Movie Review: 'Totally Killer'

Totally Killer (2023)

Directed by Nahnatchka Khan

Written by David Matalon, Sasha Perl Raver, Jen D'Angelo

Starring Kiernan Shipka, Olivia Holt, Julie Bowen

Release Date October 6th, 2023

Published October 12th, 2023

Totally Killer stars Kiernan Shipka as Jamie, a High School student with a typically standoffish relationship with her mother, Pam (Julie Bowen). The two fight and disagree as mothers and daughters are wont to do but when Pam is murdered, Jamie is devastated. The killer is one familiar to the town they live in, a vile serial murderer known as the Sweet Sixteen Killer. The moniker comes from the killer's M.O, stabbing his victims 16 times. The killer made a splash in 1987 when he killed three teenagers who happen to have been Pam's best friends as a kid.

The killer left a note indicating that he'd planned on killing Pam all along though why he waited until now to get around to it is unclear. Nevertheless, Jamie is despondent until her best friend, Amelia (Kelcey Mawema), reveals that she has built a time machine for their school project. It's based on a design created by Amelia's mother, Lauren (Kimberly Huie), who gave up her inventing dreams when she became a single mom. Amelia believes that she can send Jamie back to 1987 which would give Jamie the chance to stop the killer before he's able to take even one victim, thus saving her mom in the future.

This time travel theory is put to the test the same night when the Sweet Sixteen killer tracks down Jamie and chases her right into Amelia's time machine. Stabbing the control panel, the killer inadvertently sends Jamie back in time. Arriving in 1987, Jamie must now convince people that she's from the future to stop the murders but, she has to be careful not to change too much of the past or it could lead to her not having a future. In the past, Jamie meets her mom, played as a teen by Olivia Holt, and finds out that she's a mean girl.

Pam was the leader of a group of bullies known as The Molly's. They're The Molly's because the four of them all dress like Molly Ringwald. It was the three other Molly's, Tiffany (Liana Liberato), Heather (Anna Diaz) and Marisa (Stephi Chin Salvo), who were the original victims of the Sweet Sixteen Killer. From here, the movie lays out several potential killers including the future school Principal, Doug, the future Gym Teacher Randy, and future Podcaster, Chris, who happens to specialize in documenting and exploiting the Sweet Sixteen Murders as a True Crime Podcaster.

Totally Killer was directed by Nahnatchka Khan whose previous directorial effort was the super charming romances, Always Be My Maybe. Before that film, Khan was a go to director and creator for TV shows like Fresh off the Boat and Don't Trust the B- in Apartment 23. Khan has a strong comic voice and a taste for absurd juxtapositions of tone. That makes Khan the perfect director for Totally Killer, a movie that swings from violent bloody murder to time traveling fish out of water comedy. Khan has a knack for establishing a broad tone tha always feels comic, even when things get very serious.

This tone is established early on in Totally Killer when Julie Bowen's homemaker-mom Pam is attacked by the killer and has a Laurie Strode-Michael Myers fight throughout her home. The scene is remarkably violent but it still plays broad enough for a few unexpected laughs. The film manages to take Pam's murder seriously while marrying it to a comedy time travel movie set in amongst a series of 80s movie staples, numerous references to Back to the Future, and phenomenal 80s needle drops. It doesn't always work, but, for the most part, Totally Killer is quite funny while still having room for horror movie levels of violence.

The ending of Totally Killer is a little jarring as the identity of the killer is fumbled and comes off a little arbitrary. Nevertheless, so much of Totally Killer works that I didn't mind a minor stumble over the finish line. The film also wraps up with a clever gag that I won't spoil regarding Jamie's potential future. You will need to see Totally Killer for yourself to find out how the movie manages to subvert expectations of a time travel comedy. Totally Killer is available now for customers of Amazon Prime.

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