Josh Reviews They Will Kill You

Zazie Beetz (Atlanta, Joker, Deadpool 2) stars in They Will Kill You as Asia Reaves, a young woman hired as a maid at an extremely private building in New York City.  Unfortunately, on her first night in the building, Asia learns there is more to this building than it seems: they’re Satanists, and Asia is to be their sacrifice to their dark lord.  But it turns out there’s more to Asia as well, and she’s ready and willing to fight and kill a whole heck of a lot of Satanists…

I had a lot of fun watching They Will Kill You!!  I’m not really a horror guy, but the crazy-looking action in the film’s trailers caught my attention, and I’ve always thought Zazie Beetz was an incredible actor.  (I’ll also admit the striking images of her battling villains in her underpants caught my attention, as they were surely designed to do!)

The movie works because of Zazie Beetz’s incredible on-screen presence.  She’s a captivating performer, and I was immediately locked into her character and rooting for her.  Ms. Beetz appears effortless, whether handling emotional dialogue scenes (which have to work, or we wouldn’t care about what happens to her character) or the physicality of the film’s many dialogue-free action scenes.  This is a masterful performance.

The film is chock-full of extremely violent action sequences, and I loved every minute of them.  It was clear early on that we were into a Tarantino-esque world with vast explosions of blood, often spurting forth in geysers of gore.  The movie settles quickly into this over-the-top groove, and proceeds to have a lot of fun dancing around the line between violence that is funny and nauseating.  That first attack on Asia in her room was thrilling, and the film finds ways to continue amping up the violence and tension as it goes.

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood, Severance) is an absolute delight as the prim & proper Lily, who runs the building and its staff with an iron fist.  Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films) and Heather Graham (Boogie Nights, Bowfinger, Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me) understand the assignment perfectly as Kevin and Sharon, two of the wealthy, immortal, awful people who live in the building.  Paterson Joseph (Holy Wayne on The Leftovers) is wonderful as Lily’s husband Ray, who is feeling the stirrings of conscience.  Myha’la brings a strong sense of emotional realism, in the midst of all the film’s craziness, as Maria, a young woman who winds up being at the crux of the story.

I wouldn’t say this is great cinema, but there are far worse ways to spend an hour and a half than watching Zazie Beetz fight immortal satanists!

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