What’s It About

A woman takes a housekeeping job in a mysterious New York City high-rise. As she unravels the building’s dark history of disappearances, she uncovers links to a possible satanic cult.

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

There is a moment near the beginning of They Will Kill You that tells you everything you need to know about this film. Two Black girls stand outside in the pouring rain, looking through a store window at a happy white family seated around a dinner table. That family is made of plastic mannequins. It is a fake image of belonging — warm, glowing, and completely out of reach. That one image holds more significance than many horror films do in their full 120 mins. After that image, the film takes a big step back and creates an entire universe of ridiculously bloody chaos around that simple fact. The film was directed by Russian director Kirill Sokolov and co-written by Alex Litvak, and premiered at the 2026 SXSW Film and TV Festival.Set in New York City but filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, the movie follows Asia Reaves, played by Zazie Beetz, a woman who has just walked out of prison after nearly ten years. She did not go to prison for nothing. She shot her abusive father to protect her younger sister, Maria — and still lost her. The justice system took her freedom. Her father kept custody of the child she tried to save. That backstory alone would make a powerful film. But Sokolov has bigger, messier plans. Asia tracks Maria down to the Virgil, a locked-up, creepy luxury apartment building in upper Manhattan. To get inside, she impersonates a newly hired maid named Isabelle Davidson. The building’s cold and controlling supervisor, Lily Woodhouse — played with quiet menace by Patricia Arquette — is suspicious from the start. The inside of the Virgil feels wrong immediately, like every room is watching you. What Asia does not know yet is that the wealthy residents of the Virgil are an immortal cult of devil worshippers who murder one person every month to keep living forever. That new maid they hired? She was supposed to be the next sacrifice. Asia walked right into it. When the cult comes for her in the middle of the night, wearing black robes, crawling across beds, and licking faces, Asia does not scream and run. She pulls out weapons and starts fighting back. This is where the movie shifts into a completely different gear, and it never slows down. Beetz is extraordinary in this role. She commands every scene with a physical confidence that feels earned, not performed. Asia is not just a survivor — she is a force. Her fighting skills, developed during nearly a decade in prison, are shown with clarity and style. Sokolov frames her like she belongs on a movie poster from 1975 and a graphic novel cover from 2026 at the same time. The fast-moving camera has sharp cuts and maintains an understanding of what is happening among the chaos. Each fight sequence has purpose to it as well as understanding of where Asia is, who she’s in a fight with, and why it matters. The supporting cast has an energy level that is high, even if they don’t have much to work with. Lily is played by Arquette with a calm and controlled performance. Paterson Joseph brings something layered to Ray, Lily’s husband, especially in a quieter moment where the two of them speak carefully around painful memories of being cast out from society. Tom Felton plays a villain named Kevin with visible enjoyment. Heather Graham shows up as a cult member who runs an anti-aging cosmetics company — which, honestly, writes itself. But most of the cult members blur together. For a movie this wild and visually inventive, the villains needed more personality. A cult of immortal murderers should feel terrifying as individuals, not just as a crowd of people in black robes. That is the film’s biggest weakness. The relationship between Asia and her adult sister Maria, played by Myha’la, is where the film finds its real heart. Maria does not expect to be rescued. She looks like she has had 10 years of being forsaken on her face, with Myha’la portraying that without any softening of the edge whatsoever. These two ladies love and hate one another simultaneously, and that tension flows through each sequential moment between the two. Their reunion is awkward in the perfect sense of the word, as the experience flows on a visual level through the film. Cinematographer Isaac Bauman shoots the Virgil like a comic book come to life — tight spaces, unexpected angles, and a kinetic energy that keeps the film moving even during its slower moments. There is a disconnected eyeball that rolls around spying on Asia. There is a possessed pig’s head with a voice. The movie commits fully to its strange ideas and never stops to apologize for any of them. At a brisk 90 minutes, it also has the good sense to end before it exhausts its welcome. They Will Kill You is not trying to be a great film. It is trying to be a great time at the movies. It borrows freely from Ready or Not, Kill Bill, The Raid, and The Evil Dead, and it wears those influences openly. But what Sokolov adds — particularly the political sharpness of a working-class Black woman physically dismantling a wealthy, racist institution floor by floor — gives the film a personality that is distinctly its own. This is a crowd movie. It plays differently with an audience around you. The gasps and the laughter and the moments where people forget themselves and cheer — that energy is built into the film’s design. Zazie Beetz has been a talented performer for years. This movie announces her as a full-blown action star. Watch her carry this thing from start to finish and try not to be impressed. Messy? Yes. Logical? Barely. Entertaining from the first punch to the last drop of blood? Absolutely.

OUR RATING – AN UNAPOLOGETIC 7.5