Totally Killer is being released on Prime Video just in time for Halloween 2023!
The horror-comedy film follows American teenager Jamie Hughes (Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka), as she embarks on a dead funny adventure through time to stop a serial killer.
In the present day, Jamie is beyond irritated when her overprotective mum, Pam, anxiously implores her to stay in on Halloween night. Again.
Pam (Modern Family’s Julia Bowen) has her reasons, to be fair…
Thirty-five years previously she and her friends were terrorized by the ‘Sweet Sixteen Killer’ who claimed three victims.
Jamie, however, couldn't care less. That is until the masked killer returns and attempts to make her his fourth victim...
While trying to escape she’s accidentally propelled back in time via a funfair photobooth (just go with it!) to 1987 - the year of the original killings.
Big hair and big scares lie in wait as this thoroughly modern teen must blend into the decade that time has never forgotten (or fully forgiven).
Firmly stuck in 1987, Jamie befriends her mother as a teenager (played by Cruel Summer’s Olivia Holt) in order to take on the maniacal masked murderer (and a series of classic horror tropes) in this playful slasher romp.
Totally Killer - release date and where to watch
Totally Killer is available to air on Prime Video on Friday, October 6 2023.
Totally Killer trailer
The Totally Killer trailer reveals that if Jamie fails in her time-travelling mission, she will be trapped in the past for good! Is it too early to look forward to a sequel?
Totally Killer cast and characters
Kiernan Shipka — Jamie Hughes
Best known for her roles in Mad Men, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and White House Plumbers, Kiernan Shipka stars as 17-year-old time-traveling hero Jamie Hughes in Totally Killer.
Speaking about Totally Killer* Kiernan has said: “Jamie is a very modern teen girl — she’s flawed, spends too much time on her phone and is not yet thinking about the bigger picture of her life. All of a sudden, she’s forced to grow up very quickly.
“I love the horror genre. It can be extraordinarily gripping and terrifying and psychologically mess you up for a couple of days, or it can also just be this joyous movie experience.”
Julie Bowen — Pam Hughes
Julie Bowen stars as Jamie’s traumatised mom Pam Hughes in Totally Killer but is probably best known as Halloween-loving mum Claire Dunphy in Modern Family. She’s also starred in ER, Weeds, Boston Legal.
Her movie credits include An American Werewolf in Paris, Kids in America, Horrible Bosses and Hubie Halloween.
Speaking about horror movies while promoting 2020 film Hubie Halloween Julie shared:
“I actually scare incredibly easily and can’t watch horror movies. Once at a club in college they were playing Nightmare on Elm Street projected on the wall with no sound on — it kept me awake for weeks!”
Olivia Holt — Pam Miller
Back in 1987 Olivia Holt stars as the teenage version of Pam, who is still at high school and about to have one of the most unforgettable experiences of her young life.
Olivia Holt has starred in Kickin’ It, I Didn’t Do It, Cloak & Dagger and Cruel Summer.
Totally Killer also stars Randall Park (Veep, Fresh Off the Boat) as disbelieving 1987 sheriff Denis Lim, who dismisses Jamie’s time travelling claims when she attempts to report the murders before they happen.
Kelcey Mawema (Superman and Lois, The Baby-Sitter’s Club) as Jamie’s present-day friend Amelia Creston.
Other familiar faces include Liana Liberato (A Million Little Things, Based on a True Story) and Lochlyn Munro (Joe Pickett, Riverdale).
Totally Killer — the director’s take
Totally Killer is directed by Nahnatchka Khan (American Dad!, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, Fresh Off The Boat, Young Rock).
Speaking about the project* Nahnatchka has said: “I've always been a fan of genre mash-ups and love the crossover of horror and comedy. Adding in time travel, the 80s, and the meta-ness of someone from 2023 traveling back… There were so many fun dynamics to play with.”
She adds: “The entire cast was fantastic, they all knew exactly the tone we were going for and when to dial it up and down.
“The most challenging thing was trying to shoot a waterbed kill sequence and not ruin the white bedroom carpet of the lovely couple whose home we were shooting in!”
More from Nahnatchka Khan on Totally Killer
Nahnatchka Khan on the premise… “It's Back to the Future, but with a serial killer twist, and getting to go back in time and do some of those kills, eighties-style, I thought it was so smart and clever. And I knew I wanted to bring in the sort of true crime craze that's been going on, where people would have dedicated podcasts to the Sweet Sixteen Killer and crime timelines."
Nahnatchka Khan on, star of the show, Kiernan Shipka… "She's a natural, you know? Kiernan never feels like she's pushing. Even in the most heightened circumstances where there is time travel, a serial killer and now you're talking to a young version of your mom. You really feel like the way she's playing it, that's how you would behave if you were in that circumstance. She never lets it get untethered."
Nahnatchka Khan on using - and respecting! - the 1980s… "It's not that jokey version of the eighties that we've seen in so many movies and shows. I didn't want that to be the joke.
"You have a Gen Z-er in this world, that's what's funny, you know? It's not like 'Look at the crazy hair.' We really wanted to take a subtle approach with that and make it feel like these people live here."
Totally Killer is available to watch on Amazon Prime from 06 October 2023.
*QUOTES FROM INTERVIEWS BEFORE US WRITERS’ STRIKE
