Kiernan Shipka is Totally Killer in new Halloween movie

The people who cast the actors for Mad Men all those years ago really knew what they were doing. Exhibit A is Kiernan Shipka, who played Don and Betty’s little girl. She was great as a neglected soul in that TV show and she returns to really hold her own in a new star-making vehicle on Amazon Prime called Totally Killer.

Arriving in time for the Halloween season, the movie is more funny than it is scary, but it still offers a few jumps as a cross between Back to the Future, Scream, and Halloween, even including a reference to the revered Michael Myers.

Shipka plays Jamie, the 17-year-old daughter of a woman (played by Julie Bowen of Modern Family) who survived the 1987 triple murder of her best friends by the Sweet Sixteen Killer, who wears a mask inspired by 1980s stars like Kiefer Sutherland, Rob Lowe, and Dolph Lundgren. 

One of Jamie’s friends creates a machine that Jamie uses to go back in time to - hopefully - change the course of the murders. The plot goes a little off track at times, but it’s funny and entertaining and maybe the plot doesn’t much matter in a tale like this. Totally Killer definitely makes for a solid entry into the October entertainmentplex.

3.5 out of 5 stars