- Date of Release: 27 March 2026
- Genre: Action, Comedy, Horror
- Language: English
- Watch On: Theatres Only
They Will Kill You
Introduction
In a scene, you see a character stealthily entering a room in search of his/her sibling while violently eliminating people in the form of obstacles along the way. It is then told that the sibling character is held ‘hostage’ in a way, even as she has been reported missing for days. The protagonist is on a violent spree slicing through hoards and hoards of people who come in his/her way, while eventually coming out on top. If you are thinking that this is the cold open of Dhurandhar 2 (2026), you are mistaken. This is literally the entire plot of the new English film They Will Kill You – a derivative horror-comedy that will increasingly remind you of multiple films like Ready Or Not (2019), or even the Kill Bill franchise. And add to that, the eat-the-rich narrative that you would associate with films like The Menu (2022), and voila! The film is ready. It is gory, violent and horrifying – just how a film should be these days, catering to the palate of every modern day cinegoer who enjoys mindless bloodshed without an iota of emotions. But the question then remains – how much derivative is enough derivative??
Story & Screenplay
Written by Alex Litvak and Kirill Sokolov, They Will Kill You has some interesting ideas at the start – a runaway sibling duo featuring Asia Reeves (Zazie Beetz) and Maria (Myha’la) only to be separated after a particular incident, only for the former to eventually gather the courage to search for her that would bring her to The Vigil – a satanic temple of sorts. If you notice closely, there is an arc buried somewhere between these two events with respect to the protagonist. But while wanting to cater to a specific kind of a concept – the film falters and how!
It is frustrating given the number of themes that I am able to notice in a film that never really comes together. Firstly, setting the drama against the backdrop of a rainy night at a hotel in the heart of Manhattan while pitting a protagonist named ‘Asia’ against it, was a tick in terms of the geopolitics on offer today. It can directly linked to the vigits of America with respect to their activities in West Asia (a further drill down with respect to the appearance of the protagonist would link it to racism in modern times). Also its subtext offers a direct divide between the rich and the poor, and how the former have been exploiting the latter for centuries now. But the drama doesn’t quite wish to take itself seriously, thereby initiating a booby trap for itself.
I won’t lie, the initial face-off between Asia and a hoard of characters – resulting in a variety of a kill-off with heads being beheaded to limbs being chopped and the staple stab offering in play to cap off the sequence, was indeed entertaining. There are subtle bouts of humour tactfully interjected in the sequence that distracted me from the fact that it felt like a derivative of Ready Or Not (2019) or even the slasher franchise Scream, with characters donning a black rob with masks of a pig. But from this point, the events get repetitive despite a crucial concept kicking in on how the dead can regrow their bodies like a lizard.
From a writing standpoint, the stakes in the drama are never elevated by an emotional core that felt like a pointer on the check-list. At no point was I really invested in the journey of the protagonist, or even her quest to find her sister, or even a ‘never-ending’ video game like setup wherein the obstacles have multiple lives. Yes, there are a few funny quirks along the way – like an eyeball from a beheaded face following the protagonist in the Vigil, only to get squished later on. Crime Master Gogo would have been proud, but that is for another day. That said, the derivative of the action sequence in Animal (2023) with the protagonist running through a passage to eliminate some masked characters, felt pretty flat in comparison. Again, moments of folks being burnt down by a fire ablaze on an axe was inventive and partly fun to witness – but also repetitive in the context of the drama.
In many ways, the drama felt tiring and frustrating in equal measures – the concept of hell having nine circles represented as nine floors in the vigil, didn’t allow enough screentime to elaborate on the concept. Remember on how the protagonist in The Raid (2011) had to make it to the top floor by killing a plethora of people? That journey felt similar here without the highs along the way. Even the finale felt like a masterclass on mediocrity wherein the video-game setup switched to an easy mode to allow a safe path for the protagonist to eliminate and escape. It didn’t quite have the knockout punch, even as my brain cells nearly felt ‘killed’ by the end of it.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are corny and cheesy, almost giving an impression of a B-movie from Hollywood without a soul. The quirks are definitely a plus in the context of the drama, but the soul was missing. The BGM isn’t quite memorable here, while only momentarily adding a zing in the narrative during the slasher sequences. The cinematography has got to be one of the strongest aspects here, featuring camera-angles that are stylized while also injecting long-takes that make a few action set-pieces engaging. And how I wished the editing pattern wouldn’t cheat the viewers with sudden POV cuts that would lower the impact of the action set-pieces. A one-take action sequence was nearly pulled off here, until it wasn’t at the end.
Director Kirill Sokolov is seemingly inspired by a variety of films, and he tries to integrate all concepts into his derivative horror film. But unfortunately, the drama runs out of steam after a promising start, only to get repetitive and increasingly frustrating with the proceedings. The lack of emphasis on the emotional core of the characters is evident, but even from a slasher POV, I was hardly invested in the gore (unlike say Scream 7 which was campy fun). In that sense, the direction lacked the bite to elevate the drama while flattening the narrative even more towards the end.
Performances
The performances aren’t particularly a standout in the drama here. Tom Felton as Kevin and Heather Graham as Sharon are essentially one-dimensional characters that have little to do here, other than repeatedly getting killed. Paterson Joseph as Ray is decent but the writing stems the flow of his character. Patricia Arquette as Lilith needed to be more intimidating to have any impact with her character, which sadly wasn’t the case here. Myha’la as Maria doesn’t always score with the emotional core of her character, mainly due to the writing that chose to completely ignore it and as a result, lower the impact of her performance. The only actor that scores is Zazie Beetz who is impeccable as Asia. While the writing offers her only a smaller arc to play with, she excels in multiple combat sequences while managing to impress in scenes of intensity and gentle bouts of humour.
Conclusion
They Will Kill You features a cartoonish eat-the-rich narrative in a derivative horror-comedy that will (nearly) kill your brain cells. It begins on a promising note but then pivots towards a sea of repetitiveness and mediocrity that had me increasingly frustrated, making it a forgettable watch. Available in a theatre near you.