Review: 'Y2K' is a horror comedy where the jokes flow as much as the blood, as it fondly recalls '90s sci-fi and teen rom-coms.

Kyle Mooney has been one of the more conceptualist comedians ever to appear on “Saturday Night Live” (his “What’s My Name?” sketch, where he plays every part, is a great example). So it’s no surprise that his first movie as a director, the horror comedy “Y2K,” takes a smart idea and runs through its funniest permutations.  

It’s December 1999, and high-school dork Eli (Jaeden Martell) and his trash-talking best pal Danny (Julian Dennison, from “Deadpool 2”) are once again on the outskirts of social acceptability. For Eli, this means never getting to talk to his crush, popular girl Laura (Rachel Zegler). But when they learn there’s a no-holds-barred New Year’s Eve party happening, and that Laura has broken up with her community-college-going boyfriend, Danny encourages Eli to take the chance and tell her how he feels.

There’s a lot of talk leading up to the party about the potential problems of a computer glitch when the calendar turns over to the year 2000 (yes, kids, that was something we actually worried about) — but these kids pay it no mind. That is, until the clock strikes midnight, and suddenly all the electronic devices start turning into killers. Microwaves cook people’s heads. Electric shavers cut the jugular. A CD player spits out discs that embed into skulls. And the machines start rewiring themselves, combining into massive lethal robots.

The kids at the party either scatter or die. One group that forms to make their escape is led by Eli, along with acerbic stoner CJ (Daniel Zolghadri), punk skater girl Ash (Lachlan Watson), and, of course, Laura. They run into other people, including aged video-store clerk Garrett (played by Mooney) and, for reasons too weird to explain, Limp Biskit frontman Fred Durst (played by Limp Biskit frontman Fred Durst).

Mooney and his co-writer, Evan Winter, mine our obsessions with technology for some sharp humor — it’s hard to believe how many ways gadgets are made to kill teenagers — while also spoofing a previous generation of horror movies and teen rom-coms. (Casting Alicia Silverstone as Eli’s mom helps cement the movie’s ‘90s bonafides.) 

Mooney brings a biting humor and a well-honed sense of period nostalgia for everything from Taebo to Chumbawumba. He makes “Y2K” a movie that’s hilariously gory, smartly comic and surprisingly sweet, the very sort of movie that would play perfectly at a teen sleepover circa 1999.

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‘Y2K’

★★★

Opens Friday, December 6, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for bloody violence, strong sexual content/nudity, pervasive language, and teen drug and alcohol use. Running time: 91 minutes.