They Will Kill You

I never liked censorship at all, especially when it comes to feature films. I remember clearly back in the late 80´s, early 90´s how much they censored a lot of VHS releases here in Sweden. It got to a point where they censored films so much that they destroyed the film completely. A perfect example of this was director Albert Pyun´s classic sci fi action film Cyborg from 1989. If i remember correctly ( which im quite sure that i do ), the Swedish VHS version of Cyborg was cut at least around 10 minutes becuase of censorship. And you have to remember, this film is around 87 minutes long, so if you cut out 10 minutes from 87 minutes, you are left with 77 minutes of playtime. I did see the censored version and it was so bad. Nothing made any sense, the storyline was messed up, cutting right before the violence made everything confusing. You could not learn about the characters either because so much was cut out. Thankfully, a school friend of mine known as Robert managed to get a uncut VHS copy of Cyborg from the UK. It was like watching a completely different film, the violence was wonderful, some of the characters were fun, and to see action star Jean-Claude Van Damme do his round kicks was just beautiful. So when VHS censorship finally ended around early 1993 in Sweden i was extremely happy. No more censoring films, give me lots of violence, gore, blood and nudity ( hopefully ). Since then i have experienced so many wonderful violent films. And when ever i see a really violent film with extreme violence of course i need to see it. Doesn´t matter if it´s not realistic at all, i just want people´s heads blown to pieces from a shotgun, body parts cut off. One perfect example of this is the 2020 satirical action horror film The Hunt, directed by Craig Zobel ( who also directed the crime drama TV series Mare of Easttown, worth a watch on MAX ). Some of you may not remember this but The Hunt became a bit of a controversial film because of the subject of guns. And yes, this film does lift up the right to arm yourself, but in the context of the film´s plot it actually makes sense. This film is basically a man hunt film where rich people hunt humans for fun, and the ones that are hunted have to survive somehow. A really funny satirical action film where especially female actors, Betty Gilpin and Hillary Swank did really good acting performances. The Hunt is extremely violent, and yet really entertaining of how society could funtion among rich people using others for pleasure ( which is already happening worldwide ). If you have not seen this film, check it out on streaming. Early this year i was hearing some really positive reviews about a film called They Will Kill You. A film that was described as:- Extremely violent and over the top action combined. When ever i read something like that of course i will be on board. You can not have too much violence in a film ( accrding to me ), because if you really want to shock the audience you might as well go over the top. I sat down watching They Will Kill You on streaming serivie MAX. Is this a must watch this summer or is this noot as good as it could have been?

A woman named Asia Reaves ( Zazie Beetz ) takes a job as a cleaning lady inside a very exclusive building, where the hostess Lily Woodhouse ( Patricia Arquette ) show her around. This building is quite strange, with very strict rules to follow. What most people in this building don´t know is that Asia is not really here for the job, she is here to help her little sister out in freedom after being locked up inside this building.

Imagine if you took some slices of Quentin Taramtino´s Kill Bill, added some of the satirical moments of the 2019 American horror comedy Ready Or Not, and felt inspired by the 2020 film The Hunt and mixed all of this together. This is basically some of the combinations that They Will Kill You  tried to go for. They Will Kill You have so many ideas mixed into each other, that you might think this is not possible that it could work in this combination. But i am here to tell you that this film actually works. There are so many details about this film you should be happy about. All the gory killing scenes deliver really funny slaughter moments, the action scenes in general a very well choreographed, you have really strong acting performances from certain actors plus the dialogue is much smoother than what i expected. Let´s talk about lead actress Zazie Beetz ( who made a very positive impact on me with her performance in the 2019 film Joker ), as the character Asia Reaves. My first reaction seeing her kicking ass all over this Satanic building, was that she felt like a similar charatcer to Beatrix "The Bride" Kiddo ( played by actres Uma Thurman ), in the two Kill Bill films by legenndary director Quentin Tarantino. It´s the same type of over the top violence, almost like a tribute to Kung Fu movies of the late 1960´s and the 1970´s as well. Zazie Beetz does an amazing job with her character, especially during the fight scenes considering how violent they really are. I also appreciate Zazie showing a different side of her character, when she left her sister 10 years ago and regret this every single day. You also have great performances from female actors Heather Graham and Patricia Arquette ( who i had a crush on as a 16 year old in the 1993 classic film True Romance ). The building where satanists have been given eternal life is a cool concept to use and add martial art scenes into the mix, it actually works much more effective than i ever would have imagined. The story itself may not be anything special, but it´s the violent tone of the film, combined with strong acting performances that makes this film uniqie within this specific genre. And the comedy tone works great as well, it´s not easy making a funny action horror film combined, and yet They Will Kill You prove that it´s possible. If you are a big fan of Kill Bill or other violent action films, this is definetely something for you. Director Kirill Sokolov, who directed the funny Russian action thriller film Why Don´t You Just Die!, definetely pick up a physical copy from Arrow Video ), have made a gorgeous film that´s both a throwback to VHS video violence, and also a satirical viiew on Satanism in general. They Will Kill You will without a doubt end up on my list for best films of 2026, and i am definetely getting myself a physical copy.

Rating: DDDD