Totally Killer, 2023.
Directed by Nahnatchka Khan.
Starring Kiernan Shipka, Olivia Holt, Julie Bowen, Kelcey Mawema, Randall Park, Lochlyn Munro, Charlie Gillespie, Stephi Chin-Salvo, Anna Diaz, Jeremy Monn-Djasgnar, Troy L. Johnson, Ella Choi, Liana Liberato, Nathaniel Appiah, Jonathan Potts, Zachary Gibson, Nicholas Lloyd, Kimberly Huie, Patti Kim, Brendan O’Brien, Tommy Europe, Amy Goodmurphy, Fred Henderson, Conrad Coates, Tate Chernen, Pam Kearns, Jesse Inocalla, Valin Shinyei, and Andrew Barber.
SYNOPSIS:
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 killer before he can start.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Totally Killer wouldn’t exist.
There is paying homage to the horror and sci-fi classics of yesteryear, and then there is borrowing premises, stealing entire shots, and then repeatedly name-dropping every movie it is supposed to remind viewers of as if they are brainless. Totally Killer is a slasher flick where the serial killer wears a white mask reminiscent of Michael Myers but with Johnny Bravo’s hairstyle and a creepy smile. that can’t help itself from acknowledging that comparison to Halloween or having its time-traveling protagonist mention out loud to the 1987 teens that the mystery they are wrapped up in is a lot like Scream, a movie that hasn’t been released and won’t be for another decade.
The nonstop references quickly become tiring (God help anyone who takes a shot every time Back to the Future is mentioned), but the film’s sense of humor is equally obnoxious, running its one joke – that what’s also terrifying is how backward and problematic society used to be in the 1980s – into the ground. That’s a fine concept for a time travel horror movie, but director Nahnatchka Khan (trying to make tonal sense and consistency out of a sloppy script from the crowded screenwriting team of David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, and Jen D’Angelo) can’t decide if this story and associated danger should be taken seriously, or to go so far in the opposite direction of comedic territory that it becomes impossible to get invested into the predictable mystery and fear for the safety of these characters.
This is made more baffling during one of the film’s major revelations, painting some of these teenagers as nasty people responsible for horrific events, without ever reckoning with that thorny plotting, opting to jump into a final confrontation with the killer and a cheery ending. It is indeed possible to thread the needle between laughs, moral disgust, and scares for this story, but these filmmakers have chosen a lazy route where the characters are scripted with over-the-top behavior and are either terrified for their lives or acting foolish based on whatever the plot needs them to do at any given moment.
Highschooler Jamie Hughes (Kiernan Shipka) has outgrown spending Halloween with her parents (Lochlyn Munro and Lochlyn Munro) and is heading to a concert with her best friend Amelia (Kelcey Mawema), a fictional band where the lead singer Eddie is a progressive hometown celebrity having gone to the same high school. Decades ago, three teenage girls were murdered leading up to and on Halloween, where the victims, all friends of Jamie’s parents, were stabbed 16 times each. Naturally, Jamie’s parents are understandably paranoid, with her dad insisting on driving them to the show.
The killer returns, brutally murdering Jamie’s mom while Jamie and her father are out. Cue the shellshock and overwhelming feelings of regret, wishing she could spend one more Halloween with her mom, passing out trick-or-treat candy. However, Amelia has also finished her mother’s lifelong time machine project, sending Jamie back into the past while an assortment of bumbling adults attempt to pick up where they left off in 2023, failing to solve the mystery of the murders.
Thankfully, it does have a charming Kiernan Shipka, amusing whenever pointing out problematic conduct on behalf of the 1980s teenagers, but that’s a joke that should be used to establish the time and place, not one to beat into the ground until even her hard-stares and expressive facial expressions of disbelief can no longer salvage them. With that in mind, the jokes themselves are cringeworthy and get old fast (one character’s routine consists of grabbing his crotch repeatedly), boiling down to everyone Jamie knows as an adult having an extensively different personality in the past. There are also some clever tidbits showing how these people became who they are or drifted away from other characters in the future.
The attempts at emotion coming from spending time with a much younger, reckless, wild, and horny version of her mother (Olivia Holt), bonding but also learning where her present-day faults stem from, are sincere enough to work here, but also suffocated by other characters repeating the same lame jokes, bland kills, and a predictable mystery (the execution here often feels like a family-friendly horror flick with occasional bursts of R-rated violence and 1980s teenagers saying and doing things that are no longer tolerated in the present day.)
Meanwhile, the structure of each kill feels ripped from iconic horror films with no interest in tossing in a subversive twist (one of them is so painfully obvious in its attempt to mimic Michael Myers stalking his bedroom prey in the original Halloween that John Carpenter might want to momentarily put down the pot and video games to file a lawsuit.)
Totally Killer is more than derivative (which is acceptable in this day and age, where it is hard to pull off something original, so long as the execution is strong); it comes across as blatant theft, crashing together sci-fi and horror classics with no shame considering how often the script essentially admits to doing so. It’s totally frustrating, pulling off its sci-fi/horror mashup with little imagination, no consistently clear tone, and comedy that wears out its welcome before being stabbed 16 times.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
Originally published October 4, 2023. Updated October 5, 2023.
