Time-traveling ‘80s slasher flick ‘Totally Killer’ pits Gen Z vs. Gen X

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A quick check on TikTok finds plenty of Gen Xers telling zoomers the harsh and hilarious realities of growing up during the Reagan administration.

That in a nutshell is the basis of new multi-genre slasher film “Totally Killer,” which will excite horror fans this Halloween season.

The Blumhouse Television production — think “Back to the Future” meets “Halloween” meets “Scream” — premieres globally on Friday on Prime Video.

Directed by Nahnatchka Khan and starring Kiernan Shipka, the fun film begins 35 years after the shocking murder of three teens, when the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” returns on Halloween night to claim a fourth victim.

The daughter-mother story finds 17-year-old Jamie (Shipka) going back in time to help her teenage mom (Julie Bowen) track down the killer while navigating Bartles & Jaymes, too much hairspray and one crazy ‘80s kid reality after another –from traveling with strangers to inappropriate gym uniforms.

We recently caught up with Khan (creator of ABC’s “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 and “Fresh Off the Boat,” as well as NBC’s “Young Rock”) to talk about “Totally Killer,” John Hughes and representation in Hollywood.

Hello, Nahnatchka. Congrats on “Totally Killer.” What was it about the script that had you excited about the film?

Usually, you get a little synopsis that tells you what you’re about to read. There was nothing. I had no idea what this was. I knew it was coming from Blumhouse, so there’s some slasher-horror element in this somewhere. Once I got to the concept and the hook of basically this girl who has to go back in time to save her mother, I was in. It combines a lot of elements and movies that I love. Then we get to have fun in the ‘80s seeing it through a Gen Z lens. What a playground.

A hilarious example of that Gen Z lens includes the lead character being shocked at the risqué high school gym uniforms. Too funny.

It was so fun to be able to go back and poke fun at it in a way that we never could. She says, “We all look like we work at Hooters.” You have these shorts and PE-issued uniforms somehow, which is crazy.

Obviously, you’re known for championing representation in your work. With “Totally Killer,” are you empowering nerds and the not-so-cool kids?

For sure, the underdogs. Back then, it was like John Hughes was basically our childhood. He’d make these movies, we’d go see them and even if we didn’t see ourselves necessarily represented on screen — like I surely didn’t — you imagine yourself in the film. Now to be able to go back and have fun with that time, being able to recreate my version of 1987, putting people in those roles that aren’t just an all-white cast and giving the underdog a voice and POV that we didn’t get before, that was a really fun thing to do. And then subtly having a young woman at the center of a slasher movie. That’s typical, she’s being hunted, but she’s driving the action here in a way that she’s actually hunting the killer. Even if that’s subconscious and nobody notices and cares about that, there is something that I find subversive about that in a cool way.

“Totally Killer” comes off as a great homage to so many horror classics. What were you going for?

That original “Halloween” in that sequence when Jamie is walking home. One of the most terrifying sequences to me in “Halloween” is when Michael Myers is hiding in the bushes. That sequence in the daytime was masterful. So a little touch of that and the original ‘Friday the 13th” for sure starting out from that POV shot walking up into the cabin. Obviously, “Scream” was a big touchpoint for a lot of reasons. The meta-ness of that movie is something I really appreciate and that’s what we wanted to bring into this in our own way.

Finally, as an Iranian-American television writer who, again, has furthered diversity in front of and behind the camera, where do you feel we are in terms of representation in Hollywood?

The momentum is great. There’s more and more representation in shows and movies but we’re just getting started. There’s so much more in every single genre. Look at a show like “Beef” and you just see, wow, we’re only scratching the surface. This is an art form. They’re creating something that has not been seen before out of something that is so visceral and relatable. You just see stuff like that and you’re excited for more and more and more.