New posts

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 375493" data-attributes="member: 23">Totally Killer (2023) <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Ffontlot.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F09%2Ftotally-killer-xlg.jpg%3Ffit%3D600%252C750%26ssl%3D1&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=f9ca70201845f5699885c1cc49394fe89467281641c053e5f7e96ed8de2aef90&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> Since it's October I've added a number of horror/thriller/slasher films to my watchlist, most of which I won't end up watching. This was chosen pretty much on the basis that it was the last one added, and so the first to appear when I entered my watchlist. Being made this year for Amazon it's fair to say expectations were low (incidentally, before watching the updated Leo The Lion logo at the start of this film I had no idea that MGM was now owned by Amazon). Had I read an outline of the premise, I may well have steered well clear of this. In general I'd prefer to watch a straight horror than a "aren't we knowing and clever" comedy-horror but the balance was pretty tolerable. Then, a little way into the film, someone mentioned time-travel. While it didn't seem feasible, my heart still sank a bit at the prospect (Christ - wasn't Stab 5 or 6 said to have done this in Scream 4). And when the film followed through, it went from the potentially sublime to the potentially ridiculous. Naturally, the trip back to 1987 was an excuse for writers to do the knowing, clever, ironic references to pop culture. Thanks to borrowing heavily from the film Back To The Future is mentioned a fair bit, and there's a reference to the cross-time capers of Endgame. Michael Myers gets a mention or two and someone in 1987 asks "What's Scream? (the answer: "it's a movie you haven't seen yet that you'll think stars Drew Barrymore but doesn't"). There are also attempts to make commentary regarding societal differences between Gen-X and Gen-Z, with much of the humour coming from protagonist Jamie's(!) shocked reactions to being touched on the arm by a man, casual homophobia, smoking or a party with underage drinking. It's fairly ham-fisted, and one can sense the writers' need to get across that while they might portray their 1987 characters doing X, they don't endorse it. As a it never quite feels a truthful portrayal of the era. But then with this genre it's not like I was expecting profundity and the clash of eras is fun enough. I dare say Back To The Future's take on the Fifties might seem clunky and cartoony to someone who lived through that decade. All the same, this film does ask the viewer to swallow 1980s characters having vocal creak and using frequent 21st Century speak ("super-[whatever]" is used a number of times, while one 1987 teen even casts an eye over a vast collection of media and says "video games much?"). Something about the energy and the film's unspoken raison d'être suggests this film's ambition is revive the horror genre for a new generation à la Scream. Problem is, the genre now includes the postmodern ironic thing which (a) came into existence for the same reason; (b) doesn't easily itself to being made over and (c) helped ensure viewers are aware of - and cynical towards - tropes.  In a sense, then, this film feels a little like a vegan, gluten-free version of the same thing re-presented in recycled, carbon-neutral new packaging. This isn't to say it doesn't work, though. Yes, I've been critical and nit-picky (for a change!), but as I said I went in with low expectations. I wanted a silly, cheesy slasher and I got one. I was prepared for low-budget fun and I got it. While the low-budget  feels at times like the 2021 series of I Know What You Did Last Summer, it's also fairly successful at evoking the spirit of genre films from the Eighties and Nineties: the silent protagonist resembles Michael Myers (if Michael had a rictus grin) but has Scream's whodunnit element and an antagonist that runs and plays psychological games. I really didn't think I needed to see a slasher that included the protagonist going back 35 years, discovering her mother is a bitch, accidentally pushing her parents together too soon, pairing up with her best friend's mother and affecting the future when her attempts to stop the 1987 killings changes the order of the victims. It turns out I did. When this film works, it really works. [MEDIA=youtube]yUm6M-MuwNU[/MEDIA] Would I watch it again? Yep. Would I care to see a sequel? I think I might.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?