[Totally Killer Review Prime] Back to the Future + Scream, which is done well enough.

Totally Killer A teen murder mystery movie on Amazon Prime with a peculiar plot, where the female lead travels back in time to investigate murders from the past in order to save her mother who was killed in the present.

 

Totally Killer Review (No Spoilers)

The movie, starring the famous actress Kiernan Shipka, known for her role in the series Sabrina,with its fusion of sci-fi time-travel elements and a masked killer storyline. This idea works quite well, as it attempts to tell a teenage time-traveling story, much like Back to the Future (but set in 1987). The plot combines these formulas, with the protagonist trying to make her parents fall in love during their college years because they had once mentioned they were dating at that time. But both of them were spoiled young people who liked to have sex, leading her to navigate the challenges of keeping them apart, creating hilarious situations similar to those in Back to the Future. The narrative takes a fun and satisfying twist at the end, allowing for different possible conclusions.

On the other hand, there is the quest to uncover who the culprit is behind the murders of three teenage girls in the mother’s gang. At the beginning of the story, there is a legend about the murder of these three girls with 16 stab wounds, and the killer has never been caught to this day. Before her mother becomes the latest victim, a time-travel device is created by her close friend as a school science project. This device is more of a playful idea to go back in time, not a serious sci-fi concept like in “Back to the Future,” and it follows the same time-travel rule – whatever you change in the past affects the future. It’s not a branching timeline like in “Endgame” (they throw in this joke too). So, the protagonist’s mission is to prevent the deaths of the three victims and, in the present, it’s presented how has changed through with her close friend. The movie thus narrates two interconnected events, one from the past and one from the present, simultaneously.

The murder scenes in this story also follow successful formulas from popular genres, such as the initial home invasion scene reminiscent of “Scream” or the wilderness cabin scene reminiscent of a “Jason” movie. There is deception to make the audience think who the killer is, as in “Scream,” as well as insight into the killer’s motivations. The film effectively incorporates these various elements quite well. Even though revealing the true identity of the murderer may not be particularly surprising.

The movie is quite enjoyable and humorous, with a clever use of various tropes, especially the bully jokes from the past that often annoy the protagonist, who is a modern-day teenager, teaching her that these things are wrong. The film skillfully weaves these issues throughout the story.

In summary, it’s a time-travel movie with influences from ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘Scream,’ and it’s quite well-done. However, it may not delve as deeply as those two classics. Still, if you’re a fan of Kiernan Shipka, it’s a must-watch.

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