'Totally Killer' mashes up some tasty throwback movie genres. The results aren't appetizing

There is a scene toward the end of the run of “Succession” in which, in a rare moment of bonding, the Roy children mix up whatever food they can find in a blender and make Kendall drink it.

It’s a goofy moment, a callback to a popular parents-aren’t-looking dare from fifth-grade sleepovers.

That’s sort of what “Totally Killer,” a new horror comedy starring Kiernan Shipka (“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” “Mad Men”) is like. It’s fun to see director Nahnatchka Khan toss elements of “Halloween,” “Back to the Future,” “Scream” and every final-girl horror movie you’ve ever seen into a cinematic blender, along with a heaping helping of time-travel films.

Consuming the combination, on the other hand, is a little less appetizing.

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What is ‘Totally Killer’ about?

Shipka plays Jamie, a teenager who lives in the small town of Vernon, where 35 years ago the Sweet Sixteen Killer murdered three high-school girls. (He stabbed each victim 16 times, thus the nickname.) The murders still haunt the place, understandably, particularly Jamie’s mother Pam (Julie Bowen), who was friends with the victims. Thus, Pam is overprotective, at least in Jamie’s eyes. Though all of those self-defense lessons will come in handy.

The murders took place on and around Halloween. The killer wore a black shirt and a mask — now the town’s most popular costume for the holiday. Chris Dubasage (Jonathan Potts) has a podcast devoted to his encyclopedic knowledge of the murders, the tackiness of which is lost on him.

Then, after 35 years, someone dressed in Sweet Sixteen Killer garb claims another victim.

Why now? And is it the old killer back for more, or a copycat?

Finding the answers to those questions is complicated by the fact that Jamie, on the run from the killer, jumps into a photo booth to hide. But it’s a photo booth her best friend has been trying to convert into a time machine, without success.

Until this time.

Jamie is transported back 35 years, with the dual challenge of preventing the murders and getting back to the present. Without WiFi, no less.

Jamie is appropriately aghast at the political incorrectness of the 1980s, which makes for some pretty funny scenes. She poses, for instance, as a student and has to dress out for a physical-education class — dodgeball, of course. Though what horrifies Jamie is the fit of the uniform.

“How is this school-issued?” she says. “We look like we work at Hooters.”

And in a nice twist, her sweet, overprotective mom is in high school a queen-bee jerk who bullies anyone she considers beneath her, which is basically the population of the planet — “the wicked witch of Vernon,” as one girl calls her. (Olivia Holt, of the first season of “Cruel Summer,” plays Pam as a teenager and nails Bowen’s delivery.)

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Where can I watch 'Totally Killer?

Khan’s direction is clunky and obvious, and the story takes some shortcuts with logic, when not ignoring it completely. The film tries to protect itself against that; there are several references to how time-travel movies never get it right.

The whole film, in fact, uses its self-awareness as a kind of protective bubble against the slings and arrows of criticism. It’s a kind of, “You can’t say this doesn’t work if we say it first” defense.

Or, as one character says, “I hate time-travel movies. They never make any sense.”

Nailed it, pal.

For all that, Shipka is both funny and gritty as the wry observer unwillingly drawn into the action, the kind of role at which she excels. (See: “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” when it’s good, which is most of the time.) And bonus points for using Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon,” and especially for the sheriff’s ranking of people he hates: “Old people, sick people and people with dogs.”

That’s a taste of the promise “Totally Killer,” which streams on Prime Video on Oct. 6, has, but doesn’t deliver on.

'Totally Killer' 3 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Nahnatchka Khan.

Cast: Kieran Shipka, Olivia Holt, Julie Bowen.

Rating: R for bloody violence, language, sexual material, and teen drug/alcohol use.

How to watch: Streaming on Prime Video Friday, Oct. 6.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Totally Killer' review: Kiernan Shipka slays, but the movie taps out