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They Will Kill You

A slick, violent horror-comedy with a strong lead and some stylish action, but the premise feels familiar and the execution sounds uneven. If you’re mainly here for blood, attitude, and a high-rise cult setup, it should deliver enough fun to outweigh the derivative beats.

17% (270,667)

They Will Kill You

Where to watch: Max

Movie · Action · Comedy · R

2026 · 1h 34m · ★ 17% (271K)

Let them try.

Director: Kirill Sokolov

Starring: Zazie Beetz, Myha'la, Paterson Joseph

Overview

A woman answers a help wanted ad to be a housekeeper in a mysterious New York City high-rise, unaware that she is entering a community that has seen a number of disappearances over the years and may be under the grip of a Satanic cult.

Director

Kirill Sokolov

Production

Nocturna, New Line Cinema, Domain Entertainment, Film Afrika

Cast

Zazie Beetz, Myha'la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, Patricia Arquette, Willie Ludik, David Viviers, Gabe Gabriel, Viktoria Korotkova, James Remar, Dorothy Ann Gould, Michael Huff, Darron Meyer, Orefile Moloi, Brandon Auret, Angus Sampson, Chris van Rensburg, Neels Junior Clasen, Megan Alexander

Where to watch

Max

Curator Review

Verdict

A slick, violent horror-comedy with a strong lead and some stylish action, but the premise feels familiar and the execution sounds uneven. If you’re mainly here for blood, attitude, and a high-rise cult setup, it should deliver enough fun to outweigh the derivative beats.

Best for

  • Viewers who like horror-comedy with action-forward set pieces
  • Fans of stylish, blood-soaked genre mashups
  • Audiences who enjoy a charismatic lead carrying an uneven script
  • People drawn to cult-in-a-building paranoia stories

Skip if

  • You want a fresh, deeply original story
  • You’re allergic to familiar Satanic-cult tropes
  • You prefer horror that builds atmosphere over momentum
  • You need tight tonal control rather than chaotic genre blending

Overview

They Will Kill You sounds like the kind of genre cocktail that lives or dies on energy, and this one appears to have plenty of it. The setup is instantly legible: a new hire walks into a luxury building with a rotten secret, and the film leans into action, gore, and comic escalation rather than slow-burn dread.

Worth noting

The appeal seems to be less about surprise than about execution. Reviews point to strong camera movement, fight scenes, and a lead performance with real star presence, even as the plot itself feels like familiar cult-household material. That makes it easy to enjoy in the moment and harder to admire as something truly inventive.

Bottom line

If you like horror that behaves a little badly and knows it, this is probably a good time. If you’re hoping for a sharper script or a more original mythology, the movie may feel like a stylish remix of better-known ingredients rather than a fully new dish.

Top Letterboxd reviews

vivdagoat 🍎🍂🐞 (3★) · 8131 likes

John Pork is calling on you to join his cult… will you pick up?

𝐉 (3★) · 4427 likes

top 10 quentin tarantino movie ever made

joj66 (3★) · 3524 likes

Sure it’s unevenly reheated nachos but most of the taste is still there

Troy (5★) · 3253 likes

movie is like 40% Zazie Beats aura farming

The_Hankinator (1.5★) · 3075 likes

It was a bold choice to tell us that each floor of the Virgil is themed around a different vice and then not show us any of them.

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Themes

cult infiltration, high-rise paranoia, female survival, action-horror, dark comedy, blood and gore, class and privilege, occult conspiracy

Topics

horror-comedy, action horror, cult thriller, urban horror, darkly comic, gore, paranoia, high-rise setting, female-led, occult

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