In the brand-new horror-comedy Totally Killer, Kiernan Shipka is several decades in advance of her time.
The 23-year-old Mad Men alum plays Jamie Hughes, a teenager who, 35 years after the deaths of three teenagers who were all acquainted with Jamie’s mom Pam (Modern Family’s Julie Bowen), runs into the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” on Halloween night.
While running, she unintentionally goes back to 1987, the year the trio was murdered by the masked assailant. Jamie teams up with her mother (Olivia Holt), who was a teenager at the time, to avert the murders.
Only a few issues How can she explain that she is from the future and has knowledge of the murders even before they take place?
In a movie preview shared exclusively with PEOPLE, Jamie goes to the police with a sample of the murderer’s DNA, but the detectives don’t understand what DNA is because it’s the 1980s.
Sheriff, here it is. Jamie hands a plastic bag containing a paper towel covered in blood to the lawman, played by Randall Park, and warns him to be careful.
He enquires, “What’s this?”
“I struck the murderer in the head with a piece of firewood and used the paper towel to mop up some of his blood. Your DNA contains his.
Another cop inquires, “What’s that?”
“DNA? That’s like, I have no idea what that means. Everyone… It’s kind of person-specific. You simply enter it into the global database, says Jamie.
Sheriff Lim dismisses her and the officers start to giggle, “Sure sweetheart. We’ll merely launch the outdated global DMA database.
Director Nahnatchka Khan (Always Be My Maybe) described the film as “Back to the Future with a serial-killer twist” in the production notes.
I thought it was incredibly creative and clever being able to travel back in time and perform some of those murders, ’80s-style, she continued. And I wanted to incorporate the current true-crime mania, where people would have podcasts specifically devoted to the Sweet Sixteen Killer and crime timelines.
There is a lot for 1980s enthusiasts to adore, said Jason Blum, producer and CEO of Blumhouse, the production firm that created Totally Killer.
For those who, like me, experienced the 1980s, as well as for the generation who saw the John Hughes films and films like Heathers, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Back to the Future or watched them with their parents, there are references to the fashion and music of that era in the film.
Assuring that spectators would be entertained, Shipka referred to the film as “that popcorn candy-type movie where you want to be strapped in and attached to these characters.”
Prime Video will have Totally Killer on Friday.