‘Totally Killer’ Boss on Mixing Gen X & Gen Z in Time-Traveling Horror Comedy
Preview
Where’s a flux capacitor when you need one?! Time travel comes with a bloody side effect in Totally Killer, a comedy-horror thrill ride that plays like a Back to the Future for Scream fans. Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) stars as Jamie, an independent-minded high schooler growing up in a small town made infamous for the brutal slayings of three 16-year-old girls in October 1987.
After the “Sweet Sixteen Killer” resurfaces in the present day and butchers Jamie’s mom, Pam (Modern Family vet Julie Bowen), the grief-stricken teen discovers a strange link between her family and the fatalities, as well as a wild chance to reverse the past: Her best friend, Amelia (Kelcey Mawema), has turned a photo booth into an actual time machine for the science fair.
Before you can say “Great Scott!” Jamie is sent back to 1987, where she must track down a masked psycho and protect the hormonal teen versions of her parents (Olivia Holt and Charlie Gillespie) and their Molly Ringwald-obsessed friends, all while adjusting to an era that was far from politically correct.
Anna Diaz, Olivia Holt, Liana Liberato, Stephi Chin-Salvo, and Kiernan Shipka in ‘Totally Killer’ (Credit: Prime Video)
“The idea of someone from Gen Z being dropped into this John Hughes 1980s world was something that was really exciting for that exact reason,” says director Nahnatchka Khan (former creator and co-creator for network sitcoms Fresh Off the Boat and Young Rock) of the social culture clash. “The comedy comes from showing just how different things were not that long ago, and how that can feel so shocking.”
Amid all of the sharp gags about smoking in public, airline safety and racist school mascots, Killer also packs in a solid slasher flick’s worth of twists, jump scares and, admits Khan, a few Easter eggs for horror devotees.
There are “definitely nods to some of the classics. The original Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Evil Dead, The Caller and the iconic ’80s vampire high-camp film The Lost Boys,” she says. We’re totally into this.
Totally Killer, Original Movie Premiere, Friday, October 6, Prime Video
This is an excerpt from TV Insider‘s October issue. For more in-depth, reported coverage devoted to streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the issue, currently on newsstands, or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.
