Totally Killer – Review
103 Minutes, Rated R
Written by David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver and Jen D’Angelo
Directed by Nahnatchka Khan
**NOTE: this post may be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, you can read Mark’s review below. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Thirty-five years after the shocking murder of three teens, the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer“ returns on Halloween night to claim a fourth victim. Seventeen-year-old Jamie ignores her overprotective mom’s warning and comes face-to-face with the masked maniac and, on the run for her life, accidentally time-travels to 1987, the year of the original killings. Forced to navigate the unfamiliar and outrageous culture of the 1980s, Jamie teams up with her teen mom to take down the killer once and for all, before she’s stuck in the past forever.
I’m going to be honest here: when I saw this one pop up, I recognized Kiernan Shipka’s name, but knew I wasn’t well-versed in her filmography. As it happens, I probably would have known more about her if I had watched either Riverdale or The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on the CW, but since I didn’t, I don’t.
They weren’t really made for my demographic, were they…?
Regardless, a serial killer movie, a quasi-comedy, and the 80s?
That’s a concept I can get behind.
Broadstrokes are as outlined in the above synopsis, so the real question is how they decided to approach the material and how well they pulled it off.
They approached it head on, and they nailed it.
This movie is great for several reasons, but I’ll list a few of them for you to consider:
The film doesn’t stray away from the classic time-travel paradox(es). It runs right into them and actually provides some logical (for the genre) consequences for them.
The film (in my eyes, at any rate) a beautiful indictment of many social aspects. Once Jamie gets to 1987, she provides a running commentary from the POV of a 2023 teenager about how WRONG everything is, from High School administration, to drinking at high school parties, teen sex, to jock mentality… all of it. And YET —
She has no hesitation about commenting on how weak the pot is in the 80s, proudly declaring she could give one of the kids around her a gummy “this big” (read: tiny) and it would completely mess her up.
**This is your reminder that she’s playing a 16 year old in this movie.**
It’s the disconnect between what Jamie feels is “wrong” and what she does that isn’t much different from what went on back then. She is even told at one point that she sounds “like my mom,” as she preaches at the teens.
Hopefully audiences today can see that side of it and not just focus on how “problematic” the 1980s were when held up to the “superior” ethics and morals of today. Totally Killer is not an indictment of of our social history, but a whip-smart and clever reminder that nothing really changes.
As the hunt for the killer winds down, the film even gets a bit of Scream influence (hinted at earlier on if you’re paying attention, lol), before the happy, yet different, return of Jamie to her own time to some unexpected changes.
**Full Disclosure: I was a HS Junior in 1987, just like our main characters, but I didn’t see myself in the film at all… but I damn sure recognized pretty much everyone else!**
Shipka is wonderful, deftly carrying both the comedy and action bits well, and the supporting cast pulls heir weight. The design team gave us a 1987 that is both real and cinematic… not an easy feat.
I highly recommend checking out Totally Killer as soon as you can.
Totally Killer is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video and stars Kiernan Shipka, Olivia Holt, Charlie Gillespie, Lochlyn Munro, Troy L. Johnson, Liana Liberato, Kelcey Mawema, Stephi Chin-Salvo, Anna Diaz, Ella Choi, Jeremy Monn-Djasgnar, Nathaniel Appiah and Jonathan Potts with Randall Park and Julie Bowen.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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