Director Kirill Sokolov helms this year’s best girl versus Satanic Cult members movie with great action choreography and a solid story to match.
THEY WILL KILL YOU (2026)
★★★ & 1/2 ★ OF ★★★★★ stars
2026 is a funny year where THEY WILL KILL YOU is the third mainstream horror movie release that deals with an outcast female protagonist fighting to take down members of a Satanic cult following on the heels of PSYCHO KILLER and READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME. For my money, THEY WILL KILL YOU, which hits theaters on March 27th from New Line Cinema/Warner Brothers, is the most fun of the three films in this ilk this year thus far. Helmed by Kirill Sokolov in his English-language genre debut, THEY WILL KILL YOU stars Zazie Beetz (JOKER, DEADPOOL 2) as Asia Greaves, a new hire as a maid at the historic Virgil building in New York. The history of the building is explained by the caretaker of the house, Lily Woodhouse, played by Patricia Arquette (the surname of the character a nice shoutout to Rosemary’s Baby). As she’s settled in, we see there;s someone trying to break into her room and before we know it, we’ve got a full-blown Kill Bill-esque fight scene as a variety of masked cult members attempt to abduct Asia from her room. Shockingly, Asia is very well-equipped to fight off these Satanic scoundrels and makes short work of several of them with a machete and a sawed-off shotgun she stowed away in her bag. As the last remaining cult member asks Asia who she is – we see a flashback of young Asia and her little sister Maria. The two are a product of an abusive childhood at the hands of their father and have runaway. Their father tracks them down in a convenience store and in the attempt to escape, Asia shoots him and runs away as the police show up; leaving her sister behind. She spends the enxt decade in jail and learns her father survived and her sister Maria bore his wrath. She also learned that Maria joined the staff of the Virgil and Asia is there to save her from the whispered disappearances that happen to the employees working there. Little does Asia suspect the employees and eccentrics living at the Virgil are all in league with the Devil and that Asia has been marked for a sacrifice to him so another can ascend to join their Satanic family.
On paper, it’s a very similar premise to something like READY OR NOT – individual who is out of the loop finds themselves targeted for death by a Satanic cabal so they can gain favor with their dark lord. But Sokolov’s cinematography and the film’s fight choreography make it a fun Tarantino homage with a non-linear character based narrative revealing new tidbits of information throughout the film until all the twists leave you with a fun bigger picture. It helps that Beatz has an effortless charisma as Asia that gets you behind her character’s redemption run from the get go. She’s Jackie Brown meets The Bride with a katana or a flaming axe and the film’s action setpieces are a ton of fun. The movie has a fun twist on its villains that knocks you out once its revealed and the actors involved are great in those roles. From Heather Graham’s satanic Gwyneth Paltrow expy to Tom Felton playing up the physical comedy, the cast are winners all around. Graham especially is a lot of fun with some great visual gags and she really works great in a horror setting, including her work in films like Horns and Suitable Flesh. Myha’la and Beatz have great chemistry as siblings and their relationship really grounds the more fantastical elements of the story, especially in the third act. If a film with shades of Tarantino and Hong Kong action by way of the paranormal is your jam, check out They Will Kill You. The film is a blast, with shades of movies like Big Trouble in Little China with its genre mashing and its great with a crowd. While I dug Ready or Not 2, this one is a lot more fun and I look forward to fun rewatched with friends, its a cult classic in the making with some awesome needledrops, including one of my favorite tracks from Afro Samurai – such a fun time.
THEY WILL KILL YOU hits theaters on March 27th.
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VIDEO REVIEW