I’ll always give Nahnatchka Khan a chance. She created one of the underrated sitcoms of the 2000’s, Don’t Trust the B in Apt 23 as well as the totally fun Fresh Off the Boat. And Always Be My Maybe has its lovely moments too. Totally Killer is Khan’s latest, a horror comedy that almost gets there, but settles for decent, you know, a streaming win.
As told by podcaster Chris Dubasage (Jonathan Potts) we’re living in a town famous for the Sweet Sixteen Serial Killer, who murdered 3 teen girls 35 years ago tonight, Halloween Night. As Jamie Hughes (Kiernan Shipka) goes out for the night, the Killer returns and brutally murders Jamie’s mom Pam (Julie Bowen), stabbing her 16 times as is his trademark. Saddened by her loss, Jamie gets thrown a lifeline by her BFF Amelia (Kelcey Mawema) who finishes her mom’s life work: a time machine. Jamie travels back 35 years to the night of the first kills in 1987, meeting her teenage version of her mom (Olivia Holt) and the 3 now alive girls whom Jamie has a chance to save by solving the OG murders.
This is a Totally Killer movie premise! The execution? Hit and miss, sadly. The biggest failing is with the movie’s tone. Jamie’s mom dies in the first 10 minutes, and it’s brutal and clearly devastating to Jamie. This movie should have Jamie play the movie as serious as possible, with all the other shenanigans around it played more for laughs. Instead, this movie undercuts its emotional stakes by immediately making Jamie a quip machine the minute she goes back to 1987, pushing the comedy over the horror. So when reveals start happening and things go wrong, instead of really feeling the consequences of anything, we simply move on to the next murder and feel nothing. If Julie Bowen gets murdered, you should want revenge. It’s JULIE BOWEN!!!
So Totally Killer lives and dies by the jokes, pun intended. It hits more than misses at least for me, but it’s running gags really don’t work as well as the writers think they should. Everytime Jamie talks like a 2023 person, she comes off petulant and unfun, making me side more with the laissez faire 1980s crowd. This movie instead should have make Jamie slowly understand 1980s culture and start to immerse, using innate gaps in the system to get what she wants. She does this a couple times, but mostly talks about how football players are offensive and bad allies, which at least to me elicits eyerolls more than laughter. When not fixated on cultural terminology, Totally Killer has more fun mixing 2023 and 1987 like trying to keep her horny parents apart, plus throws in some good sneaky story twists to keep the audience like me engaged, if a little frustrated.
I want a 3rd season of Don’t Trust the B and a do over on this movie. Simply retry Totally Killer with a more serious tone for the lead, something a la Stranger Things, and I’m probably gonna worship the movie as an all timer. As is, this is empty calorie sleepover fare for 16 year olds, so get the creepy mask of the killer and give em a fright on the next Halloween slumber party mom & dad!