Kill List

I can't remember where I learned of this movie, but I watched:

Kill List (2011).

Married couple Jay (Neil Maskell) and Shel (MyAnna Buring) are having problems. They are low on money and are fighting constantly. Jay has been out of work for a while, but when his old army buddy Gal (Michael Smiley) comes to dinner with his girlfriend Fiona (Emma Fryer), things might change. The kicker is that Jay and Gal are hitmen. They kill people for money and Gal has a client lined up who pays well. Then things start getting weirder and weirder.

A movie about a couple of professional killers is always going to be somewhat dark, but Kill List is something else. At first it seems almost too realistic, with Jay's and Shel's arguments, but as soon as he and Gal go about their business the tone changes and things get really weird. It goes from unpleasantly realistic to horror and you don't know when it did that.

Kill List is a “along for the ride” kind of movie. The destination isn't that important, and in fact I guessed the ending. Don't expect explanations or for anything to really make sense, as I said, it is all about the journey.

The actors are good, I have seen many of them in other roles, and the cinematography is nice. The director, Ben Wheatley, does a really excellent job capturing the bleakness of the urban sprawl. Everything seems cheap and unpleasant. Houses that should be nice seem tawdry and fake. It is all painted with a pale, grim and disturbing brush. You get the feeling that nothing and nowhere is safe. It is almost as if everything is fake, that every location is staged and what you see is just a backdrop. And in a sense that is true, it is a movie not a documentary, but the feeling works within the movie itself. Had they screwed that up, whether it was intentional or not, the movie would have been awful. They do pull it off though.

The sound is a mixed bag. Rather than music, it's sound. Droning sound that drills into your head and makes you uncomfortable. Perfect for a movie like this, but the actors have a tendency to mumble a bit and there were times where I couldn't understand what was being said. Not that you watch a movie like Kill List for the dialogue, good as it is.

A word about gore. Most of Kill List isn't that bloody, and you do expect a bit of splatter in a movie called Kill List after all, and there is quite a bit of blood from time to time. But there is one scene in particular that is very graphic, so be warned.

So, do I recommend this movie? To horror fans I do! Kill List is never going to be considered great, but is is good. You think you have it figured out and then it takes a turn, and then another turn until you're spiraling towards the end. As mentioned, I did guess the ending, but that didn't matter as the road there was good enough. Non horror fans should find something else to watch. I wish I could say more about Kill List, but that would spoil everything, and I refuse to do that.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!