I love me a good time travel story. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with my love and adoration for Back to the Future but it's really anything that utilizes it in an intriguing way. Heck, it was one of my favorite parts of Avengers: Endgame. But with any kind of story like this comes the trick of not getting too convoluted. And I think that Totally Killer solves a problem I often have in these kinds of movies: the butterfly effect. While it's certainly not perfect, I appreciate when any kind of fantastical science is introduced and followed through with. You give me rules, just make sure you follow them and I'm hunky dory. And they do a good job of following through with anything they set up.
A Sweet Sixteen killer is already right up my alley, but then adding the method of repeated stabbing (16 to be exact) adds a dimension to the killer that I really like. Slashers have been getting away from the knife so it feels like a return to form. It also showed there was a personal vendetta at play, which made everything mean a little more. Even if it may have made the killer easier to identify. I just wish they'd been a little more imaginative with his look. The mask is a little too Max Headroom for me.
Kiernan Shipka's Jamie was relatable as all hell and one of the better audience surrogates I can remember. She's so damn intriguing every time she's on screen but here she's also saying everything I want a character to be saying in a slasher movie. She's meta while not being in your face and is able to pick out some of the absurdities of the 80's. I could see this as not working with a different approach, but thankfully she has just the right amount of contempt. I also enjoyed Olivia Holt's Pam, as she could have easily been overly unlikable.
The killer reveal is rather weak and if you're paying any attention, you'll catch onto it fairly quickly. But thankfully the movie doesn't treat it like it's some genius thing. If anything, the characters even kind of make fun of it at first. Not taking itself too seriously was the right move because otherwise its easy to pick apart the smallest of problems. This is a shut your brain off kind of movie and sometimes you need that on a Friday night.
Overall I really enjoyed Totally Killer and am glad to see Kiernan Shipka in something that's up my alley. There are some really boneheaded decisions but the main thing to remember is that this is more of a comedy. And it's truly got some funny moments. But the horror is lacking and for a movie that has multiple reveals, none of them are really any good. Fortunately, Jamie (or should I say Collette?) is a fun person to watch interact with the 80's. If anything, I thought it was over too soon.
8/10
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