popular kids poking fun at other kids, the list goes on.

80s kids got it all wrong and only this generation can save them seems to the message. It's a bit misguided and seems like Gen Z person wrote the script.

Hope to see a movie in 40 years about how the 2020s got it all wrong.

Fun and entertaining

[sparklefish · 8/10 · 18 October 2023]

This movie was a lot of fun to watch. If you went to highschool in the 1980s it's especially enjoyable. I don't know if younger people would be as entertained or even get all the references. For me, most of the delight was in seeing all the nostalgic details. The Molly Ringwald styling was perfect, but again, would be lost on someone who didn't have their teenage years filled with John Hughes films.

I liked the soundtrack, clothes, makeup, and hair that looked just like the 1980s.

Kiernan did a great job as Jamie. She's very pretty and has and expressive face.

This movie was just the right length too.

It makes me want to be young again!

[holliebarnwell · 7/10 · 6 October 2023]

With a few familiar faces, this generic horror/ comedy suites a younger generations of teens who haven't watched a 1000 of these movies. I mean it's not a bad movie and it's tried to be different with time travel, but, it's just the usual teen slasher, "who did it?", type movie. It is enjoyable and it would make a great Halloween sleepover movie for a group of girls. I mean it makes me want to be young again, eat popcorn and tell ghost stories with a torch under my chin. It has jump scares and some moments that people may find funny. As the film goes on I started to enjoy it more and have upped my score. It's a fun watch. I recommend you to watch this movie.

Wow everyone. The 80's sure were PROBLEMSTIC!

[Ottodane · 4/10 · 11 October 2023]

Where do I start? I guess I'll start with the good stuff. The movie is a lot of fun, as much as it could be, with the premise that likely will make a lot of people click like I did. It's Back to the Future meets a horror slasher comedy, and for the most part, they do pretty well with that premise. It's briskly paced, if not rushed in certain scenes, and the whodunit mystery can be fun to pick a part, if not a little obvious by near the end.

Now, for what I didn't like. I love horror comedies. (I much prefer movies that are 80% horror with a dash of funny, not the other way around, which this is, but I'll take it.) They shouldn't go well together, but I think most people can attest that they do if done right. But a huge part of that of course, is the comedy being funny. If the movie isn't funny, Then all we are left with is a horror movie that's not scary because it's trying so hard to be funny, and a comedy that's not funny because, well, it's trying so hard to be funny

So why is this movie not funny? Well actually it can be. About 10% of the jokes are pretty damn decent and landed for me, simply because they didn't have anything to do with what the rest of the 90% of the jokes had to do with. Which is basically "wow everybody, the 80s sure were problematic weren't they?!" That's right people. Misogynistic people run rampant! The racists are in the streets! There is unwanted, touching everywhere at the smokers smoke indoors! And it is up to our hero Kiernan Shipka to stand up to all of it with... unfunny retorts and perplexed faces. Seriously I'm not kidding, at least 90% of the jokes are just her going "you can't say that," or "woah that's not okay!"

Before I go any further on this topic, let me be clear. I'm as progressive as the next person. I stand for all the change in the world but I think almost movie goers, progressive or not, can agree that there is a time and place for these kinds of politics and sometimes we just want to have fun at the movies and not be pandered to or talked down to. That being said, the 80s were indeed different (I know who knew??) and a couple well placed jokes about that could've been actually really funny, and do belong in a movie with this premise. But the movie makes it's whole comedy half about JUST that and it gets so old so fast. Like we get it movie the 80s were a different time! Please move on to another joke instead of repeating the same one over and over repackaged.

There is literally a joke in this movie where a female character invites some guys to a party, and when Kiernan gets mad because they're supposed to stay isolated, the other character goes "what you thought we were just going to lez out all weekend?" To which Kiernan responds with, and I'm not kidding: "gross. I mean what you said was gross. Not gay people. Gay people are amazing, your comment had homophobic undertones."

.... I mean come on guys. Really? Honestly, I would love to list word for word so many of the other jokes like this to show just how ridiculous and incessant they get, but I definitely don't have time for that and this is a review, not a total breakdown, so if you really wanna know for yourself, go watch the movie. You'll likely be annoyed like I was, but underneath all that, you'll also likely have fun like I did.

I certainly don't want my time back, I don't regret watching it, and I would recommend it to most people, but with the warning that the "comedy" might just get under your skin, and the horror will definitely NOT do that at all.

A fun time-travel slasher movie

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 13 October 2023]

In 1987 three teenage girls, part of a group of friends, were murdered by the ‘Sweet Sixteen’ killer in the quiet town of Vernon. In the present these unsolved murders are still the most famous thing to have happened there. Pam Hughes was the fourth member of the group of friends; now she has her own teenage daughter, Jamie, who she is nervous about letting go out alone. One night when Jamie is out a masked killer murders Pam; it would appear that the Sweet Sixteen Killer is back! Jamie uses a time machine invented by her friend to return to 1987 and try to stop the killings and thus save her mother. Not only must she get close to her mother and her friends, she must find a way to get back to the present… and avoid becoming another victim of the killer.

I thought this was a lot of fun. There are plenty of laughs to be had but it avoids becoming a spoof of the genre. There is a real sense of danger and some moderately gory deaths. There are plenty of nods to well-known films of the time; most obviously ‘Back to the Future’ which is directly referenced several times. Tonally it has more in common with high-school movies and ‘Scream’ than the slasher films of the era; they tended to be much scarier and unpleasant. The characters are fun and the cast does a solid job; I particularly liked Kiernan Shipka, who played Jamie. I know some people were put off my Jamie’s criticisms of ‘80s attitudes and behaviour but it didn’t particularly bother me as it hardly effected the story. Overall a fun film for fans of the genre; if you liked ‘Happy Death Day’ and ‘Freaky’ you are likely to enjoy this.

Do without all the PC/social nonsense

[ctufan24 · 6/10 · 9 October 2023]

The film is almost a knockoff of Hot Tub Time Machine 2; Where someone(s) travel back in time to stop a killer. The film is mostly enjoyable but all the pc/social nonsense referenced by Shipka's character was unnecessary... you got her going off on a school Native American mascot being rascist, a jock being the door check guy letting certain folks in and he pushes her away and she has to go "unwanted touch, unwanted touch, her going off on the nerd being bullied by the jock, her criticizing P. E. dodgeball as being "illegal" because of its intensity... it makes me sad if PE in schools has become that delicate.

Nahnatchka Khan's playfully dark slasher comedy wears its influences on its sleeve, but what it does with is wonderfully entertaining

[IonicBreezeMachine · 7/10 · 7 October 2023]

In 1987, the town of Vernon saw the deaths of three 16 year-old girls by a masked killer known only as The Sweet Sixteen Killer that has left its legacy on the town even 35 years later. Jamie Hughes (Kiernan Shipka) has a strained relationship with her mom Pam (Julie Bowen) who continually worries for Jamie as it was her friends who were killed by the Sweet Sixteen Killer. When the killer returns years later, he successfully murders Pam despite her best efforts with Jamie devastated by her loss. The killer reappears once more with sights on Jamie and seeking shelter in her best friend Amelia's (Kelcey Mawema) time machine made from a photo booth based on her mom's plans is accidently sent back to 1987 the day the murders began. Now with the opportunity to stop the murders before they happen, Jamie teams up with Amelia's teen mother Lauren (Troy Leigh-Anne) to stop the killer from targeting her teen mom Pam Miller (Olivia Holt) and her circle of friends whose attitudes make them easy targets.

Totally Killer is the sophomore feature of Nahnatchka Khan whose work in comedy can be seen in everything from Pepper Ann to more recent work on Fresh off the Boat and Young Rock and previously directed the very enjoyable Always Be My Maybe. Essentially a mash-up of Back to the Future by way of The Final Girls, Totally Killer may be made from familiar parts but shows that when properly assembled it can still result in a really good time.

Being made by someone who specializes in comedy, Totally Killer is very upfront about its nature as an over-the-top comedy first and foremost. Very much inspired by the over-the-top fashion in which Back to the Future portrayed the 50s, Totally Killer does the same with the 80s including but not limited to the cultural attitudes, the attire, and even the fact that the killer's mask looks not unlike Max Headroom. The movie creates a playful world of proud silliness including the very casual way that it drops how Amelia's high school science project is a time machine and the writing by David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, and Jen D'Angelo is filled with amusing characters and setups that are well-directed by Khan who shows a good handling of the material. The movie also features a solid emotional core with Kiernan Shipka's Jamie teaming up with her mother Olivia Holt's Pam that leads to both humor and touching character work, and while it does invite comparisons to similar takes such as The Final Girls or Happy Death Day, it finds its own voice in the material that keeps it from feeling like a case of "deja view".

I was pleasantly surprised by Totally Killer and thought it was a fun and diverting comedy that took playful advantage of its high concept premise. While it does wear its influences proudly upon its sleeve and even namedrops them, Totally Killer shows that as long as you're good a little familiarity is forgivable or even welcome.

PC parody and comedy horror

[Christopher370 · 7/10 · 23 October 2023]

Before watching this I read some reviews of others being offended by the blatant PC of the lead character and I was all set to hate the film because I didn't want my beloved 80's being infected by it.

Perhaps it was just my perspective, but what I saw was PC being parodied throughout the film. The lead character Jamie travels to 1987 from 2023 and comes off like an overly sensitive imbecile when she arrives, immediately checking everyone that she crosses paths with for their oh so ignorant 1980's ways.

And thankfully, the 80's characters weren't made to look like idiots either because most of them checked her right back against her stick in the mud PC ways. I loved how they held their own when faced with her absurd 21st century scolding and it was so refreshing to see characters fighting back to the silliness of it.

When Jamie got all bent out of shape when she saw the carload of guys drive up to the cabin when it was supposed to be just the girls night together, the 80's girl replies to her "Did you think we were gonna lez out all weekend?" I howled with laughter at that, but 21st century PC Jamie chastises her for saying such a hateful homophobic slur. Please. This gay viewer found the comment hysterical and I cringe so much when straight people like her decide to speak for me as to what comments should be considered "homophobic". Unless you're gay yourself, you really have no right to define it for me. Her "lez out" line was damn funny.

She makes these stupid PC comments throughout the film and tries to correct everyone but comes off as an overly sensitive idiot. This is why I think it's purposely done as a parody of the PC nonsense because she sounded so dumb when she opened her mouth.

The overall story here was pretty similar to 2015's "The Final Girls" (which I loved) mixed with "Back to the Future" with a little bit of "Scream" thrown into the mix and I enjoyed the plot of finding the killer and trying to prevent the 1987 murders.

I have only 2 nitpicks of the movie. First was the scene where the police refuse the blood samples of the killer. Jamie mentions DNA which was certainly in use by police by 1987. A simple Google search will tell you that, so the police would have surely known what DNA was and wouldn't have tossed the evidence on the floor while laughing like idiots. Really sad writing there. Didn't these writers even bother to fact check these simple things?!

***MINOR SPOILER COMING*** And then there's a twist revealed at the end while on the gravity ride that seemed to be just thrown in for twist sake and it only complicated things. I liked how the killer was unmasked before the twist occurred and I think they should have just left it at that. What happened after we found out who the killer is was just a little too reminiscent of "Scream" for me and i'm so over those tired Scream type twists because the movie didn't need it.

All in all I thought it was a fun movie and nothing here offended me because I felt they were actually making fun of PC stuff rather than desecrating my beloved 80's with it.

I'm an 80's teen myself and was all set to despise this film but I actually found it funny, fast paced and even endearing in some parts. I think they could have spent a little more time getting the late 80's styles right, but it's another small nitpick. 7/10.

FUN HORROR GEM!!

[loganps · 9/10 · 6 October 2023]

October is my favorite month because a flood of horror movies get released. If I'm lucky, one or two of them will be solid. I'm thrilled to report this movie was one of those awesome gems. Not what I expected...and I loved it!

It's this Back to the Future and 1980's slasher hybrid that completely satisfies! Exciting, fresh, clever, and a lot of fun!

There was some sharp and funny humor right from the start. Then it takes you on a journey. A ridiculous, wild, unexpected horror filled journey. I found the balance between humor and horror was blended perfectly. Just sit back and enjoy the ride!!

Avoid the knife, keep your life..

[allankaaber · 7/10 · 21 December 2023]

How can anyone not love this film? I know it's not as scary as other movies in the same genre, but it's really funny. The film is full of funny oneliners and I love the way it makes fun of the wokeculture and portrays the '80s as a simpler time when people lived freely without being burdened by politically correct social norms.

At the same time, the film uses a bunch of cool movie references that many teenagers today might not even notice.

I love movies that carry this refreshing '80s undertone. The energy, set design, soundtracks, and the acting, especially from the lead actor, elevate this film to a solid rating of 7/10.

A fun 1980s time travel and slasher homage

[lenaluthor-66895 · 8/10 · 6 October 2023]

Possible spoilers below!

A not-very gory good time with a few decent kills thrown in! The time travel element is certainly not new (in fact, both "Back to the Future" and "Avengers: Endgame" are explicitly mentioned by the heroine) but still well worth a watch. Although superficially similar to "The Final Girls" (2015), the two plots are dissimilar enough that I didn't feel like I was watching a rip-off. This film is also more explicitly comedic than "The Final Girls" (although, yes, that one has its moments, too). In fact, toneally this really reminded me of the underrated "Freaky" (2020). That film screened back to back with this one would be one hell of a double feature for ages 14 and up, actually.

Actors are all solid, particularly the young women playing the 1987 versions of the characters.

Kills are very '80s slasher style: brutal but not particularly explicit. Not a lot of suspense otherwise. I honestly think the filmmakers were consciously choosing the comedic beats over thrilling ones.

Costume and set design were stellar!!! As someone who was indeed in high school in the year in which this film is set, trust me, nothing about the 1980s gets made fun of here that doesn't well deserve being made fun of, or that we Gen Xers don't already make fun of, like, all the time.

There were even a few good plot twists I didn't see coming.

And, hey, is it me, or is the killer's mask a loose rendition of "David," the vampire character played by Keifer Sutherland in 1987's "The Lost Boys"? The moulded hair and earring would seem to suggest it: would be awesome if true!

It's like if Gen Z made a film about the 80s and no clue what they were doing, never lived through the 80s and got everything wrong. Imagine that and you have this film.

[fluffchop · 6/10 · 24 March 2024]

No representation of Heavy Metal kids. In the 1987 metal was king. You would expect to see plenty of black t-shirts with bands on them.

Nobody is dressing up like Molly Ringwald. That's just crazy.

The flannel shirt and haircut with all of it the one length of her dad when he's young is straight out of 1994. Long hair wasn't like that in the 80s it was a lot more mullet like. Think hair bands or Mel Gibson in lethal weapon.

A big problem with this film is that it wasn't made in the Valley. If you're going to call it totally killer you would expect to see a big valley girl clique with 80s haircuts and hair. All they needed to do was view weird science to see how the 80s was. This movie is like they did no research and never lived through the 80s. Also the music was so mainstream 80s and no kids would listen to that.

Anyway. As a movie it's not sure if it's a time travel movie or a horror. It fails at both pretty much and doesn't have much if any comedy. Maybe I don't think much of this film. It's really pretty boring like if Gen Z decided to make a film about the 80s and had no clue whatsoever what they were doing. I know it's a stretch right :P.

Feels redacted

[prizm4 · 4/10 · 13 October 2023]

It's like they had a good script, but were forced to give it to some SJW writer who scribbled all over it with a red pen. Every time someone says something 'inappropriate', the main character has to tell the person how offensive or unacceptable the remark was. God forbid the audience make up their own mind whether they feel 'offended' by a fat joke.

It felt like the movie was breaking the fourth wall every time this happened.

And do we really need more of this western hollywood trope where the main young female is a snarky, rude smartass, and her guy friends are usually portrayed as stuttering, ball-less wimps?

You also had to really suspend your disbelief when the movie tries to make you think that these girls knew anything about science. C'mon. That aspect and some other production quality issues could've been executed a lot better (CGI blood was poor, and every time there's a song playing outside or in a house, they never edit the music to make it sound like it's coming from a car or from a room in the house).

But overall it's not a bad watch if you can handle the cringy moments. I rate it a little higher for the 80s characters and some of their great lines (there's a good script underneath it all).

Kiernan Shipka arrives

[ferguson-6 · 6/10 · 5 October 2023]

Fantastic Fest 2023 Greetings again from the darkness. All Hallows' Eve approaches, so we know to expect the latest from Blumhouse Productions. What we didn't expect was a rare blend of comedy, horror, science fiction, and time-travel wrapped in 1980's nostalgia. Director Nahnatchka Khan ("Fresh Off the Boat" creator) and a trio of co-writers, David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, Jen D'Angelo (HOCUS POCUS 2, 2022), deliver a film that pays tribute to many that have come before, most notably BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) and HALLOWEEN (1978). Or maybe it's HOT TUB TIME MACHINE (2010) and SCREAM (1996). Either way, it's a good ride as we poke fun at the culture of 1987.

Jamie (Kiernan Shipka, "Mad Men") is a teenager fed up with her overprotective mom (Julie Bowen, "Modern Family"). However, this mom has history on her side when it comes to being protective. It's Halloween night, and thirty-five years ago, three girls in North Vernon, all friends of hers, were stabbed sixteen times. These days, the most popular Halloween costume in Vernon is that of the 'Sweet Sixteen Killer" ... all black attire and a creepy blonde mask (one that seems like we should recognize, but I didn't).

Of course, it's this year that the killer returns to claim another victim. While being pursued by the masked killer, Jamie heads to the rundown amusement park where the school science fair is set up. In my day, most science projects were done with a poster board and colored pens. Times have changed, and Jamie's smart friend Lauren (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson) has transformed a photo booth into a time travel machine. Although it hasn't previously worked, the killer's knife plunging into the control panel sends Jamie back to 1987, where she meets her high school aged mother (Olivia Holt) and tries to prevent the original tragedy from ever occurring.

It's at this point that the nostalgia kicks in. Most would agree the 1980's was not a pretty time, and it's even more cringe-inducing now. Pam is in a 'Mean Girls' type group called The Mollys (because they worship 80's icon Molly Ringwald), and there are cracks about the music, the clothes, and cocaine. But the best part is seeing how Jamie is aghast at the insensitivity and lack of political correctness in the era. Security is so lax, she easily passes as a Canadian exchange student, and spends an inordinate amount time telling people they shouldn't say or do something that was commonplace in the 80's and outlawed these days.

The expected wise cracks counterbalance the violent murders, and for the most part, the film works just fine as an entertaining and fun trip down memory lane. As a bonus, it gives Kiernan Shipka a lead role that she can build upon.

Available on Prime Video beginning October 6, 2023.

Not a bad flick at all

[subxerogravity · 7/10 · 7 October 2023]

Totally Killer is a pretty good film. I was not sure what to make it at first but as it turned out it's a pretty good slasher film.

It's funny that the movie makes a reference to Scream because it was very unique in the way it deals with the slasher and well as the slasher's victims.

It was interesting to see a 2023 teen try to interact with teens from the 1980s but more general it seems to be about the idea your parents were different people when they had you. If this movie was a little more R Rated the lead character may have had to rip out her 2023 eyes.

Definitely, a fresh fantastic take on the whole slasher genre.

It's just a spoof, don't take it serious just laugh!

[towe-51620 · 7/10 · 8 October 2023]

I laughed my ass off at the absurdity of mixing Back to the Future & Halloween! Even the date she goes back to almost same date October 27th instead of the 26th. I though the 80s were done ok, not over the top but could have done better. Scream also plays into this as the original killer is killed but the guy who kills her mom is from the past but kills her mom in the present. You'll get it, believe me it's not rocket science. You'll enjoy this especially if you were in high school or barely out in 1987 as I was 19. I thoroughly enjoyed this parody and it's certainly better that Riverdale, whom she co starred on as Sabrina the Teen Aged Witch. I would wait til it costs $3, don't waste any more than that. I hope you get a good laugh like I did!