"They Will Kill You" - A Guilty Pleasure of Cinematic Escape

If scared shitless is a prerequisite before watching, then disappointment is inevitable. But if watching a film that has everything in it from screaming to fighting, laughing, and crying, and the believable to the insane, then “get your popcorn ready”.

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new movie: They Will Kill You. It has splashed across social media like blood on the screen, as audiences witness the slasher masterpiece by director Kirill Sokolov and writer Alex Livak—a talented duo from Russia behind Why Don’t You Just Die (2018) and Predators (2010).

This movie breaks from typical slashers, becoming an energetic spectacle where the obvious turns ridiculous. More is wanted as you surrender to its Kill Bill-like atmosphere, with touches of Until Dusk till Dawn and Evil Dead. Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches; in other words, you must experience the film yourself to truly understand it.

Atlanta and Deadpool star Zazie Beets heads up this eclectic cast that includes HBO Max’s The Industry’s Myha’la and Boogie Nights and The Hangover star Heather Graham in this early 2026 horror (if you can call it this) tale. Beets plays a woman who takes a job as a housekeeper at the mysterious Virgil Hotel. Assuming she is seeking work in the high-rise, viewers soon learn that other factors motivate her to this eerie venue.

Calling this film a horror is misleading. Though suspenseful and gory, it offers far more—a kaleidoscope of genres beyond one category. The action is nonstop and, while nonsensical, undeniably delightful for the strong-stomached. It channels Evil Dead with gore for gore’s sake: sacrifices, a pig’s head, a wondrous eyeball (a nod to the 1979 horror classic Phantasm). With plentiful action scenes driven by a determined, “kick ass” heroine, They Will Kill You recalls Uma Thurman’s gritty Kill Bill moments—minus the martial arts.

If scared shitless is a prerequisite before watching, then disappointment is inevitable. But if watching a film that has everything in it from screaming to fighting, laughing, and crying, and the believable to the insane, then “get your popcorn ready”. Livak takes the audience on a pure adrenaline ride, like a rocket strapped to their back. Shooting them straight up in the air, not knowing where they are going, but the journey is certainly awesome, and the landing is unimaginable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0PGrtw0X1Q