Totally Killer

I think right off the bat one of my favorite elements of this movie I’m going to split up into two different pieces because they both deal with the time travel element. The first half of it I’m going to deal with is the way they work through and around the time travel piece. Anytime you inject time travel into a movie, you start driving a particular kind of narrative that is risky. Time Travel requires some measure of explanation because it can’t just be that someone created time travel off the cuff, unless you’re Tony Stark and then it makes perfect sense that you conquered it in an evening. I will say they kind of shoe horned the explanation into the story as a “science fair project” but it also fit the vibe so I was ok with it. However, the dynamics of going back in time have certain ramifications. It’s kind of like in those old school Bugs Bunny cartoons where somebody is furiously laying down tracks for a railroad but they’re simultaneously getting them from behind the train. Like there’s just enough track to keep the train going, but it’s because it’s recycling itself in perpetuity. This story only continues to hold water if we take what we’ve already done and use that to prop up what we’re going to do. It’s a very delicate balance, but I really enjoyed how they used the concept of the Mandela Effect to add a buffer in to what happens downstream in the future. The things that Jamie does in the past should have a direct impact on what happens in her future she hopes to return to. But anything she alters, changes that same future as well. To deal with that, Mandela Effect. It works. I like it. There’s a very meta nature to the whole film which assists as well. We don’t fully get to a fourth wall break but I feel like we were close. The whole mechanism works well enough for me to keep this movie a lot of fun.

The other aspect of the time travel piece is more of a social commentary on the differences in culture. We have this 17 year old girl who is fully immersed in 2023 ideology who is transported back to high school life in 1987. HUGE culture shock. There are several scenes that I appreciated the humor which didn’t necessarily lean one way or the other too heavily. Her politically correct vibes were challenged by the 80’s mentality that was just enough wild west for the time period. A lot of the things that people are sensitive about that Gen X and Elder Millennials are prone to defending can cause a generational rift there. What I liked was it did point out some of the glaring differences in humorous ways that highlighted the helpful ways that the world has evolved in the last 40 years. The flip side of that coin is that it also does stress how some things from back in the day were still superior to how we’ve let them erode over time. I appreciated the dichotomy that didn’t depend on either staunchly defending every trope of the 80’s, even the ones that do not age well no matter who you talk to, and the ultra sensitivity of the modern era where many folks are prone to being offended when the 80’s counterpart would tell you to suck it up, buttercup. By validating the high points of each and never dragging too much in a critique of either it was a fantastic way to navigate the differences in a humorous way that championed the best of both worlds. In the end we did kind of get to have our cake and eat it too, at least to a degree.

I also have to give it to the cast of this movie. There were a couple faces in the older crowd that I clearly recognized but not many among the younger actors but I thought they did a wonderful job of actually being both likable and unlikable depending on the needs of the scene. I know I gripe about it a lot but when you do not have an anchor somewhere in the crowd, you’re just flailing about through the plot and there’s nothing really connecting you to the story that’s unfolding. By having players that you want to see succeed, live, beat the bad guy, and last all the way to the end, you are able to connect with the narrative and take the journey with the characters. Far too many horror movies, especially modern ones with names I’m unfamiliar with, just introduce members of the cast that are essentially there to either take up time and space on screen or die. Regardless of what role they have to play, you don’t care so once you’re out of the story, you just want it to be over. I know in many of these I should just turn off the movie, and this is why a lot of the times I don’t even bother with horror flicks. Too many times is it just a waste of energy to try and get invested only to be disappointed and find yourself cheering on a subpar antagonist to dispense with the cast as quickly as possible. No final girl. No survivors. But if everyone dies in the end, there’s no twist, there’s no positive outcome and really you’re just happy it’s over. So for this movie to feature such a solid cast of folks who do great jobs playing older and younger versions of the same characters is both enjoyable and impressive.

The only thing I’ll knock this movie for is that it was not difficult to be distracted. This, in my estimation, is a very minor offense. It’s almost kind of a made up thing but I do like to apply it sometimes as a metric. In 2025, we have the ability for our attention to be subject to any number of stimuli. Our phones contain about a million distractions and we’re already prone to being on them even when we’re trying to focus on something. Throughout this month, I’ve really tried my best to not allow my attention to wander too many different directions just out of a misguided sense of responsibility for this project. If I’m going to do it, I want to do it well. It’s a tall order when your 45 minutes into a horror movie that sucks and there’s an hour left to go. If nothing else I want to divide my attention between the movie and perhaps a sudoku at the very least. I try my best to stay off social media the most because it’s such a huge time suck and massive draw away from the film. I did mitigate this for the most part during watching this movie, only stopping to check a couple things that were relatively necessary. Not pressing but I’m also not beholden solely to the movie. But there were some times where it was easy to get a little distracted. I’ve found that the movies that really grab my focus and hold it from start to finish, especially without even checking how much time is left, are the best ones. I do know the difference between checking the run time just to gauge how much is left when I’m getting tired, not because I’m bored. So I don’t hold those against a film. While my wandering was limited, it was still there. So it’s not a massive ding but if I’m going to observe that as a thing, I should hold this movie accountable enough for that.

So where does this one land then? I think 6 feels right. It’s better than just a 5 movie but we’re not venturing too far into the 6 range. It’s not verging on 7 so we don’t need to go above a 6.4 because then you could round up. But 6 by itself just feels right and if that’s the gut check number then that’s what we go with. I don’t think this is one that would end up on my shelf, were it on physical media. I could easily see a rewatch at some point. I would put a movie like “Freaky” with Vince Vaughn in this category and that one is on myself. But this is a great movie that can just sort of be and there’s no need to downgrade it because I’m not trying to put it on my shelf nor do I need to inflate it’s value to pretend it was better than it was. I’d gladly give it a recommendation. It was fun. That’s what I like about the modern slasher. They are scary and there’s real elements of danger and people are definitely in jeopardy. The kills aren’t for laughs. They carnage isn’t a joke. But there’s a certain measure of humor that can be properly dismantling against the antagonist where older slasher derive a lot of fear from the ominous nature of the impending killer. The inability to escape is not quite as much of a scare motivator as it was with Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. I’d say modern slashers take the meta from Scream with the combination of dread and charisma of a Freddy and a Jason combined. This cocktail of terror makes for a great slasher in this current age of film. So that wraps up night 30. We have one left to go. I really don’t know what is going to make the cut for the big day. There’s a part of me that wants to do it right and watch a good one after dark. But I’ve also got my kids tomorrow so I don’t want to stay up too late so they zonk out and I can watch a real scary one and I don’t want to necessarily tone it all the way down for a family fright night. So we’ll see how things unfold. Any way you slice it, I’ve had a good time with the 31 Days of Horror in 2025. As we get ready to bring them to a close I’m thankful for another year of doing this. I’ve expanded my watch history, found a few flicks I really enjoyed and got to write about my experience for a full month. It will help me transition smoothly into my next big writing project which is what I needed. So until the big day tomorrow, I’ll catch you on the flip side.