X
- 2012
- Not Rated
- IFC Films
- 1 h 35 m
- 2012
- Not Rated
- IFC Films
- 1 h 35 m
Summary Eight months after a botched job in Kiev, Jay is an out-of-work hit man with no job, money, health insurance and a wife constantly on his case. But when his business partner Gal comes over for dinner and pressures Jay into taking a new assignment, Jay quickly finds himself back in the game with the promise of a big payoff after three ass...
Directed By: Ben Wheatley
Written By: Amy Jump, Ben Wheatley
- 2012
- Not Rated
- IFC Films
- 1 h 35 m
- 2012
- Not Rated
- IFC Films
- 1 h 35 m
Kill List
67
6.4
Where to Watch
Summary Eight months after a botched job in Kiev, Jay is an out-of-work hit man with no job, money, health insurance and a wife constantly on his case. But when his business partner Gal comes over for dinner and pressures Jay into taking a new assignment, Jay quickly finds himself back in the game with the promise of a big payoff after three ass...
Directed By: Ben Wheatley
Written By: Amy Jump, Ben Wheatley
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
67
73% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
14% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
14% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
67
73% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
14% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
14% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Kill List is a major breakthrough for writer/director Ben Wheatley, whose assured and painstaking handling of this difficult material makes for an unforgettable viewing experience.
There's still tremendous vitality here, and Wheatley's avoidance of yet another Guy Ritchie gabfest is a pleasure in itself.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 66 User Ratings
6.4
61% Positive
40 Ratings
40 Ratings
27% Mixed
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
12% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 66 User Ratings
6.4
61% Positive
40 Ratings
40 Ratings
27% Mixed
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
12% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
This movie is really stunning. You can't go into it with the expectation that it is a traditional horror movie, or that all of your questions will be answered in the end; and, although the movie is terrifying, I wouldn't go in asking to be scared with jump-out scenes and blood and cheap gimmicks. There comes a problem with making a film to fit a genre: a horror, a slasher, a psychological thriller--this movie encompasses all of these things and more. Incredible music and cinematography, a visual and auditory work of art as well as being damn good entertainment, it shook me to the core.
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A gruesomely entertaining scary flick. It demands to be talked about seen again and again. It's hard to say anything about the plot but there are so many intricate themes and interpretive parts of the plot that will leave you thinking about it long after you've seen it . A mesmerising picture.
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Displaying both a nasty edge and a playful sense of humor -- but thankfully, never at the same time -- Brit import Kill List is several cuts above its fellow midbudget horror brethren.
A scuzzy little cross between a crime movie and a horror freak-out that gets under your skin and stays there, even if you can't understand half of what the characters are saying.
There's atmosphere and tension and dark humor and some truly shocking gore throughout. But the positive impression all of that makes pales next to a headscratching finale that is admittedly well-executed but is also undeniably perverse and borderline random. Maybe you'll go with it, simply out of shock. I, alas, could not.
It's all very sub-Tarantino showy and empty - at least, until the head-scratching climax, which tries to be "Eyes Wide Shut," "The Wicker Man," and "The Twilight Zone" all at once, but only makes you wish that you were watching one of them instead.
It would be easy to say that the final minutes of this mixed-up thriller make everything before it meaningless, but that would indicate the odd conclusion has meaning, too.
In Ben Wheatley's horror-thriller, two hit men go on a traumatic and soft objective into the occult. It's so extreme that some will look away.
If you're a hit man by business, then you've already created a cope with the demon, even if those you remove tumble into the type of people spend of the drug-dealing, kidnapping, warmongering type. So really, it should come as no shock that Jay and Gal, the eliminating blokes in the **** horror-thriller "Kill Record," have gotten themselves into a unusual fix, though having to close a agreement in our blood should have been a tip-off.
The revealing if not exactly fulfilling night that penetrates into every part of this newest English transfer from movie maker Ben Wheatley requires it is time getting to the serious evildoing that the movie director and his co-writer, Amy Leap, have in thoughts, however.
Instead, it starts with a shouting go with between Jay (Neil Maskell) and his spouse, Shel (MyAnna Buring). After botching a job, Jay has been out of perform for several weeks, charges and stress are flipping up, all of which Shel sits out with agonizing invective. To which Jay replies in type.
That units the level and the overall tone for this grown-up home of disasters. His old associate Gal (Michael Smiley) wants him to consider one last job together. He does, but there is a cost. It includes three visits, with Jay progressively more unhinged, each get rid of more chaotic than the last. Gal is incapable to control him in; their justifications about what is and isn't appropriate when it comes to eliminating still won't make you for what's on display.
This is a far more extreme movie than Wheatley's first, 2009's "Down Rooftop." Though it had criminal offense at its middle as well, it was sensible by a dry paradox and far less our blood. There is no counteract in "Kill Record," with one world so constant in its gore that it creates the infamous lift world in "Drive" light in evaluation.
What "Kill List" and "Down Terrace" discuss is Wheatley's really like of heavy planning, though like Jay, you wish someone would sometimes control him in too. His are testimonies that need interest and usually compensate, losing enticing parts along the way, then conclusion with a hit. Now Wheatley is enthusiastic about the heart and how it can be damaged and co-opted. Black products, but it gives the characters a lot to perform with.
Maskell and Buring confirm the best couple, warm as they simple the love-hate of a plagued wedding. And viewing Maskell change from a type of Wally Mitty of hit men to gigantic is, I have to confess, interesting.
The street here brings Gal and Jay toward the occult. Associates and guests keep flipping up in unanticipated methods, and the unusual ritualistic methods that include demon praise begin materializing. Including to the common unease is the gritty, documented look obtained by movie director of photography Laurie Increased, who taken "Down Terrace" as well. The camera is unflinching, and so is Wheatley, as the tale goes toward the impossible. It's eventually left to you when and whether to look away.
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Kill List works extremely well as a taut, quite terrifying horror film about an out-of control British hitman. Neil Maskell is mesmerising as Jay, a frustrated ex-soldier who returns to his past career of contract killing to support his family, but as his emotions begin to intrude, the stress and paranoia linked to his morally dubious job steadily fracture his sanity. Michael Smiley also impresses as Gal, Jay's level-headed long-time hit partner and friend, as does MyAnna Buring as Jay's loving but frustrated wife Shel. The first half of the film is excellent, with tight plotting, steadily building tension and a semi-improvised script. The second half unfortunately becomes a little incoherent and difficult to follow (possibly a deliberate decision by director Ben Wheatley to reflect Jay's unstable state of mind) and the finale, where the film goes all Wickerman is just plain stupid. Kill List works as a film when it keep things real and close to home. When we're following Jay, his family, and the impact his job has on himself and his family, the film is great - dramatically effective, terrifying, and socially relevant all at once. When the film becomes weirder, more fantastical and surreal, it unfortunately becomes silly and pointless. Luckily, this element of the film is very small, only emerging towards the end, so doesn't have the chance to do much lasting damage. If it weren't for its annoying final act, Kill List could have been a British horror classic. A film that begins so well, that offers so much promise as a relevant, scary horror, deserves a much better payoff, and unfortunately this means the film as a whole is good, but not anything exceptional.
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British gibberish with some killing scenes mixed in and a brutal ridiculous twist. I had read somewhere that this one of the best horror films of that last decade, and it is in no way.
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Production Company
Senator Film Produktion,
UK Film Council,
The National Lottery,
Film4,
Screen Yorkshire,
Warp X,
Rook Films,
Ben Wheatley,
NonStop Entertainment,
Madman Entertainment,
UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund,
Screen Yorkshire Production Fund
Release Date Feb 3, 2012
Duration 1 h 35 m
Rating Not Rated
Website
http://www.kill-list.com/
Awards
British Independent Film Awards
• 1 Win & 6 Nominations
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards
• 4 Nominations
Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
