Kill List
“It’s directed with the sure hand of a man who knows precisely which corners of darkness he wants to take his audience.” — William Goss, Cinematical
Producers: Claire Jones, Andy Starke
Screenplay: Amy Jump, Ben Wheatley
Photography: Laurie Rose
Editors: Robin Hill, Ben Wheatley, Amy Jump
Production designer: David Butterworth
Art director: Julie Ann Horan
Costume designer: Lance Milligan
Music: Jim Williams
With: Neil Maskell (Jay), Michael Smiley (Gal), MyAnna Buring (Shel), Emma Fryer (Fiona)
Festivals: SXSW 2011
Ben Wheatley’s quasi-vérité UK horror-thriller starts off in Mike Leigh territory, with a cringe-inducing dinner party, before spiralling into a world of paranoid pagan terrors. Unemployed ex-soldier Jay and his Swedish wife Shel are on shaky ground with money woes and a marriage that’s unravelling. When Jay’s cheerful war buddy Gal and his new girlfriend Emma turn up, the wine-fuelled celebration turns downright nasty as Jay’s ever-simmering temper erupts. Later on, Gal lures Jay back into their murky past life with promises of a big payout for a few dodgy missions. On one of these missions Jay discovers something so depraved he switches from work-for-hire guy to vicious moral avenger. The film delicately shifts in tone from a kitchen sink melodrama to a funny buddy movie, to an edge-of-your-seat horror film in its final reel. A masterful assured second feature from one of the most exciting new genre directors working today. — AT
