MOVIE REVIEW: THEY WILL KILL YOU

 

A woman answers a cryptic ad for a housekeeping job at a luxurious yet foreboding New York City high-rise. Upon arrival, she discovers residents have vanished without a trace for decades, fueling whispers of a satanic cult lurking in the shadows.

Director: Kirill Sokolov

Cast: Zazie Beetz, Myha'la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, Patricia Arquette

Release Date: March 27, 2026

Genre: Horror, Comedy

Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, language and brief sexual content/nudity.

Runtime: 1h 35m

Review:

They Will Kill You has all the makings of a fun over the top exploitation grindhouse film, boasting a handful of visually impressive action sequences that are incredibly fun, but the undercooked story keeps it from being something really special.  Writer/Director Kirill Sokolov’s film has a fun energy that seeps through the screen especially once the first action sequence hits the screen.  The arterial blood splattered across the screen is going to give more than a few people flashbacks of Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Volume 1.  Sokolov throwing that sort of action into a devil cult seems like a slam dunk as it’s even more over the top and extreme than the recent Ready or Not films.  The action set pieces are wonderfully choregraphed with each moment delivering a very distinctive visual from the initial bedroom fight to a fun vent chase and topped with a fire axe sequence that’s the highlight of the film.  The kinetic action is sure to keep genre fans thoroughly entertained for large chunks of the film’s runtime but there’s a noticeable lull in between those moments since the story leaves more than a bit to be desired.  Zazie Beetz makes for an intriguing, blood splattered heroine as she brings an impressive intensity to the role that shows off her total commitment to the role.  She is more than willing and able to deliver so much here but the script offers her and the supporting characters the thinnest of characterizations which waste the talent assembled.  Patricia Arquette, sporting a strange Irish accent, does what she can with as the cult leader and de facto villain but there’s painfully little on the page to work with outside of the most basic defining characterization.  Heather Graham and Tom Felton are given even less than that to work with both as they serve as little more than familiar faces to be chopped through over and over again.   It doesn’t help that the dialogue is painfully clunky and strangely lacking in any tongue in cheek wink and a nod about how silly the whole thing is.  There’s a message mixed in there about the rich taking advantage of the poor, but it’s so ham fisted that it doesn’t land the way it should much like the central relationship between the sisters which leaves They Will Kill You less memorable than it should be.  

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: BOYHOOD

Richard Linklater's Boyhood is a coming-of-age drama that the director spent twelve years making. He cast a young boy, Ellar Coltrane, and shot the film a few days at a time for over a decade so that he could capture how his leading actor, and the rest of his cast, aged. The film's story simply follows a boy named Mason (Coltrane) as he progresses from age 6 to 18 and deals with the typical travails of childhood like his parents' divorce, bad stepparents, falling in love, finding his artistic voice, and fighting with his bratty older sister. Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette co-star as Mason's parents. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Director: Richard Linklater 

Cast: Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Lorelei Linklater, Steven Prince, Libby Villari

Release Date: Jul 11, 2014

Rated R for Sexual References, Language and Teen Drug and Alcohol Use

Runtime: 2 hr. 42 min.

Genres: Drama

Review:

Richard Linklater’s audacious cinematic experiment is truly unlike anything you’ve seen before in a movie.  It’s a ground breaking experience that truly takes us through a journey that all of can relate to.  At its core it’s a fairly straightforward film about the ups and downs of life but by letting us see the growth and aging of the cast of as a whole, it creates a certain singular effect as you watch the film.   Ellar Coltrane is truly authentic and effective as Mason from childhood up through the film’s finale.  Occasionally there’s some chunkiness’ in his delivery but overall it’s an impressive coup all things considered.  Patricia Arquette really shines as his mother as we follow her journey throughout the twelve years covered.  She brings a high level of believability and honesty to the role that’s hard to pull off.  Ethan Hawke is equally impressive while working with much less screen time.  The characters transformation is impressive and believable mainly due to Hawke’s impressive work.  The story is anything but idyllic and while some of the relationships presented do tend to follow a certain routine it never feels inorganic or cheap.  Linklater has a certain ability to capture reality on celluloid much like he’s done before on his Before series and he’s done it here with this masterpiece.

A