Back in 2018, Arrow Video sent over a Blu-ray screener disc
for a Russian horror-comedy film called Why Don’t You Just Die! which
wasn’t a Russian film so much as one made with Western audiences in mind with
nods made towards the likes of Sergio Leone, Sam Raimi and even leaving room
for the Wilhelm Scream. Spoken of the
same breath as the Russian produced English language filmed Hardcore Henry which
received a wide North American release and paved the way for Ilya Naishuller’s
Hollywood career with Nobody, it was a wild, violent little romp high on
the blood and gore quotients.
Sometime
in 2021, Sokolov was back with No Looking Back, another dark impish
horror-comedy set in Russia involving a woman fresh out of prison trying to get
her daughter back. Then the Ukraine
invasion happened and Sokolov didn’t make another film for five more years…until
now in his English language debut for Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema: the crimson
soaked supernatural action-horror comedy They Will Kill You.
Produced by Andy and Barbara Muschietti of the It films,
co-authored by Alex Litvak and prominently starring Atlanta and Joker
actress Zazie Beetz, They Will Kill You follows Asia Reeves (Beetz)
and her sister Maria (Myha’la) as they try and evade their abusive father
before Asia shoots the man dead and is incarcerated and separated from her
sister. A decade passes and Asia appears
at an elite high-rise New York tower called The Virgil optioning for the
position of the building’s new maid.
After meeting the Irish manager Lily Woodhouse (an aged Patricia
Arquette) who informs her the establishment is well over a century old and presided
over by the wealthy, she retreats to her room for much needed sleep only to be
awakened by several armed assailants including Kevin (Tom Felton) and Sharon
(Heather Graham) intending to use her as a human sacrifice in a Satanic ritual. The problem is they don’t know Asia is armed
to the teeth ready to slice and dice adversaries right and left and she makes
pretty quick work of them. Worse still
however, a demonic curse of some sort promptly regenerates and resurrects the
slain assassins who reassemble themselves even after being blown to bits and
pieces strewn across the room.
Pretty much in the same vein as the Ready or Not movies
with Samara Weaving only with the orange/green hues of Sokolov’s Why Don’t
You Just Die! with a $20 million budget behind it, They Will Kill You is
a delightful little action hack-and-slasher with elements of Quentin Tarantino’s
recently rereleased Kill Bill right down to our central heroine fighting
largely barefoot or at one point in her undies.
Zazie Beetz is an actress probably more widely known for her voice work
in both of The Bad Guys films as Diane Foxington but in this she
embraces and fully accepts the challenges presented by the physically daunting
and demanding action-adventure survival horror thriller.
Gothic and stylish with luminous 2.20:1 cinematography
by Faces of Death cameraman Isaac Bauman and a rousing, synth-leaning
exciting score by The Queen’s Gambit composer Carlos Rafael Rivera, the
film looks and sounds wonderful with a thundering and active Dolby Atmos sound
mix. Beetz is a force of nature in this who
completely steps onto the pedestal previously graced by Uma Thurman while Myha’la
is in familiar horror-comedy territory following Bodies Bodies Bodies. Heather Graham and Patricia Arquette also
have bundles of fun getting enmeshed in the bloody gory aspects ahead.
Despite an enormous promotional campaign deployed by Warner
Brothers with numerous Facebook video adverts of a dismembered eye bouncing and
sticking its way about hallways and airducts compounded with favorable reviews
from critics in general, They Will Kill You got lost in the shuffle and
was not a commercial success. Just
barely taking in $19 million globally with only $11 million of it earned
domestically, its a solid little number that tragically floundered in a limited,
beyond oversaturated marketplace full of too many choices bombarding the
customer until they simply don’t go to anything at all.
A shame as They Will Kill You despite
not being a forward step in the action subgenre nevertheless is a fun
transition for the Russian director’s blend of comedy and horror into the
American filmmaking landscape. In the
meantime, hopefully digital sales and word of mouth will help turn the
reputation of this thing around: a certifiable beer-and-pizza escapist horror
actioner with the already strong Zazie Beetz as an unlikely fierce action
heroine.
--Andrew Kotwicki