A title card reading “When the poor give to the rich, the devil laughs” opens They Will Kill You, though the haves-versus-have-nots allegory rarely extends beyond the surface. Instead, Asia (Zazie Beetz) and her quest for her sister (Myha’la) outweigh the film’s musings on class in favor of a blood-soaked Faustian tale. Co-writer and director Kirill Sokolov blends horror, action, and macabre laughs as he channels his directorial heroes in a grindhouse-inspired “what if?” experiment in horror excess, prioritizing style in almost every scene.
What if the final girl was not an ordinary final girl? What if she had spent a decade in prison, hardening herself to the violence of the world? And what if the person captured by a cult of Satanic sacrifice was actually the deadliest in the building? That’s the movie. Asia and her sister Maria fled their abusive father when Maria was just a kid. Their flight from abuse ended with Asia getting slapped with an attempted murder charge. Ten years later, Asia is trying to reconnect with Maria, but her last known location is “The Virgil”, an old apartment building in the heart of New York City. But just as Asia realizes The Virgil is no ordinary apartment, her would-be killers discover that Asia is no ordinary victim.
Zazie Beetz is a genuine Hollywood action hero in They Will Kill You. The stylized violence and seamless fight choreography weave into the film’s biggest laughs and coolest sequences. Asia’s opening fight with the Satanist blends genres with ease, featuring Edgar Wright-esque cuts and long takes alongside Kill Bill-inspired swordplay. The initial fight, paired with her flaming ax battle in the ballroom or her Mortal Kombat-style rumble at the finale, makes Asia a true cult hero. Beetz’s physicality deepens the character by performing the vast majority of her own stunts, adding realism to the kinetic action. Through the attention to detail on each fight sequence, the style becomes substance as Asia battles her way through the bowels of The Virgil.
They Will Kill You‘s cast jumps out of the credits, especially in the context of such a gruesome horror comedy. Heather Graham, Tom Felton, and Patricia Arquette all appear as disciples of the dark lord. But their characters seldom have motivation beyond serving Satan. Many of the characters (even Graham, Felton, and Arquette) exist less as characters and more as fodder for violence and catalysts for peril. Moments of color come less from the characters themselves and more from our memory of Heather Graham in Boogie Nights or Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and now as a murdering cultist. Arquette’s Lilith gets a little more narrative nuance with her husband (Paterson Joseph), but the backstory serves more plot points than emotional resonance. Maria offers emotional stakes for Asia, and she has some of the film’s most intriguing twists. Together, Myha’la and Beetz’s chemistry heightens each narrow escape from a hellish demise.
Kirill Sokolov may have created a film about a temple to Satan, but he clearly worships at the church of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The volume of blood spray, combined with more than a few Grindhouse homages, evokes not just the films that inspired QT and Rodriguez but also the mixtape-style filmmaking of the two titans of 90s indie. Yet even with the samurai imagery and B-movie flair, They Will Kill You lacks the musicality of Tarantino dialogue that it attempts to imitate. The first showdown between Asia and Lilith tries to get the rhythm of Beatrix Kiddo, but comes across as an imitator. In the early Y2K era, even in the early 2010s, They Will Kill You could be seen as a horror copycat. However, in 2026, seven years removed from the latest Tarantino flick, the mashup of influences adds some vibrancy, giving the film a video-store-gem quality.
In the middle of a horror renaissance ranging from meta-slashers to elevated horror, They Will Kill You could have been a Ready or Not clone. Yet the film delivers enough pure action filmmaking and stuntwork to set it apart from the pack of true slashers and artistic horror pieces. The story has enough twists to satisfy a thriller crowd, enough scares for horror aficionados, and more than enough pulse-pounding fight choreography for grindhouse kung-fu fans. However, two distinct supernatural moments will force every viewer to choose whether they are “in or out”. The moments flirt with shark-jumping territory, but within the midnight movie package of They Will Kill You, each scene could either endear or distract an audience.
The highs of They Will Kill You are truly high. Zazie Beetz takes to the action on screen with the power of a cult film icon. The culty, campy quality of the film is perhaps its strongest case for greatness. Through the Bible of Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, Sokolov has made a film worthy of the fake trailers tucked between Death Proof and Planet Terror. However, They Will Kill You lacks the dialogue, polish, and layered characters to make it anything beyond a midnight movie. But does it have to be more than a midnight movie?
“What if” horror was made for the grindhouse cinema. In a diverse horror landscape ranging from Tubi creature features to Oscar-worthy terrors, They Will Kill You serves as a bridge between the grit of the VHS era and the algorithmic slickness of the streaming age. Even with its flaws, the film has a je ne sais quoi that makes you want a bloody Asia Funko Pop or a limited-run screen-printed poster. They Will Kill You may not redefine horror, but it understands exactly the kind of midnight movie it wants to be and delivers on that promise with plenty of blood to spare.
