It’s October, so that means all the studios and streaming services are going to be unleashing some spooky new releases to please their viewers who are attempting to get into the Halloween spirit. This weekend Amazon Prime is releasing Totally Killer, a Blumhouse production that continues to ride the wave of 80s nostalgia with a time travel slasher film. The trailers looked fun and with Kiernan Shipka (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) in the lead, and I’m always in the mood for a new slasher with franchise potential. Does the film deliver the goods, or is this one dead on arrival? It’s time to strap in and travel back to 1987 and see what this is all about. In 1987 the town of North Vernon was terrorized by the “the Sweet 16 Killer” after he killed three high school girls, stabbing them sixteen times each. 35 years later, Pam (Julie Bowen) still hasn’t gotten over the murder of her three friends and has become very protective of her teenage daughter, Jamie (Kiernan Shipka). Now it is Halloween night, and Jamie is eager to go to a concert with her best friend, Amelia (Kelcey Mawema). Jamie is only allowed to go if her dad, Blake (Lochlyn Munro) drives them. As it turns out, this was a disastrous decision for Pam, because it’s this night that “the Sweet 16 Killer” has returned to finish what he’s started. In the aftermath of her mom’s death, Jamie goes to the science fair with Amelia. Her big project is to finish what her mother started back in the 80s to create a time machine. Things go awry with another appearance by “the Sweet 16 Killer”, and in an attempt to escape, Jamie is sent back to 1987 just before the murders take place.
OK, the first act of this film has a lot of narrative to set things up. I enjoyed the world that was being created here, and there are some fun characters, but when it comes to the horror elements of this film, well, to be fair, they are basically Goosebumps-level scares, but it’s only the first thirty minutes of the film, so I haven’t given up hope yet …
The film relies heavily on the formula we first saw in Back to the Future. Jamie is trying to get back to her time while spending time getting to know her mother and of course her interactions do influence the future … This is one of the more clever aspects, as the film uses these changes as a way to explain the Mandela Effect. Jamie’s Doc Brown in this film is Amelia’s mom as a teenager, Lauren (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson). It’s up to her to create a time machine to send Jamie back home, while Jamie tries to keep her teenage mom and her friends alive.
The film also borrows from Heathers in the sense that Pam and her friends are called “The Mollys” because the girls love Molly Ringwald and each dress like their favorite film version of Molly Ringwald. The girls are far from being nice girls, and you could easily say they are the spoiled bullies of the school. Where this gets a bit redundant is how Jamie is constantly interjecting saying how the things people are saying and doing are just not OK. It’s kind of hard to tell if this is poking fun or simply virtue signaling.
There’s a lot going on in this film, and for the most part it works. It definitely reminded me of Happy Death Day meets Hot Tub Time Machine, just way tamer, and unfortunately I feel it wasted its potential. The horror elements are barely horror, and that’s a shame, because there is some nice setup to have a great new serial killer for a new generation, but when it comes to the kills and the stalking, well, it was a bit lame. You can tell that executing tension is not one of Nahnatchka Khan’s strengths as a director. As for the humor and developing the relationships with the cast, all that worked and gave the film enough charm to save it and make it enjoyable. For the diehard horror fans, I’m sure this one will leave them disappointed and wanting more, but for those who are more casual to the drama and just want something to help get them into the Halloween spirit without the scares or gore, this may be the perfect fit for them.
