Horror fans are truly being spoilt for films and shows to watch this Halloween season, with one of the best being new time travel slasher Totally Killer.
We caught up with Editor Jeremy Cohen, to spill the beans on this throwback slasher.
Tell us how you got involved with Totally Killer?
I’ve worked with Nahnatchka Khan – or Natch – for almost a decade on projects like Young Rock, Fresh Off The Boat and Ali Wong’s special Don Wong. We were actually on the mix stage finishing a Young Rock episode, and she was discussing her plans to go to Vancouver to shoot, so I mentioned if they needed any extra help – even just a pinch hitter to support another editor – I’d definitely be interested. She told me, “that’s good to know,” and just a couple of days later, she sent me the script. Soon after, I was on a Zoom interviewing with the producers – and not as support but as the editor.
You’ve previously worked in a lot of television; what has the transition to feature films been like?
Yes, I have been in television for a while, and it has been tricky to get feature opportunities because you definitely can get pigeonholed. Often you will hear something like, “we really like you and your work, but you haven’t cut a feature before.” Totally Killer was great because it was a project with a director I already had done a lot of work with bringing me along, so it was the perfect opportunity to make that jump. As far as differences between the two, I did enjoy the chance on the feature to really drill down on the material and take a second (and third and fourth, etc.) look at it. In TV, you often have a tight time frame because something needs to get on the air. In this case, you really have time to enhance the storytelling overall, as well as tighten the bolts and kick the tires on every scene and sequence to make everything the most it can be.
What were your first impressions of the screenplay for Totally Killer?
I thought the script was a blast – I’m a big fan of horror movies AND Back to the Future – so this chance to combine them was brilliant. I also found it hilarious and filled with fun characters. I’ve gotten to meet David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver and Jen D’angelo since the movie premiered, and they are all as cool and fun as their script. Though I’m still trying to figure out who came up with the name “Reed Demento.”
How much of a challenge was it for you to create two different time periods and ensure they were tonally different?
The key, as far as this goes, was establishing our tone at the top in 2023 and getting Jamie to the 80s as fast as possible. We pruned a lot of jokes and extra material at the start in order to have a light but grounded tone before that first kill sequence which should kind of surprise the audience a bit with its viciousness and brutality. Then we’re a bit in mourning with the characters till we hit the 80s, which is where the tone definitely becomes more comic and includes a higher joke-per-minute ratio, but still with that darkness lurking.
Which sequence was the hardest to edit?
The final sequence in the Gravitron was one we kept returning to. We had to find a way to gradually ratchet up the tension and create the sense that this machine which is already going fast enough to stick you to the wall, is getting even faster and faster. So we threw a lot at it – adding exteriors of the Gravitron and electricity, and doing a lot with sound (first from my great Assistant Editor Andrew Crisman and then via our sound effects designer Jussi Tegelman and mixers Marti Humphrey and Rob Marshall) to create the sense of increasing speed and noise, and eventually metal stress sounds as the machine actually strains under the speed. We also added bits of camera shake as the scene went on, so you felt the speed. Finally, with the suggestion of Amazon producers, we added those shots of the time travel device sparking and spitting so you felt it gradually building up to warp.
Kill sequences in slashers are tricky as I suppose there is always the question of when to cut away; was that the case here?
It’s funny you ask that. I actually had a bit of a tendency to be slightly more conservative here. For instance, in the scene (SPOILERS) where we see Tiffany get killed, I think after the initial stab as “Lady in Red” swells and we see Jamie run up, I only cut back into a stab or two and then to the pics on the wall getting splashed – I was kind of leaning toward letting your imagination do the work of filling in the rest. But Natch said, “I think if we’re going for it, we should just go for it,” so we really extended that moment so you get to see why he’s the “Sweet 16 Killer” – that he stabs his victims 16 times, so he keeps going. I think it’s a great little Grand Guignol moment.
Did you have a close working relationship with Nahnatchka Khan?
We’ve worked together for almost a decade on various series and pilots and comedy specials – this movie we mostly actually edited from my house (Covid era). What’s awesome with Natch (besides her taste in lunch spots) is that she definitely knows what she wants but welcomes your input and ideas. She has a great and acute editing mind and eye. I know overall, she likes my taste in performances and what I have to contribute as far as music ideas – I’m a music junkie. It’s fun to put some songs in my editor cut that do end up in the final version. Ultimately as an editor, your first job is to understand and facilitate the vision of the director (in features) or the showrunner (in TV), and I think I’m pretty good at adapting project to project, person to person, but with Natch at this point I know where she’s coming from instinctively.
Do you have an itch to move into feature directing in the future?
I did some directing back in the Cretaceous Era when I was funding it entirely myself and had people mostly working for free on a weekend because they liked an idea I had – it turned out okay, but it stressed me out! I would like to give it a go again at some future date (I did shadow a director once on Fresh Off The Boat ), but I’m also okay solving all the problems in the editing room instead of live on set for the moment! Editing some more features first, then directing.
Totally Killer is available now to stream on Amazon.
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