Totally Killer (2023)

User Review

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  ScreenZealots

  6 / 10

  With its carefree attitude and easygoing sensibilities, “Totally Killer” is a female-centered horror and science fiction mash-up that’s a lot of fun. Inspired by retro 80s slasher flicks, the movie feels like an homage to “Hot Tub Time Machine” and “Back to the Future,” but with a bloody body count.
  
  It’s been 35 years since a wave of shocking murders rocked 17-year-old Jamie’s (Kiernan Shipka) town. Her overprotective mother Pam (Julie Bowen) lived through the deadly stabbings when she was in high school herself, and the victims were her three best friends. The crimes were never solved and the murderer was never found. It’s now Halloween night, and the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” has returned to claim a fourth victim. After a terrifying encounter with the masked maniac, Jamie accidentally hides out in a time machine and travels back to the year of the original killings. Trapped in 1987, she teams up with her teen mom (Olivia Holt) to catch and expose the killer while hopefully saving some lives in the process.
  
  It’s a clever premise that embraces the natural humor in the story. Director Nahnatchka Khan doesn’t take the material too seriously, which makes it so much more appealing. The time travel explanations are confusing and loose, but they also somehow manage to make sense. As is the standard advice with most sci-fi and horror movies, just go with it and enjoy the ride.
  
  The script features fun little quips that lean on the already amusing fish out of water story, especially in relation to Jamie’s attempts to navigate the non-politically correct world of the late 80s with her modern-day sensibilities. The one-liner comments work so well at the hands of Shipka, who is an appealing actor with the perfect persona for a retro movie like this (she absolutely looks the part). Her deadpan delivery and coolly casual attitude is the icing on the cake.
  
  “Totally Killer” reminds me of what I’d lovingly refer to as a slumber party movie. It’s breezy, playful, and thoroughly enjoyable. This isn’t your typical horror film, but it’s one that just about everyone can watch and enjoy.
  
  By: Louisa Moore / SCREEN ZEALOTS

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