Kiernan Shipka Is Dominating Streaming With Wild Time Travel Horror Comedy
If you’re looking for a slasher horror combined with sci-fi time travel, an intriguing premise, and a killer cast, look no further—2023’s Totally Killer is currently dominating streaming, and anyone interested can watch it at Amazon Prime.
Totally Killer is a black comedy slasher film directed by Nahnatchka Khan from a screenplay by David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, and Jen D’Angelo. Just in time for Halloween, the movie is led by Kiernan Shipka, whose impressive performance adds depth to the story.
The black comedy slasher Totally Killer, starring Kiernan Shipka, is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
This well-received horror movie follows Jamie Hughes, portrayed by Shipka, who goes to a concert with her friends on Halloween night while her mother, Pam, stays at home.
Back in her teenage days, Pam was friends with three teenage girls who were killed by the Sweet Sixteen Killer. Each of the victims was stabbed sixteen times on the nights of their birthdays. Out of nowhere, someone who seems to be the same killer appears in the present and stabs Pam to death.
While mourning her mother’s death, Kiernan Shipka’s Jamie helps her friend put the finishing touches on a time machine created for a school project. That very night, she’s attacked by the Sweet Sixteen Killer but gets transported back in time while attempting to hide in the time machine.
Transported back to 1987, Jamie is now masquerading as an exchange student from Canada while secretly on a mission to save her mother’s life by stopping the Sweet Sixteen Killer in the past.
Nahnatchka Khan directed the 2019 rom com Always Be My Maybe and has worked as producer on TV series like Fresh Off the Boat, Young Rock, and American Dad!
Totally Killer is a teen comedy playing homage to slasher horror and sci-fi films, much like a blended mixture of Scream and Back to the Future, but from the perspective of a teenage girl rather than a teenage boy and his DeLorean.
We realize that the whole premise might sound cheesy, but Totally Killer is well named according to the exceptional critics and audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.
Director Nahnatchka Khan is a recognizable name in the television industry, and her work is often characterized by sharp wit and cultural commentary. Her productions often push the envelope when it comes to humor and societal norms.
What’s even more interesting about Totally Killer, a movie coming from Blumhouse Productions, is that it’s not only dominating streaming right now, it’s much more well received than the recently released and highly anticipated movie from the same production company.
Of course, we’re talking about The Exorcist: Believer, which has an incredibly low rating of 22 percent on the Tomatometer and a 59 percent success rating among the audiences, which is really surprising considering the hype that was generated around its release.
Totally Killer is a teen comedy playing homage to slasher horror and sci-fi films, much like a blended mixture of Scream and Back to the Future, but from the perspective of a teenage girl rather than a teenage boy and his DeLorean.
While the success of the new The Exorcist: Believer, or lack thereof, does come as a surprise, the fact that most horror movies released in the past ten years haven’t fared well with the audiences or the critics actually isn’t all that surprising. The horror genre is highly saturated. Luckily, that gave rise to comedic homages of the horror genre, resulting in fantastic releases such as Totally Killer.
And no, we’re not saying that the horror genre is dead; we’re only saying that it has become populated with low-quality releases that center more on jump scares rather than instilling the feeling of dread in the viewers. What makes films such as Totally Killer stand out is that they’re not trying to be scary, at least not in a dreadful or existential way.
They’re just using horror elements to provide good fun and great entertaining value that admittedly won’t leave you looking under your bed before going to sleep but might just spike your serotonin levels to make you feel better and sleep better.
Ultimately, Totally Killer isn’t shy about its influences and shortcomings, which is exactly what makes it so entertaining. Even its director openly acknowledged the silliness of time travel combined with slasher horror. We have nothing but words of praise for the movie, and anyone interested in watching Totally Killer can do so at Amazon Prime.
