Totally Killer

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.