Totally Killer

• Directed by Nahnatchka Khan
• September 28, 2023 (Fantastic Fest) / October 6, 2023
• Amazon Prime Video

A young woman travels back in time to stop the Sweet 16 Killer who killed her mother’s friends on Halloween in 1987.

Totally Killer is one more in a long line of horror comedies to come out in recent years. Some have worked better than others, and I think this is the one that falls into the category of worked-mostly. The humor we get in this movie is not from a joke with a punchline but rather a culture clash between the eras. Everything from fashion to language is contrasted in a humorous way. I’m not sure if the people behind this intended to demonstrate how racist the 80s were or how much more sensitive we as a culture have become but I took it as the latter and not the former.

They don’t get bogged down in concepts of causality. And you really can’t when it comes to a comedic time travel movie-at least not too much. When you start doing that it becomes very serious. And this is most definitely not aimed at being serious. Even the time machine invented by our hero’s friend is treated as almost a given rather than an amazing invention.

As one would expect in this movie our main character of Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) is stuck in the past because the killer damaged the time machine. And as one would also expect in this movie she goes to her friend’s mother who is the real brains behind the idea in order to get it fixed. A bit of a no to Back to the Future with Doc Brown. It also helps this girl navigate society back in the day and speeds up the narrative since clearly she didn’t pay that close attention to her mother originally.

There is a little bit in the story about a daughter not understanding how much her mother loves her and there is at least one point where the past version of the mother seems to get that she’s talking to her future daughter, but they don’t highlight that too much which I thought would’ve been a nice little touch if you’re going for something emotional there.

They focused on playing with the concept and entertaining and it works. The film manages some good some good twists. And the surprise of who the killer/killers were was great. What got me is that there were clues for who the first killer was mixed in with the clues for the second killer. It is more intelligent at points than expected.

I went into this with relatively low expectations. It’s a streaming movie that was being pushed real hard on social media. It’s surprisingly good. You won’t laugh but you will be thoroughly entertained by the whole film. This would’ve been easily forgotten if it had been released in theaters, but as a streaming movie it stands out.

They create a believable yet fun world with a strong logic even if it is not a serious movie. There are no illogical turns and what gets undone is undone in a way that makes sense. They have enough plausible science (or make it sound such) that you buy what they are selling.

Shipka is a source of occasional harm to the story. She is a bit too condescending to the differences in the era and her character feels a repeated need to try and correct the characters when they say/do something offensive for the modern day. I get why her mother (the young version) and her mother’s friends are the way they are but she does not quite get the idea that nobody in the past will listen. And that correcting becomes excessive.

Totally Killer is a great horror comedy. It’s fun and witty but doesn’t have any strong laughs or heavy gore. With a few creative twists and turns it has fun with the concept and seriously entertains. If you’re looking for something entertaining but not scary this Halloween season this is a good choice. I recommend it.