They Will Kill You, 2026.
Directed by Kirill Sokolov.
Starring Zazie Beetz, Myha’la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, Patricia Arquette, Armando Rivera, David Viviers, Lindzay Naidoo, Chris van Rensburg, Gabe Gabriel, Megan Alexander, and Darron Meyer.
SYNOPSIS:
A woman takes a job as a housekeeper in a NYC high-rise, unaware of the building’s history of disappearances. She soon realizes the community is shrouded in mystery.
The more co-writer/director Kirill Sokolov’s They Will Kill You reveals about itself, the more tired and deflating it becomes. Most unfortunate here is that nearly everything is revealed roughly 20 minutes in. That doesn’t necessarily stop the filmmaker (writing alongside Alex Litvak) from trying to add more, but it is either criminally underdeveloped or a cheap attempt at twisting around character dynamics – weaving in clunky flashbacks – in an effort to extend the repetitiveness and the story, and the reality that this movie doesn’t have much of anywhere to go until its climax. What’s frustrating is that there is a history to these characters, who they are, what they want, and the location they live in alongside its purpose that is never delved into; it’s window dressing for grindhouse-reminiscent cleaving and decapitating that, somehow, grows tedious.
Following in the footsteps of other recent films, meaning that a trend is both brewing and being run into the dirt, the film is centered on a satanic high society living in an antiquated building dubbed the Virgil. All sorts of shady happenings occur, with the police naturally not looking too hard into it, given the status of its residents. This is more than an apartment of sorts, but a place of satanic worship, where its inhabitants are written into a book or scroll, granting them immortality. All that is required to maintain that luxury is the occasional human sacrifice, which means that help is lured in for more than cooking and cleaning.
There are also several threads here worth pulling on, whether it be the couple in charge of this group being interracial having been in love for nearly 100 years, at one point feeling isolated and lonely (presumably from racism and general disapproval of their relationship) who, apparently, found this place, currying favor with the satanic entity residing in it, and lived while supposedly sacrificing cruel people. In the modern day, the man (Peterson Joseph) has become bored with this and grown a conscience, feeling that they are no longer serving up bad people. Meanwhile, the woman (Patricia Arquette) is, one can assume, crazier than ever. However, the filmmakers aren’t concerned with that dynamic or elaborating on it; it exists so the film has a clear-cut villain and someone within the ranks to help out the protagonist along the way.
That protagonist happens to be Zazie Beetz’s Asia Greaves, feeling guilty over having abandoned her younger sister Maria (played by Myha’la in the present day, although spoilers regarding the role will be kept to a minimum), during a night of violence involving their abusive father, which continuously escalated when they tried to run away together. Ten years later, she is released from prison, looking for work, and coincidentally comes across the Virgil. Or maybe she’s exactly where she wants to be, here with a purpose. Whatever the case may be, it is evident that she not only learned how to fight in prison but can also handle a sword, dodging, diving, and rolling all over the place while cutting rich satanists up.
Since so little is known about what is happening in the plot, the first fight scene works best: it comes when Asia lies down for the night and is interrupted by the satanists sporting hooded black cloaks and pigskin-like masks (complete with a snout). There is a bolt of energy and excitement watching Asia go from hunted and vulnerable to all-out massacring these goons, with blood spraying covering the walls and bodies red. It’s also a genuinely impressive choreographed sequence that keeps the camera moving and tilting with dynamism and momentum behind each maneuver and attack.
Then the immortality revealed comes, with Asia’s real intentions of being here soon to follow (which isn’t exactly surprising), leaving the film stuck in a circular state of her trying to fend off or kill wealthy elites who keep regenerating like they are mutated creatures from Resident Evil (a fitting comparison considering this building is like a cryptic mansion from one of those games, with the most antiquated locks ever conceived to keep people from escaping).
Patricia Arquette doesn’t play a character; she shouts and shouts orders for a small group of underlings (played by Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and others) to piece themselves back together and get right back to it, as they must fulfill a sacrifice by the end of the night. Planted elements, such as each floor of the hotel serving as fulfillment for a different vice (as one character puts it, “immortality gets boring”), never pan out into anything substantial or dementedly fun.
Amid the bloodshed, severed limbs, and carnage, the filmmakers are also attempting a tone that walks the line between grindhouse exploitation and, as mentioned above, sibling drama. The result is a disastrous blend that produces unintentional humor, often from moments that clearly aren’t trying to be funny (the reveal of what this devil looks like isn’t only hilarious; it also renders it impossible to buy into the weight of everything happening in the finale).
Critics and moviegoers alike often talk about Quentin Tarantino being this untouchable, impossible-to-imitate filmmaker, and there are some inspirations of that in the chapter structure and violence here, but They Will Kill You also desperately wants to mix horror and comedy like Sam Raimi, except it flails and never works, particularly since the film wants to be about its characters and the rules of the establishment and its history, yet also can’t be bothered to commit. It won’t kill you, but this is a mess that is only marginally salvaged by its excessive, cartoonish brutality.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
