They Will Kill You (SXSW) Review: A Fun Survival Horror Action Flick
PLOT: A young woman, Asia Reeves (Zazie Beetz), fresh out of prison, poses as a new hire at an exclusive New York high-rise, planning to find her missing sister. Once there, she realizes the building’s residents and staff plan to use her as a blood sacrifice to appease the satanic presence that has a hold over them.
REVIEW: They Will Kill You continues Warner Bros. and New Line’s run of slick, fun horror flicks. They’ve had tremendous success recently with new installments of The Conjuring, the revival of Final Destination, and wound up making one of the best movies of the year—horror or otherwise—with Weapons. They Will Kill You should be another crowd-pleasing hit, packed with blood-soaked carnage and a smartly cast Zazie Beetz in action-heroine mode.
While it shares certain similarities with Ready or Not and even its sequel (the sister-in-jeopardy plotline), it has a few key differences that keep it from feeling too familiar. For one, Beetz’s Asia Reeves is much more of a straight-up action heroine than Samara Weaving’s character in the Ready or Not films, where the appeal came from her reliance on ingenuity to survive. Reeves is more of a badass, having spent a decade in prison and becoming a master of hand-to-hand combat and improvised weaponry. Her foes are also deadlier than Weaving’s, with the joke of those films being that she was hunted by often idiotic bad guys. Here, the residents of the building have certain strengths that make them much harder to defeat—but I won’t spoil what those may be.
Beetz makes for a fun heroine, packing a lot of attitude and not being too squeamish to do things like knock a child out cold when the brat stabs her in the back (literally). The joke of the film is that no matter what is thrown at her, she rises above, with director Kirill Sokolov staging some dynamic action scenes. My favorite is a battle where Asia, wielding an axe with the blade wrapped in flaming cloth, lights a dark room full of opponents while splitting heads. The movie is really well shot by Isaac Bauman, eschewing the overly dark digital look that’s marring a lot of modern studio horror. It looks like it has a healthy budget that was used wisely.
One thing horror fans will love is the practical gore effects, which are emphasized over excessive CGI and give the proceedings a much-needed kick. The eyeball gag, which hopefully won’t be spoiled by ads, is especially effective.
Beetz is also surrounded by a great cast, with Patricia Arquette playing the Irish head of staff, who proves to be Asia’s most formidable opponent. Heather Graham also has a lot of fun playing against type as one of the meanest residents, with her involved in many of the standout gore moments. Former Harry Potter star Tom Felton is quite funny as a tenant flummoxed by Asia’s resilience, while Myha’la gives the movie some heart as the only maid in the building to somewhat ally herself with Asia.
They Will Kill You winds up being a bloody good time, even if some of the narrative threads never pay off (different themed floors—with one being a “f*ck floor”—are teased but never go anywhere), and the climax feels a bit too rushed and convenient. While it will undoubtedly suffer coming out so close on the heels of Ready or Not 2 for horror fans, it’s different enough that no one will feel it’s a retread and can accept it on its own merits—even if I can’t help but think one of the two movies should have moved, given how close together they’re opening.
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