Spoilers would’ve brought a machine gun.

There are movies with intricate plot and character development and then there’s those who move right into the action. You have three chances to guess which slot this feature falls into and the first two don’t count. Yes, we’ll get the semblance of a backstory up front, but this movie doesn’t waste any time into spilling guts and blood all over the carpet. I am not cleaning that.

(Credit: New Line Cinema)

They Will Kill You (2026) was directed by Kirill Sokolov who wrote it with Alex Litvak. Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz) has had a tough upbringing after trying to murder her father to protect her little sister Maria (Orefile Moloi) and ending up in prison. Now finally free, she has managed to track down her sister to the Virgil, an upscale high-rise catering to the ultra rich. Adopting the identity of a new employee, Asia meets the manager, Lily Woodhouse (Patricia Arquette) and is allowed into the secretive building. Soon enough she’s going to run into the other residents that include Kevin (Tom Felton) and Sharon (Heather Graham).

The big secret that you might already guesses is that they are a “satanic” cult, and they intend to sacrifice Asia to their Lord. However Asia is no easy prey and is well prepared with machete and shotgun in hand. This quickly degenerates in a bloodbath chase through rooms and secret passages. Asia is quickly running out of room until she gets help from Lily’s husband Ray (Paterson Joseph), who has gotten tired of all this devil-dealing. This is also when Asia finally reunites with her sister Maria (Myha’la), who’s still holding a grudge after being abandoned all those years ago.

It works up until the film overstays its welcome. The gore and the stakes dwindle as the action, as good as it is, saturates the runtime. After a while it does feel a bit cartoonish with body parts flying around and blood spatter flooding the lens. The runtime is barely over 1.5 hours and yet at some point you feel you’ve already seen everything that the movie has to give.

Lightly recommended with reservations. Its horror gets deluded by the action-comedy aspect, but I’ll say that Zazie Beetz does stand out as the lead. There’s no real surprises or twists that you haven’t seen before. Perhaps save it for a rainy night, but it should be close to the top of your list for it.

That will do for now.