By: Daniel Paiz

They Will Kill You is a gory horror film mixing it up with action and comedy in a very fluid way. This particular Cypher Flicks review seems harder than others in the past, only because of all the moving parts. The action sequences are electric and creative. The comedy is often abrupt and underhanded, giving viewers a breath before venturing onward.

The storytelling is solid and has brief similarities to Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. Key characters and key story points are given brief vignettes to extrapolate on important info not previously explained. It’s a new vantage point that I appreciated.

These aren’t in-depth bits but are helpful in moving the story along.

Sisterhood can be hard

Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz) and Maria Reaves (Myha’la) have had some hard times. Dealing with an abusive “father” is tantamount to a broken home (parallels slash foreshadowing this part might be?). Going to jail for a while (Asia) and getting beaten and treated less than human (Maria) adds on to the difficulties. Mix in panicked abandonment due to fear (Asia leaves Maria) and that’s a recipe for rocky relations.

The good news is, both sisters are incredibly hardy, resilient, and relentless. Prison gives Asia the skills on display in the Virgil. Maria shows she can make difficult choices too when faced with seemingly no exits. Reliance on one another despite what happened all those years ago is at the heart of this film. People make mistakes, and dealing with the consequences together after changed behavior and trauma leads to a stronger bond.

Also, facing satanists obsessed with finding blood brings people together, too.

What a surprise, the wealthy ARE evil

There’s a lot at play here when it comes to class, race, and gender. Black women are largely in subservient maid roles in the Virgil building. Women are also shown to be poor, immigrant, and from troubled pasts. The wealthy family in charge and their overly confident guests are white. It’s too easy to not need further depth for this cast of characters, as they are wholly comfortable and uninterested in anything outside continuing said comfort.

Lillith (Patricia Arquette) and Sharon (Heather Graham) give the family some personality and character. Both characters find purpose in what they are doing. There’s an understanding of maintaining what they’ve built all this time. As far as they’re concerned, there’s plenty of people out there seeking a family and a place to call home. Bringing folks home is what they know how to do.

Perhaps those newer family members might even get to stick around awhile.

Thankful for no male saviors!

It is fortunate that a majority of the men in this film are absolutely horrendous satanists, giving those who partake in that organization a bad name really. Clearly Lillith’s “sons”, not sure what else to call them, make no quarrels about readying the next sacrifice required by their boss. Kevin (Tom Felton) had a few alright moments, but along with Tall Steve (Armando Rivera) and Short Steve (Gabe Gabriel), they’re all sword fodder for Asia.

Some viewers might take Ray (Paterson Joseph) as a male savior of sorts, but that isn’t the reason why he decides to help. Ray is sick of paying the cost demanded of them by the true owner of The Virgil. The agreement the resident family made to keep the Virgil going is taxing on Ray. He sees after a century the world has changed. In 1913 Ray and Lillith faced discrimination and misery; now, despite the ills of the world, they would face much less harassment than before.

Asia and Maria are unaware of this of course, but Ray tells Asia “I got my reasons” when asked why he guided her away from the others. That decision is part of his overall feeling of being sick of the Virgil’s status quo, and his story and conclusion are not inherently tied into the sisters’ conclusion either.

Also, there’s that private investigator (Angus Sampson) that gets info to Asia while in jail; he’s purely support to Asia’s story.

Ironically, the only male survivor that pops up throughout would be Satan himself. Of course, he isn’t saving the family in charge of the Virgil, but his “rent” of sorts allows them to keep doing what they are doing. Not a surprise that a cultish satanic family would get comfortable and be unprepared for a challenge.

Final Verdict

This movie is a lot of fun when it comes to action sequences and swordplay. There’s a lot more weapon usage outside of guns than I expected to see. Zazie Beetz does a superb job with her action choreography. How she portrays her irreverent character also helps to carry the film. Balancing humor, drama, and all those fight scenes isn’t an easy task, but Beetz makes it look effortless.

Myha’la, Arquette, Joseph, and Graham all add solid performances as well, especially Myha’la and Arquette. Myha’la as Maria gives viewers another character to be invested in and wondering what her story is for part of the film. Arquette as Lillith delivers an intriguing performance in a nuanced way; there’s plenty to dislike about this character, but there’s a lot of love and reason as to how she got to where she is. The initial reason for Lillith joining the Virgil no longer seems to guide her, and this descent into paying their monthly cost delivers her awfully dark side.

The other secondary characters don’t add a whole lot outside of the actions scenes. It’s difficult to deliver nuance and backstory to a central cast of about a dozen characters in 94 minutes. Delivering a story while also balancing action sequences with horror/gore and comedy is also a tightrope act as well.

If you go in with no expectations outside of lots of action and some outlandish cult behavior, you’ll probably enjoy it. If you are expecting layered depth and nuance, you might not like it. Action sequences that border between John Wick and various Tarantino films aren’t going to give deeply nuanced storytelling. Also, I do not like the Tarantino comparisons this film gets related to the action. Action sequences throughout looked pretty solid and not done just for the sake of doing them.

They Will Kill You is a bloody fun film.