Gravitron > Delorean

 

When the plot of Totally Killer was announced, much of the horror internet was aghast at just how similar it compared to The Final Girls (a film I love dearly). Such coincidences happen, and it helps no one to harp on the similarities when you have the freedom to, you know, sit back and enjoy good movies. 

Quick Plot: In 1987, a trio of high schoolers were brutally murdered by the Sweet Sixteen Killer. By 2023, the crime remains unsolved in the small town of Vernon, which now celebrates some of its notoriety with true crime podcasts and walking tours. 

16-year-old Jamie Hughes is your typical sullen suburbanite. Her life is quickly turned upside down when mom Pam is stabbed to death by a mysterious figure sporting the same mask popularized by the same man who slayed her three best friends. Jamie is inconsolable, especially after the killer hunts her down. The only escape? Her best friend Amelia's time machine prototype, which promptly sends her from school science fair to 1987.

Armed with 36 years of knowledge about the future, Jamie attempts to prevent the murders. Along the way, she befriends Amelia's genius mom Lauren, her own high school principal, bullying gym teacher, and Vernon's version of the Heathers (in this case, Mollys) headed by a sniping Pam. 

Thankfully, Back to the Future is still fresh in most of the young people's memories, while others are easily convinced that Jamie's psychic powers are up there with Miss Cleo. Still, solving a crime before and while it's happening proves to be much harder than Jamie anticipates, especially when she also has to contend with messing up her parents' delayed courtship and getting home before her cell phone battery dies. 

Let's deal with the elephant in the room first: no, Totally Killer is not on the same level as The Final Girls, a movie that charms you with its cleverness than shoves itself down your throat to tear your heart apart with some of the most emotional mother/daughter relationship drama I've ever seen in on film, let alone a horror comedy sold on a meta gimmick. The Final Girls is a masterpiece. Totally Killer is totally fun.

Directed by Nahnatchka Khan, Totally Killer finds its horror comedy tone immediately. Aces like Julie Bowen help tremendously, and Kiernan Shipka serves as the right north star through both the light and heavy. Marty McFly references aside, Totally Killer has a certain Scream-quality in its blend that respects the fact that young people are being murdered as tragedy while finding humor around its corners.

High Points

A growing trend I love in cinema about young people is how it's managed to maintain some of its high school character tropes (mean girl, nerd, and so on) but takes just enough time to make them human along the way. Jamie is quick to call out the many behaviors of her mom's era that are problematic to her 21st century eyes, but there's a sense of believability about the way they interact that's both funny and somewhat honest

Low Points

I can't necessarily pinpoint what needed to be cut, but overall, Totally Killer just feels a tad too long, as if a few scenes just have to hold on to throw out an extra, unnecessary joke

Lessons Learned

Gen-Z does not knock

You can't try to invent time travel without the full expectation that you'll meet people from the future

You don't observe Halloween in the manufacturing industry

Rent/Bury/Buy

Totally Killer is streaming on Amazon, and it's a joyful little way to spend 100 minutes. Have at it.