Ben Wheatley’s darkly violent, morbidly humorous, and utterly surprising thriller Kill List was one of the best films at SXSW earlier this year, but unfortunately it’s an extremely easy movie to have spoiled by reviews, articles, trailers, and other marketing. (For the record my spoiler-free review can be found here.) Knowing too much won’t ruin the film by any means, but going in blind is rarely as rewarding as it is here.
The film follows an unemployed hit man who gets back into the hired killer game as a means of providing for his family. He partners up with an old friend to take on an odd assignment that only gets progressively weirder. What starts as a relationship drama and character piece becomes a tense and brutal thriller before finally hitching a ride on the crazy train.
Check out the trailer below… then don’t watch, read, or listen to another thing about the movie until you see it.
Perfect. The trailer does a beautiful job of teasing viewers with just enough information to get them interested without ever overplaying its hand and revealing too much. All you need to know going in is that the film is gleefully brutal at times, darkly comic at others, and has a third act you will never forget.
IFC Midnight will release Kill List sometime later this year. Promise me you’ll see it.