Neil Maskell plays a kitchen-sink killer in Ben Wheatley's genre-flitting Kill List...
Warning: This review contains possible spoilers for the film's third act...
There are very few films, at least to my memory, which wrong-foot its audience with such twisted precision as Kill List. Scenarios are established which keep us on tenterhooks, but without a moments notice the film can switch genres, plunging us into the darkest depths of suburban terror before coming up for air in pockets of oily humor. In its earliest scenes Ben Wheatley's Down Terrace (2009) follow-up feels like Shane Meadows shooting a war doc in the front room of a fracturing couple; Jay (Neil Maskell) and Shel (MyAnna Buring). Even an early dinner party feels like it could dissolve into outright horror, as the unsettled drone of Jim Williams' score offsets the naturalistic, semi-improvised dialogue. With every passing minute Kill List grows weirder, unraveling like a coiled python to a moment of carnivalesque barbarity which recalls Robin Hardy's 1973 curio The Wicker Man. Gritty, stylized and often chokingly intense, this is truly one of the defining cinematic experiences of 2011...
Even with that spoiler warning in place I'm reluctant to reveal too much of the film's plot, or how it plays out. For anyone unaware of the third act twist, stop reading now, but even those in the know should tread cautiously through this write-up. Kill List is definitely a dish best served cold, and the less you know the better - in fact, everything past the 30-minute mark could be considered a spoiler. During the dinner Wheatley's camera moves calmly between the characters, observing small facial ticks which hold layers of meaning. The party is hosted by Jay and Shel, and invited are Gal (Michael Smiley) and his new girlfriend Fiona (Emma Fryer). Both men are ex-soldiers, recovering from a botched job in Kiev which brought them home 8 months ago. The specifics of this job remain undisclosed, although we are aware of its heavy implication. The mysterious Fiona is perhaps the strangest presence of all; a wispy, ghoulish woman who carves a cult insignia onto the back of a bathroom mirror. Who is she? We've little time to contemplate this before the film shifts gears again. It's only minutes after the morning after that Jay and Gal are accepting a three-hit job from a mysterious employer - a white haired gentleman who resides in a hotel with Lynchian properties (you'll know what I mean when you see it).
Forty minutes later and the film is in full hellfire mode, and that's about as much as I'm giving away. I'll leave you with some advice though: see it twice. Not only does the genre-flitting mood of Kill List take time to sink in, its finer details don't become apparent until the second, more relaxed viewing. The finale did work for me the first time around (the tunnel sequence is terrifying, and undoubtedly the film's high point) but on a second viewing it also made greater dramatic sense, as questions of loyalty and sacrifice enter into the mix. As we concentrate harder on the faces of our protagonists, and further follow the decline of their moral compass, we come to place more emphasis on their fate. Credit to the performances by Maskell and Smiley that we empathize with these cruel, tangled men, who in another film we'd be willing the hero to triumph over. Never descending into simplistic shock tactics, Kill List is a sharp, intelligent horror/thriller as naturalistic as it is stylized, and as moving as it is chilling. For once the hype is justified: this is a must-see.
Blu-Ray/Extras
DP Laurie Rose is well served by this clean Blu-Ray transfer, with the darkness of the film's final moments especially heightened in the HD format. The extras are a little on the vanilla side, but they're entertaining tidbits nonetheless. A 7-minute Making Of feature is complemented by three sets of interviews, the most interesting of which is with writer/director Wheatley. Also included is the theatrical trailer, which gives away too much of the film for my liking.
Kill List is released on DVD/Blu-Ray on 26th December...
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