It’s always great when you can say “This is not your conventional horror”, in regards to a horror film. The more that phrase gets thrown around the less power it seems to have, but believe me when I say, Kill List is NOT your conventional horror and it’s a must watch. So much so you can read a previous review from the site here.
With a missing £40,000 out of their bank account, things start off shaky for Jay (Neil Maskell) and Shel (MyAnna Buring). Times are tough for the married couple and this looks to be more like a family drama rather than a horror at first glance. When Jay and Shel’s old friend (and Jay’s former army partner) Gal (Michael Smiley) come over for a catch-up, he reveals a mysterious job offer claiming ‘the money is good’. And that’s all we get for a while as Jay and Shel’s struggle continues throughout the night. Something obviously happened 8 months prior, the last time Jay worked, because he’s so reluctant to go back to it, but times are tough and Jay ends up taking the job with Gal. A list is then revealed with three people on it. You’ve got to assume by the semi-automatic weapon Jay has hidden away that this very list is the focal point of the film, hence the title.
It takes about 20 minutes before we get our first real glimpse of what the film’s meant to be, when Gal’s date Fiona (Emma Fryer) creepily scribes a symbol into the back of one of the mirrors in the married couple’s bathroom. It’s just about eerie enough to keep you interested in what might happen next.
Things really start to get strange and just plain awesome around the midway point when, after their second kill, the two start to question what it is they’re really doing. And the second man they go to see, the Librarian, gets a truly brutal death as things get personal and mystery starts to surround Jay and who he really is.
Kill List is gory, but without having that comical, over the topness we would see in other horror films that would follow this format. It’s clever, too, which is even more refreshing. Constantly giving off an aura of domestic drama, there’s a moment, an instant, that suddenly switches and feeds us an atmospheric horror, and it’s a neat little swerve. The opening forty minute set-up is completely worth what’s to follow because you only need five minutes after that to fall in love with the film.
As we’re led to be just as confused as Jay and Gal, the film continues to build and build giving us a stand-up on your feet ending with clear inspirations from classic British and American horrors. And why not? If you’re going to do something right, you might as well learn from the best.
Kill List isn’t perfect, far from it. It takes an extraordinarily long time to get going and the end is somewhat rushed equally. Credit goes to director Ben Wheatley who allowed much improvisation and for the cast to create their own back stories for the characters while he also channelled his inner-Kubrick by discovering imagery first and shooting around that, all in an 18 day shoot-time.
You may feel the ending is a little too ambiguous, you sort of guess what may happen, but it doesn’t stop it being slightly annoying and no matter how you look at it, there are flaws for the ending at every angle. This is especially rushed and ends abruptly, but as Wheatley states, there’s nothing scarier than having no explanation, no motive for what people do, and that’s evident here. The pros easily outweigh the cons of the film though and if you’re looking to get a deep, tension-filled chilling experience, then the crime horror Kill List is the one for you.
Rating: An eerie, underrated and unknown horror that you should definitely watch this Halloween (7/10).
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