They Will Kill You Review: A Stylish but Hollow 'Eat the Rich' Horror Flick
Zazie Beetz must be utterly exhausted. Not only did she undergo four months of intensive training to portray Asia Reaves, an ex-convict hacking and slashing through an elite New York hotel to rescue her sister Marie, played by Myha'la, but she also shoulders the entire weight of the film. Kirill Sokolov's action-horror-comedy leans heavily on her magnetic presence, with nearly every other shot featuring a crash zoom into her features—whether snarling or focused, wielding blades, a flaming fire axe, or a decapitated pig's head possessed by Beelzebub.
Beetz's Compelling Performance
Through roles in FX's Atlanta and Deadpool 2, Beetz has crafted a portfolio of jagged-edged women: bitingly funny, tender-hearted, and uncompromising. Asia embodies all these traits, infused with the resilience of John McClane and the single-minded fixation of The Bride from Kill Bill. She delivers a brilliant performance that anchors the film.
Confused Iconography and Lack of Substance
The primary issue with They Will Kill You is its confusion of iconography with substance. The film operates under the assumption that creating a mystique around its protagonist—using every cinematic trick, from frenetic camera work to intense close-ups—will make everything else fall into place. However, Sokolov, who co-wrote the script with Alex Litvak, provides Asia with little more than a bloodied dollhouse to explore.
The main setting, The Virgil, feels like a direct riff on the Ready or Not franchise, released just a week prior. It's a satanic retreat where inhabitants gain immortality through human sacrifices, targeting vulnerable women, often minorities, lured by promises of work and board. The twist in this 'eat the rich' narrative is that the villains cannot die, leading to repetitive scenes of Asia dismembering the same cabal—played by Heather Graham, Tom Felton, and Patricia Arquette, the latter attempting an accent that veers between Newfoundland and Irish—only for their limbs to reattach and heads to regrow.
Charming Gore but Repetitive Antagonists
The film features some charming, Sam Raimi-esque practical gore effects, such as a detached eyeball scuttling like a gristly worm. Yet, the immortality of the villains ultimately works against the narrative, trapping Asia in a cycle of chopping up the same five people repeatedly. The antagonists lack depth beyond a faux-reasonable facade, while Asia's backstory—guilt over abandoning her sister to an abusive father, leading to a prison stint—feels underdeveloped.
Underutilised Setting and Abandoned Concepts
Even The Virgil as a location feels half-realised. Early on, there's a suggestion that Asia will methodically descend the hotel floors, The Raid-style, confronting representatives of deadly sins. She tackles 'lust' and 'gluttony' before the film abandons the concept for 'envy' and 'pride', opting instead to rely on Beetz's star power rather than fleshing out the idea.
Directed by Kirill Sokolov and starring Zazie Beetz, Myha'la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette, They Will Kill You is rated 15 and runs for 94 minutes. It hits cinemas from 27 March.
