The direction the horror genre has taken over the last decade, in line with Hollywood’s recent obsession with reviving past franchises (or at least trying to), has led to a reminder of some of our favorite scary movies.

Even original films in the genre often make direct callbacks to their vital inspirations. Horror films have recently begun leaning even more into self-referential humor, directly referring to the tropes they are following. Director Nahnatchka Khan’s venture into the genre with Totally Killer falls unmistakably in line with what audiences have come to expect: referencing bygone eras at seemingly every turn imaginable. Even before intrigued audiences press play, the continuation of this trend becomes incredibly clear from the premise alone of Blumhouse’s latest direct-to-streaming thriller.

Chris (Jonathan Potts), a nosy podcaster with an unkeen interest in the three murders that took place in the small town of Vernon 35 years ago, sets the scene on his latest gimmicky tour that takes visitors through the various murder locations. When the “Sweet Sixteen Killer” unexpectedly returns in the year 2023, taking the life of Pam (Julie Bowen), her high school daughter Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) travels back in time to 1987 to change the course of history. Meeting the younger versions of the adults she’s grown to know and convincing them of murders that haven’t yet occurred, including the teenage version of her mother (Olivia Holt), proves to be a significant challenge with a masked murderer on the loose.

As a mixture of Back to the Future (1985), Happy Death Day (2017) and Halloween (1978) all rolled into one, Totally Killer is a perfectly fine but never riveting throwback to the era of 80s horror and slashers that Khan draws from. It’s an entertaining watch that makes for an enjoyable viewing with friends on a Friday night, although it never quite reaches its full potential with such an exciting concept.

The central heart of the film is the strained mother-and-daughter relationship between Pam and Jamie. Jamie interacting with the high school version of her mother allows her to better understand where their relationship is going wrong, driving Jamie even further in her mission to solve the mystery. The uncanny casting of characters at different stages of their life also helps bring this conflict to life, especially with the younger and older versions of Pam. Shipka does a great job bringing Jamie to life, making her a funny and easy-to-root-for protagonist with her confident energy and comedic timing.

The time travel element at play is a highlight, even as the logic begins to shift throughout to serve whatever is most convenient for the story. The rules set up and explained by Jamie’s best friend and mastermind behind the entire machine, Amelia Creston (Kelcey Mawema), create a compelling ticking time element as Jamie has to travel back in time before she’s forever stuck in 1987. Jamie also has to navigate the ripple effects of messing with the past, starting with the order of the murders changing to possibly messing up her parent’s getting together.

As a film seeped in 80s nostalgia, frizzy hairstyles and disco music, Totally Killer has a lot of fun playing around with tropes audiences have seen in other horror films and even making some well-deserved jabs at questionable cultural choices from the time period. However, the film relies on recreating what audiences have seen before too much to the point where David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver and Jen D’Angelo’s screenplay loses an identity of its own. Even the killer reveal feels slightly underwhelming because of its familiarity. The script also leans much more into silly comedy than horror, which is hit-or-miss throughout.

With many cheesy transitions and visual effects, Totally Killer feels exclusively made for streaming. As a lot of streaming content is nowadays, it’s made to give audiences a good time without leaving a strong enough impression to be remembered long afterward. This film is far from killer, but it offers enough sweet bites for devoted fans of horror comedies.

Review Courtesy of Matt Minton

Feature Image Credit to Amazon Prime via Rolling Stone