Movie Review: ‘Totally Killer’ Has Just as Many Laughs as It Has Scares

Rating: 87/100

What do you get when you cross Scream with Back to the Future? You either end up with a brutally murdered Marty McFly, or you get Totally Killer, a new horror comedy streaming on Amazon Prime Video tonight.

The movie follows Jamie Hughes (Kiernan Shipka) a teenager in the sleepy little town of Vernon. In 1987, three local teenage girls were brutally murdered by a killer known as the Sweet 16 killer, notorious for killing teen girls and stabbing them 16 times. Jamie’s mother, Pam (Julie Bowen), lost three of her best friends to the Sweet 16 killer and has lived the rest of her life in fear of the killer’s return, only for Sweet 16 to resurface on Halloween 2023 to murder Pam. Jamie, grief-stricken, discovers her best friend, Amelia (Kelcey Mawema), has invented a time machine for the school’s science fair, and she travels back to 1987 in an attempt to stop the killer before he can get to Jamie’s mom.

I always say that, when it comes to genre parodies like this, the real test is whether or not the movie would still work as a good example of the genre it’s parodying if the jokes were taken out. The best example of this is my favorite of the Cornetto Trilogy, Hot Fuzz, which is a parody of buddy cop movies but would still be an awesome action flick if all the humor was removed. Totally Killer absolutely passes this test, as the scares are just as genuine as in any slasher flick, and it has all the gore of a genuine horror movie. It also makes for a fascinating whodunnit, as the mystery of who the killer is involves a lot of twists and turns, and at least one big red herring tossed out to mislead you.

I said back in my review of Talk to Me that I really hate cold-hearted and callous horror movies with no moral compass, where good people are punished and put through hell when they’ve done nothing wrong. Whether or not it’s more realistic, I’d rather watch a movie with some sort of moral center, where the good guys survive or, at the very least, the movie doesn’t seem to revel in their misery. Totally Killer maintains the kind of moral compass I like in a horror movie and, for all the blood and gore, there’s a certain sense of justice to who makes it to the end of the movie. It didn’t make me confront any real-life traumas and allowed me enough distance to enjoy the thrill of being scared. That’s what makes a good horror film.

Kiernan Shipka has already made a name for herself, first as Don Draper’s daughter, Sally, on Mad Men, and then in the title role on The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. In Totally Killer, she demonstrates that her star power has grown to the point where she can carry a whole movie on her own. While it’s not exactly an opportunity to show off the full range of her acting abilities, it does demonstrate how endearing and likable she can be.

Totally Killer is about as good as horror comedies get. As creepy and scary as it can get, it’s balanced well with the humor to create a fun thrill ride full of as many laughs as chills. It doesn’t delve into anything that’s likely to be too triggering, leaving you free to enjoy the excitement of a tense slasher flick. The fish-out-of-water element of the movie is an especially ripe area for comedy, as Jamie experiences a severe culture clash between the morals of a teenager in 2023 and those of teenagers in 1987. Whatever dark places the movie may go to, it ends on a joyously happy note that will have you walking away smiling.

Totally Killer hits Amazon Prime Video tonight at 6 p.m. MT.

Photo courtesy of James Dittiger/Prime Video