Kiernan Shipka Is Stuck in 1987 in Clip from Time-Hopping Horror-Comedy 'Totally Killer' (Exclusive) (original) (raw)

Kiernan Shipka is a few decades ahead of her time in the new horror-comedy Totally Killer.

The Mad Men alum, 23, stars as Jamie Hughes, a teen who encounters the so-called "Sweet Sixteen Killer" on Halloween night, 35 years after he claimed the lives of three teens who were all friends with Jamie’s mom Pam (_Modern Family_’s Julie Bowen).

On the run, she accidentally travels back to 1987, the year the masked killer murdered the trio. Jamie joins forces with her then-teenage mom (Olivia Holt) to stop the murders before they happen.

Just a few problems: How does she explain she’s from the future and knows about the killings before they even occur?

In a clip from the movie shared exclusively with PEOPLE, Jamie heads to the police after snagging a sample of the killer’s DNA — but, since it's the 1980s, the officers don’t know what DNA is.

“Here you go, Sheriff. Careful,” says Jamie, handing the lawman, played by Randall Park, a plastic bag with a blood-soaked paper towel.

Randall Park in 'Totally Killer'.

James Dittiger/Courtesy of Prime Video

“What’s this?” he asks.

“I hit the killer on the head with a piece of firewood, and I soaked up some of his blood with that paper towel. You have his DNA.”

“What’s that?” asks another officer.

“DNA? It’s like — I don’t know what it stands for. Everyone… it’s, like, specific to the person. You just plug it into the worldwide database," explains Jamie.

The officers break into laughter as Sheriff Lim dismisses her, saying, “Sure sweetheart. We’ll just fire up the old worldwide DMA database.”

In production notes for the movie, director Nahnatchka Khan (Always Be My Maybe) called Totally Killer “Back to the Future, but with a serial-killer twist.”

“Getting to go back in time and do some of those kills, '80s-style, I thought it was so smart and clever,” she continued. “And I wanted to bring in the sort of true-crime craze that’s been going on, where people would have dedicated podcasts to the Sweet Sixteen Killer and crime timelines.”

Jason Blum, producer, founder and CEO of Blumhouse, the production company behind Totally Killer, added that there’s plenty for 1980s aficionados to love.

Olivia Holt, Charlie Gillespie, Kiernan Shipka, Stephi Chin-Salvo and Jeremy Monn-Djasngar in 'Totally Killer'.

James Dittiger/Courtesy of Prime Video

“There’s '80s easter eggs like the fashion and music in the movie for people like me who lived through those years, but also for that generation that have seen the John Hughes movies, and movies like Heathers, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Back to the Future or watched them with their parents,” he said.

Shipka promised viewers will be entertained, calling it “that popcorn candy–type movie where you want to be strapped in and attached to these characters.”

Totally Killer is on Prime Video Friday.