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 k...
Midterms were stressful and I’m still not entirely out of the clear yet so I’ve distracted myself with a sci-fi slasher film hoping to have some fun before I get back to work. What “Totally Killer” delivers and sells us on here feels like an R-rated Disney Channel Original Movie in both the best and worst of ways: inspired and uninspired, cheap and cheerful in equal measure, charming and embarrassing.
The story had a very intriguing premise riding on it; essentially making Back To The Future as a slasher film a la Friday the 13th with most of the staples of a DCOM: silly concepts, high school hierarchies and corny special effects galore while continuing to take two different generations, two different eras clashing in both their social outlooks and poke fun at both sides. Execution-wise, you can really do worse……but you can also do much better than this. I appreciate how it doesn’t try to overcomplicate the complexities of time travel, indicting it’s aware it’s meant to be dumb and absurd and it’s thankfully fast-paced enough that goes in one ear and pop out the other but there’s no really emotive attempt here to make anything or anyone really matter unfortunately. Heavily lacking in charisma and wit, it doesn’t help that its comedy is mostly pedestrian when it’s not focused on our protagonist being aghast at the political incorrectness of the 1980s. It makes up a vast majority of the film’s ‘funniest’ scenes and while it risks getting stale whenever it pertains to the Gen X vs Gen Z culture shock, the film is self-aware enough to keep that bit simple so it’s not completely cringy.
Not to mention the acting is mostly solid; everyone knows their roles and executes it as well as they can, even if none of the characters stand out AT ALL.
Unfortunately, the movie completely misses its opportunity to deliver on following through with certain character arcs, themes or executions. Sure, the ACTING helps add nuance to certain characters’ dynamics but as far as actual investment to make their growth believable near the end, it’s all rapid fire at breakneck speed. When it does decide to become a horror film, it is vastly underwhelming and when it wants to be a mystery slasher, I argue it’s even more underwhelming. Most of that boils down to the fact that most of the kills lack variety and results in the film growing repetitive REALLY fast, not to mention the ineffective twists and how predictably obvious the killer was.
Props to this film for trying to think ahead on its presentation at least, even if it does boil down mostly to the visual aesthetic but there’s almost no fun to be had with the period recreation. It makes the production design fell like fleeting window-dressing. I was hoping to say it had enough of an identity to avoid being completely derivative despite its inspirations but the lack of any distinct atmosphere cripples it before the setting has a chance to come alive.
Editing has a few nice transitions but the rest feels choppy, the cinematography is serviceable but rote, even if it already doesn’t stand out much and the lighting paired alongside it makes everything look like a daytime soap-opera, I don’t remember a single musical score or song to the soundtrack (with a few exceptions), and Nahnatchka Khan’s overall sense of direction here is clunky as all hell; bland, basic and impoverished almost.
Although, I will say THANK YOU for going in on an R-rating here. It’s not carnage candy under any circumstance, but it beats the watered down sanitized version of slashers we’ve been getting, even if, again, the violence and kills are a bit of a letdown.
I wish I had something else to add to this but the film does most of the saying for me. It doesn’t at all lie about what it wants to sell you and guarantees you’ll get a chuckle every once in a while but…..c’mon.
