Totally Killer – Review

Opening Halloween night 2023 in North Vernon, the film recalls brutal murders 35 years prior where multiple young 16-year-old high school girls were stabbed to death. According to eye witnesses, the unidentified “Sweet Sixteen Killer” wore an infamous mask and black clothing. Now in present day, the town has serial killer tours of the murderous rampage, and sells tons of Halloween masks.

Jamie Hughes (Shipka) is going to meet her friend Amelia (Mawema) since she won two tickets for the local Killer Instinct concert. Despite a storm brewing on the horizon, and against her mother Pam’s (Bowen) wishes of staying in and hand out candy together, she heads out promising to be home by curfew. His mother’s past and close ties to some of the dead girls in 1987 leads to excessive attempts of keeping Jamie safe. Jamie feels like her parents need to get over it. Her father Blake (Munro) decides drives her to the show at Pam’s insistence.

As Jamie is off partying, tragedy strikes. Now, the town must reconcile with the return of a potential killer from the past. The general “avoid the knife, keep your life” advice from the school’s gym teacher only goes so far. Jamie’s stress builds, and she begins to examine the past events of 1987, quite literally as a Sci-Fi element kicks in.

Totally Killer is a very fun and murderous adventure featuring a creative blast from (to?) the past. As timelines collide, the movie gets very fun, while maintaining its mystery killer and horror slasher element. Thankfully the comedic edge introduced at the film’s outset also sticks soundly throughout, delivering many good lines and funny situations.