A woman seeking to rescue her little sister takes a job at an ultra-exclusive hotel only to find that the residents have a nasty, violent, murderous secret in director Kirill Sokolov’s Hollywood debut, They Will Kill You.
Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz) is a fighter. Ten years ago, she tries to rescue her little sister from an abusive father, but after trying and failing to kill him, she ran away, leaving her sister to fend for herself. After serving hard time for her crime, Asia is now determined to get Maria (played as an adult by Myha’la) out of her job at the extremely shady Virgil high-rise, but what she doesn’t know is that the building hosts a very violent cult who will stop at nothing to preserve their lifestyle, and human sacrifice is very much on the menu.
Kirill Sokolov made a big splash on the genre circuit back in 2019 when his chaotic, kinetic debut feature Why Don’t You Just Die! hit big screens around the world. A film about a young man tasked with killing his girlfriend’s overbearing father, Die! was a blast of hardcore action, with a level of violence bordering on splatter, and heralded the arrival of an artist with a unique point of view and vision of what genre film could be.
They Will Kill You builds on that cache by creating an action-horror experience that can best be described as absolutely insane in the most complimentary way possible. Equal parts Evil Dead and Itchy & Scratchy, Sokolov’s affection for over-the-top set pieces as well as a knack for creating uniquely memorable visuals is bolstered by a cast empowered to do the absolute most in every situation and a technical team who eager and able to realize this truly exception vision.
Zazie Beetz is an unstoppable dynamo as Asia, slicing & dicing, kicking & blasting her way through the residents of the Virgil with the self-possession of a veteran. Standing in her way is a fantastic crew of sadists led by no-nonsense majordomo, Lily (Patricia Arquette), who hired her on as a maid before realizing that she was not just some anonymous girl off the street. The residents, led by a blissfully unhinged Sharon (Heather Graham), who can’t seem to keep her head on straight, and a rambunctious Kevin (Tom Felton), have set their sights on Asia as the sacrifice that will keep their cult going strong, but they underestimate her early on, and that sets in motion one hundred minutes of unbridled carnage, and we are all the richer for it.
While the film certainly trades on recognizable tropes and elements from a host of well-known genre classics – the above-mentioned Evil Dead being one of the most prominent, but there’s also The Raid, Kill Bill, and countless others – Sokolov and co-writer Alex Litwak are not content to simply make this into a clip show. There are visuals in here that I haven’t seen before, or at least not on this scale.
The unique geography of this building turns every chase sequence – of which there are many – into a wild funhouse ride through Sokolov’s demented comic vision. There are tunnels, elevator shafts, hidden entries and exits, a satanic attic, and so many other impeccable design elements that the film feels hand-crafted in a way that really transmits that even though the world outside feels like any big city, once we walk through the Virgil’s doors, we’re in Sokolov’s world.
The crazy energy of Why Don’t You Just Die! was always going to be a tough act to follow, and with a big studio like Fox attached, there was no guarantee that the director who made that film would have the freedom to express himself freely. However, They Will Kill You feels like we’re getting Sokolov unfiltered, straight from the tap, likely thanks to the close guardianship of producers Barbara and Andy Muschietti, who have their own successes to lean on.
Though this is truly the Zazie Beetz show throughout – she really does go all out and spends most of the film covered in blood – the technical team really shines here. Cinematographer Isaac Baumann cut his teeth in music video, and that sense of rhythm really plays out beautifully in concert with the work of editor Luke Doolan and composer Carlos Rafael Rivera. It all plays out in the beautifully designed landscape of the Virgil, production designed by Jeremy Reed and absolutely destroyed by the stunt team led by Kerry Gregg and Russ McCarrol, who do insane things at every possible opportunity.
They Will Kill You is probably the most deliriously, joyfully violent film to play the Headliners section at SXSW since Evil Dead Rise destroyed the Paramount Theater at its 2023 world premiere, and the energy in the room last night was very similar to that. Kirill Sokolov has stepped into the Hollywood spotlight and made a big statement here, and horror fans are definitely going to respond. They Will Kill You is a big, bloody blast of energy, and isn’t that the stuff big screen dreams are made of?