This feature contains interviews conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Kiernan Shipka and Olivia Holt are partnering up and taking us back to the 80s in their upcoming slasher comedy, Totally Killer, and yes, it looks absolutely to die for.
Cosmopolitan got your first official look at the film, which is set to be released on October 6, 2023 on Amazon's Prime Video and produced by Blumhouse Television, is going to fill the hole that Freaky and Bodies Bodies Bodies left in your heart as one girl heads back in time to help track down a notorious killer.
According to Amazon Studios, "35 years after the shocking murder of three teens, the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer“ returns on Halloween night to claim a fourth victim. 17-year-old Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) ignores her overprotective mom’s (Julie Bowen) warning and comes face to face with the masked maniac and on the run for her life, accidentally time travels back to 1987, the year of the original killings. Forced to navigate the unfamiliar and outrageous culture of the 1980s, Jamie teams up with her teen mom (Olivia Holt) to take down the killer once and for all before she’s stuck in the past forever."
And yes, we can't ignore the fact that this is bringing Kiernan Shipka back to horror after her seasons on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
"I love the horror genre. I like that it can be extraordinarily gripping and terrifying, and psychologically mess you up for a couple days," she said. "Or it can also just be this joyous movie experience."
"Jamie is a very modern teen girl - she’s flawed, spends too much time on her phone and is not yet thinking about the bigger picture of her life," Kiernan continued. "All of the sudden, she’s forced to grow up very quickly to take control of her situation and through this awakening, discovers how brave she is."
That is, of course, when the Sweet Sixteen Killer comes back into town, which definitely becomes the talk of the town in a lot of ways.
Julie Bowen plays an older version of her mother, Pam, while Olivia Holt plays the 1980s version of her and let's just say that they both get into several bloody situations.
And they're not the only familiar faces that you'll see. Charlie Gillespie, Lochlyn Munro, Troy L. Johnson, Liana Liberato, Kelcey Mawema, Stephi Chin-Salvo, Anna Diaz, Ella Choi, Jeremy Monn-Djasngar, Nathaniel Appiah, Jonathan Potts also star which means it'll definitely be a must-watch.
"The entire cast was fantastic, they all knew exactly the tone we were going for, when to dial it up and down, and were able to toggle back and forth between the comedy and horror in a way that made it feel effortless," director Nahnatchka Khan told Cosmopolitan.
For Khan, it's a switch to a different direction after working on favorites like Always Be My Maybe and Fresh off the Boat. Speaking of which, this film also includes a reunion between her and long-time collaborator Randall Park.
"I've always been a fan of genre mash-ups and love the crossover of slasher/horror and comedy - the idea of creating tension and a real threat and then using comedy as a release valve was really appealing to me," Khan said. "And on top of that, adding in the time travel and the 80s and the meta-ness of someone from 2023 traveling back in time having seen movies about other people traveling back in time... there were so many fun elements and dynamics I was excited to play with."
And this wouldn't be a horror film without some major kill moments, including one that had Khan thinking outside of the box a bit.
"The most challenging thing was trying to figure out how to shoot a waterbed kill sequence with practical water and blood effects and not ruin the white bedroom carpet of the lovely couple whose home we were shooting in," she revealed.
Oh, and before you tease you hair up so you can get into the vibes of the film, there's one piece of advice that Khan has for you. "Make sure no one tries to give you any bad 80s weed, which is pretty much just dirt and twigs," she says.
Totally Killer premieres on Prime Video on October 6, 2023.
