They Will Kill You

by Mike McGranaghan

It isn’t unheard of for two movies with nearly identical plots to come out in the same year. A Bug’s Life and Antz both hit theaters in 1998, as did Armageddon and Deep Impact. There are other examples. Much less common is when two movies with nearly identical plots open within a week of each other. That’s exactly what’s happening with They Will Kill You coming out a mere seven days after Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. Maybe it would play better at a different time. Right now, though, Ready or Not 2 is the better bet.

Asia (Zazie Beetz) is the newest housekeeper at The Virgil, a stately old NYC high-rise. On her first day, she meets her boss, Lillith (Patricia Arquette), and several wealthy tenants, including Sharon (Heather Graham) and Kevin (Tom Felton). Asia quickly learns that they’re all Satan-worshippers who have made a pact with the devil in exchange for immortality, and she is scheduled to be their latest human sacrifice. They learn that she is there to rescue her sister Maria (Myha’la), who is enslaved inside. That gives her a drive to survive, leading to a series of graphically violent fight scenes.

They Will Kill You definitely has a few things going for it, Zazie Beetz chief among them. The actress gives a fierce physical performance as Asia. She punches, kicks, stabs, shoots, and otherwise pummels the bad guys. She also takes a beating in a few scenes. Beetz always has a unique energy onscreen, making her an eminently likable presence as she takes on dozens of satanists. Patricia Arquette is good, too, giving Lillith an old-fashioned quality that contrasts humorously with her evil ways.

The fight choreography is inventive, with brawls highlighted by manic camera movements that put you right in the middle of the mayhem. Some of the film’s more outlandish moments are amusing, as well. They include a roving eyeball and a series of wacky kills. The finale, which features a legitimately disturbing visage for the devil to take, is perhaps the most appealingly original element.

Despite those positives, the movie fails to become the thrill ride it seeks to be. The director is Kirill Sokolov, a Russian filmmaker whose Why Don’t You Just Die! made a big splash on the genre festival circuit a few years back. I couldn’t get though it because the relentless in-your-face approach wasn’t backed up by any actual substance. They Will Kill You has the same problem. It’s nonstop hyper-stylized violence, with little focus on characterization or plot. The two Ready or Not pictures at least used their bloody chaos to explore themes related to marriage expectations, sisterhood, and the differences between the haves and the have-nots.

They Will Kill You is bloody insanity for its own sake. That becomes repetitive after a while because the same note is being struck again and again, Story-wise, all we get is a generic “I need to save my sister!” idea. Beetz, Arquette, and dark humor carry things to a point. Beyond that, the movie just goes around in circles.

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