They Will Kill You (2026)
Directed by: Kirill Sokolov
Premise: A woman (Zazie Beetz) takes a job as a housekeeper at an exclusive apartment complex. She discovers that the building houses a satanic cult that intends to sacrifice her.
What Works: They Will Kill You combines horror, action, and comedy with a cinematic style that’s reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino and 1980s Italian horror films by Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento. The movie is as fun as that sounds. They Will Kill You is breathlessly paced and the story is structured in a way that keeps up the momentum while allowing its main character some depth and giving the story world idiosyncratic details. Zazie Beetz plays the heroine and it’s an intensely physical performance. Beetz isn’t just punching and kicking; she conveys her character through the action. She’s on a mission that is gradually revealed and They Will Kill You has a humanistic emotional center. The cast also includes Patricia Arquette as the building manager and Paterson Joseph as her husband who is also the maintenance man. The details of their relationship give the movie some texture. They Will Kill You is impressively produced. The set design recalls the original Suspiria especially with its use of strong colors. It is stylishly shot. Cinematographer Isaac Bauman uses wide angles that create a deep depth of field for the action to play out. The violence is vicious and gory but it also has an element of physical comedy that is reminiscent of Lamberto Bava’s Demons films. They Will Kill You includes bizarre details that are grotesquely funny.
What Doesn’t: The craftmanship and humor of the filmmaking and the fierceness of the movie’s performances are mismatched with the uninspired dialogue. None of the lines are bad but the dialogue lacks wit and it tends to be obvious and expository. A lot of Zazie Beetz’s lines are just basic expletives absent of any creativity. Fortunately, They Will Kill You is much more interested in action than dialogue and even the talky scenes are shot with kineticism and style that compensates for the lack of jocularity. The conclusion of They Will Kill You is a forced happy ending. The film culminates with a character selflessly sacrificing themself and it is a dramatic moment that works thematically and ironically. That sacrifice is undone in the ending which concludes the movie on an upbeat note but also comes across as a cop out.
Bottom Line: They Will Kill You is a blast. It’s an action-horror romp that is terrifically weird. All that’s missing is some memorable dialogue.
Episode: #1092 (March 29, 2026)