Director: Nahnatchka Khan
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher; Horror/Comedy
Plot:
After the death of her mother, a teen finds herself accidentally transported back in time to the year the suspected killer went on a spree targeting several people in her mother's class and must use her knowledge of the future to stop him from continuing his spree and save her mother's future.
Review:
Overall, this was a pretty fun if somewhat troubling genre effort. When this one works the best is the overall setup and the work throughout which provides for a wholly likable experience here. The backstory of the town being still haunted by the actions of the killer in the past and how that's affecting the relationship at hand between mother and daughter as well as the other factors in the town that are focused around the aftermath of the spree that occurred. This gets played up nicely once the arrival in the past happens and it starts playing loosely with the connections established at the beginning being really fun and comes together with the comedic stereotypes and reactions rather nicely.
As well, there's also one of the finest uses of time-travel logic at play which this uses quite well. The whole bits of background information given out about the night and how events played out have some sound reasoning with what's going on and the setup being played out like a river as the analogy presented is a fine touch. The fact that her appearance in the past alters the way things happened makes for an intriguing storyline how it all gets changed the more she's around is a great touch to add a nice bit of suspense to the film with her visions being wrong and the need to stop the killer getting even more desperate to stop what’s going on.
These provide a great setup here with the intriguing setup providing this the chance for some great stalking scenes. The opening assault in the modern day that starts the rampage involves some brutal stalking with the use of self-defense being mixed together alongside the brawling and a shockingly gruesome resolution that gives it a strong start to things. That continues with the failed attempts at saving the friend group as the bungled birthday party and the ambush at the cabin which also feature quite a lot of fun brawling, hard-hitting action, and some gruesome resolutions that again get twisted around due to the interference from the future. These all manage to provide a lot to like with holding this one up.
There isn’t much to dislike here as there are only a few minor issues. The main factor with this one is the surprisingly obvious lack of tension in the scenes with the killer stalking his victims, where despite the brutality depicted and hard-hitting brawling that takes place there’s not a lot of fear derived from his interactions. Some of this is due to the goofy, cumbersome mask that looks far more awkward than scary, but the rest of it is due to the comedic tone that’s established due to the jokey nature everyone has while dealing with the scenario. This is somewhat unfortunate due to the comedic atmosphere presented, but these are enough to bring this one down somewhat.
Overview: ****/5
A fun and entertaining if slightly flawed teen slasher, there's a lot to like within here as the few minor issues don't become detrimental in the slightest and leave this one quite fun. Those who are fans of this particular style of genre comedy, appreciate the approach used here, or are huge slasher fanatics while those who aren't into those features should heed caution with this one.
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