I read a lot of good things about this film on Twitter and was very excited to see this British horror film but I felt it didn’t really live up to the hype. Jay (Neil Maskell) is an ex-soldier who lives in a suburban house with his beautiful wife Shel (MyAnna Buring) and their son Sam (Harry Simpson). The couple argue a lot due to money problems as a result of Jay not working for eight months. At a dinner party one night at their house Jay takes his friend Gal (Michael Smiley) up on a job offer to help with the money worries and it turns out to be contract killing. The two friends are given a kill list and go about their business, disposing of the people on the list but the victims behave rather strangely and Jay decides to take matters into his own hands.
I am deliberately being rather vague as to the plot of the film as I feel the less you know about this one the better. It does turn into a full blown horror film with supernatural elements but the less said about this the better. Kill List is a film very much made up of three acts; the first is mainly set in the couple’s house with a high level of realism and slow pace that introduces us to all the characters. The second act focuses on the kill list and the people on the list and builds momentum as the violence and chaos begins to increase. The third act feels almost like a completely different film but it somehow works and is edge of your seat scary.
Kill List is a film in the same vein as Heartless (2009), another British horror film with fantastical elements, but unfortunately I think Heartless executed the genre much more successfully than Kill List does. I was entertained and enthralled throughout Kill List but the ending really lets it down and a lot of things are left unexplained. Having said that I think it had some interesting ideas and some brilliant moments and the acting is really great throughout. I think perhaps this is a bit of a grower and maybe a second viewing is necessary and it is also a victim of its own hype. If you do watch this film go with low expectations and you may be pleasantly surprised and be aware that things are left for the audience to piece together.
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