Even over forty years on, we will’t get sufficient of the ‘80s — and neither can director Nahnatchka Khan, whose upcoming slasher-comedy Completely Killer hits Prime Video this Friday. She takes us again to a time of huge hair and even larger films along with her story about teenage Jamie (Kiernan Shipka), who finds herself transported again to 1987, in an try and cease the “Candy 16 Killer” who murdered her mom’s highschool greatest pals, solely to find that her teenage mom (Olivia Holt) isn’t as good as everybody remembers her being. She is a sort A imply lady, lengthy earlier than Regina George would ever hit the scene.
In a world nonetheless so obsessive about the Eighties — how many individuals are you aware who nonetheless complain that MTV doesn’t play music anymore? — it’s a novel idea for a horror comedy, one which wears its information of the style on its sleeve like a teen who collects Depeche Mode vinyl for enjoyable. Whereas slashers have largely been deserted in favor of extra advanced horror ideas, Completely Killer is aware of its roots and celebrates them, taking the subgenre again to barebones fundamentals, with a little bit little bit of Marty McFly aptitude thrown in for good measure.
When the trailer was initially launched, many famous that the bottom idea was the identical as (or much like) The Closing Women, a 2015 comedy starring Taissa Farmiga a few younger lady who’s transported right into a Eighties slasher movie starring her deceased mom. However whereas they could fall into the identical camp, the identical may arguably be stated about practically each slasher to return out of the style each are echoing — I imply, altering the weapon doesn’t actually separate Michael Myers from The Driller Killer, does it? And whereas The Closing Women performed itself as a straight comedy — one which ripped off Friday the thirteenth so squarely that none of it ever labored — Completely Killer has the (blood and) guts to provide Shipka’s Jamie some chutzpah, letting her use saving her mother’s pals as a solution to course of her personal grief.
She offers a robust efficiency as a lady caught out of time and mourning her mom, having come a good distance from her days on Mad Males, and even on The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. She’s particularly memorable alongside Troy L. Johnson because the youthful model of her greatest pal’s mom, the one one who believes her when she says she’s from the longer term. They make a strong group, regardless of the notes of early Disney Channel within the script — the remainder of the women round her can’t determine in the event that they need to be the Heathers or Deborah Foreman’s pals in Valley Woman, making me groan simply as a lot as when the latter decides that Nicolas Cage’s Randy is like, completely uncool.
The movie’s ‘80s influences are clear and current all through the script, mixing and mashing titles everybody remembers, both from their very own childhoods or when their mothers plopped them down within the entrance of the TV as youngsters, proper earlier than she traumatized them when the horse in The Neverending Story bites it. It’s as a lot the self-referenced Again to the Future as it’s Halloween or The Slumber Get together Bloodbath, and it exists in the identical type of heightened actuality, the place individuals can construct time machines out of DeLorean vehicles or picture cubicles and serial killers put on goofy-ass celebration masks once they homicide their victims. There’s not an inch of realism on this movie, and that’s for the higher. Whereas it by no means absolutely succeeds, Khan understands that unusual in-between place that ‘80s movies exist in and mimics that vitality effectively, even when the script doesn’t fairly sustain.
She’s additionally clearly studied her slasher kills effectively, because the movie isn’t afraid to lean into the blood when issues begin to go sideways. From the soar, the kills are as gory as you’d need from a slasher, even a horror comedy, and it saves the entire thing from going into whole cheese territory when the jokes cease touchdown. To stab somebody sixteen instances is not any joke, and Khan desires to ensure you comprehend it, making the dead-eyed stare of the killer’s masks as chilling as it may be underneath the circumstances.
The place the movie begins to put on skinny, although, is the place it stops embracing the cheese of the ‘80s and begins appearing prefer it must apologize for it. Operating by your complete movie is an undercurrent of an excessive amount of self-awareness, a continuing acknowledgment that the ‘80s have been a unique time, particularly by way of racism, misogyny, and an entire host of different points. Jamie is consistently (no actually, continuously) shocked by the issues popping out of everybody’s mouth, and spends a not insignificant quantity of her screentime making an attempt to dad or mum the kids round her, correcting their conduct although it does precisely nothing, both for the characters or for the plot typically. It’s an apparent try by the screenwriters to say, “Look, we all know higher!”, however it’s a joke that will get outdated quick, significantly when the viewers additionally is aware of higher and doesn’t respect being spoonfed the reminder that hey, everybody over twenty-five in all probability held gross beliefs as soon as!
Furthermore, it breaks the widespread rule of “present, don’t inform,” and erodes Jamie’s persona because of this — what probability does she get at character growth when she’s continuously mentioning how flawed everyone seems to be for his or her snide remarks or informal sexism? Like, sure, everyone knows that Revenge of the Nerds is creepy and peculiar now and that Prime Gun is clearly the superior Anthony Edwards film, however did we actually want a whole B-plot about that? For me, the reply’s a strong no.