Posted in: Movies, Review | Tagged: blumhouse, prime video, Totally Killer

Totally Killer Totally Nails What A Good Slasher Should Be {Review}

Totally Killer starts off a little wonky, but once it gets going it becomes a fun, surprisingly gory slasher that anyone can have fun with.

Published Fri, 06 Oct 2023 21:17:07 -0500

by Jeremy Konrad

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Totally Killer arrives at a time when 80's nostalgia seems to be at the point of burnout and reinvigorates it. Featuring a great premise and cast, the Blumhouse slasher roster gains a new member who stands up alongside their others. It is not all great; the first fifteen minutes are pretty rough, but once the concept starts to unfurl, it recovers nicely and becomes a ton of fun. This should end the year as one of the best slashers released.

Totally Killer First Look Is Out, As Blumhouse Reveals Neat Thriller — Kiernan Shipka as "Jamie Hughes" in the horror-comedy Totally Killer, a Prime Video release. Photo courtesy of Prime Video.

Totally Killer Is Actually Pretty Funny

In the present day, a girl named Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) lives with her overprotective parents (Julie Bowen, Lochlyn Munro), who were terrorized by the Sweet 16 Killer back in 1987. Three of their friends were murdered, and the killer was never caught. On Halloween, her mother is killed, and thanks to her friend's science fair project, she ends up traveling back to 1987, a few days before the murders happened. There, she teams up with the younger version of her mother (Olivia Holt) and her friends group to try and solve the murders before they can happen.

The best part of this film is how nonchalant director Nahnatchka Khan and screenwriters David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, and Jen D'Angelo are about time travel. So many others would try to over-explain how changing the past alters the future and the serious ramifications that come with going back in time. Instead, they play it for laughs and tell their story, which works very well. And what a condemnation of the 80s this film is. Anyone who watches this and remembers how different times were back then will get a huge chuckle from the situations and jokes made at the 80's expense. Instead of the typical style of jokes you would expect, they turn it around to say that while nostalgia for another time is fun, there were some seriously troubling parts as well. It feels very refreshing.

And thankfully, they get to it quickly. The first fifteen minutes of Totally Killer are a bit of a mess as we are introduced to characters and given bits and pieces of the plot at a whip-fast pace, which makes it hard to follow and aggravating. Once Jamie goes back in time, the story slows down, and we settle in nicely to what turns out to be a really good and surprisingly gory slasher film. The Sweet 16 Killer is vicious and smarter than most other slashers, and the mask they wear is pretty off-putting. The reveal of the killer is also not as obvious as you think either, which is nice.

The cast themselves are all great. The younger versions of the adults in the 80s perfectly play their parts and slowly break out of their 80s molds to become more than a caricature. Shipka continues to be one of the more talented young actors working and way funnier here than she has been in other roles. Bowen is not in the film a ton, but she makes her mark when she is. The standout is Holt, full of life and mean girl attitude who thaws and becomes the spitting image of the character Bowen plays in the future scenes.

There is just a whole lot to like here. In a spooky season punctuated with legacy sequels and retreads, this is a refreshingly cool take on slashers and time travel that will sneak up on many people. Totally Killer is now streaming on Prime Video.

Totally Killer

Review by Jeremy Konrad

8/10

Totally Killer starts off a little wonky, but once it gets going it becomes a fun, surprisingly gory slasher that is a perfect watch for spooky season this year.

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