Totally Killer

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.

I enjoyed this movie. As a huge fan of 1980s horror, I was thinking this film about a teenage girl who time travels to the 1980s to stop an infamous serial killer who, in the present, has claimed her mother, would be very cheesy (and it is)... But who doesn't love cheese!

Although I was hoping for more references to 1980s horror classics (Think Friday the 13th with Jason, A Nightmare on Elm Street with Freddy Krueger) this film still manages to be a crowd pleaser for fans of 80s horror, at least this fan.

Quality performances, how good to see Lochlyn Munro back in horror comedy! A Totally Killer time for this 80s horror fan.

This movie was a lot of fun to watch. If you went to highschool in the 1980s it's especially enjoyable. I don't know if younger people would be as entertained or even get all the references. For me, most of the delight was in seeing all the nostalgic details. The Molly Ringwald styling was perfect, but again, would be lost on someone who didn't have their teenage years filled with John Hughes films.

I liked the soundtrack, clothes, makeup, and hair that looked just like the 1980s.

Kiernan did a great job as Jamie. She's very pretty and has and expressive face.

This movie was just the right length too.

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.

"Totally Killer" is basically a "Back to the Future" type slasher movie and it succeeds quite often in what it does.

Starting with the good the best part of this movie is by far Kiernan Shipka. She is great in the movie and her character as well is very likeable and extremely funny. Everyone else in the movie is also quite good. The comedy in the movie is really well done for the most part. The movies got some plentiful bloody moments that had me satisfied. Along with that I thought the directing was also pretty good. There's some fun chase scenes and a pretty fun final act I felt the pacing as well was very good, it starts at pretty fast and doesn't really stop. And finally I thought they captured the 80's aesthetic very well.

Now this isn't a perfect movie and unfortunately it does have a few issues. Starting with the films plot holes. There are quite a few plot holes that are raised in the finale that weren't really explained. I thought the other characters aside from the lead were rather unlikable, well acted but still. I wish there was a couple more sequences with the killer as he actually isn't in the movie much for the middle portion. And finally the killer I felt was very obvious, they didn't do the best job at hiding it.

Overall despite some plot holes and a pretty obvious killer, I thought that this movie was still a pretty good time. It's well acted, has good comedy, and some decent kills.