SXSW 2026 Review: Zazie Beetz is an Absolute Badass in THEY WILL KILL YOU

There's maximalism, and then there's Kirill Sokolov's They Will Kill You. It's maximalism on cocaine, rocketing through filmic homages lifted from the Russian filmmaker's favorite styles. It's like The Raid, but thematically tuned to Ready or Not, with set design by Wes Anderson, conceptually anarchistic like Álex de la Iglesia, shot through the lens of a blood-soaked Quentin Tarantino samurai actioner à la Kill Bill, yet goopy like Frank Henenlotter's B-movies? You're not ready for what Sokolov's cooked up—although, neither is he to a degree. While They Will Kill You is an absolute blast in pure entertainment terms (like his fantastic debut, Why Don't You Just Die!), it's a smorgasbord of overindulgence that'll have you feeling a bit numb to everything by the end. 

Too much of a good thing? It’s real.

Zazie Beetz is a rockstar heroine as Asia Reaves, an ex-convict who's searching for her lost sister. She finds Maria (Myha'la) working as a maid at the luxury Virgil building, this nondescript, better-than-you community for what appears to be the rich and powerful. Asia finds her way inside by posing as a new cleaning hire, but in doing so, may have made a grave mistake. Lily (Patricia Arquette), the Virgil's Irish-accented superintendent, warmly welcomes Asia into the building—but then the doors bolt shut. It's up to Asia to find an exit for herself and Maria before the night’s planned festivities.

Frankly, it's hard to believe They Will Kill You is under the Warner Bros. banner. It's the type of over-the-top genre feast that doesn't get mainstream studio attention these days. Sokolov never seems content with his own ambitions, treating his screenplay as a never-ending string of "therefore" connectors. The baseline of a high-society cult gives way to satanic worship, unkillable disciples, and a litany of incomprehensibly bonkers storytelling evolutions that leave co-writer Alex Litvak’s plot in the dust. Asia is our hero, and she learns the hard way that it's impossible to predict the Virgil's next move. So, she riots onward, like this warrioress with no off switch.

Beetz is a gem of a Final Girl meets Streets of Rage type, kicking ceremonious amounts of side-scrolling ass. The blend of Isaac Bauman's crisp, agile, and clean cinematography and Beetz's frenetic fight choreography maintains a fast-paced intensity throughout the action sequences. It's the little details, like Asia lighting her axe on fire to illuminate a lights-off ballroom filled with hooded threats, or the quippy mini-moves that Sokolov fits into tight maneuver windows. For as insurmountable as odds can get, Beetz controls her body with devastating precision, and there's an enviable sense of fiery vengeance about Asia's beatdowns. She's a fantastic muse for Sokolov's vicious tendencies, as she slices, shotgun-pumps, and pulverizes her way through enemies to an energy-amped soundtrack.

It's Sokolov's embracing of hardcore genre elements that shock most in They Will Kill You. Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and others star as Lily's elite immortal hit squad, and the punishments their bodies endure never fail to impress. They reassemble themselves like Wolverine's healing factor, as tendons and skin strands pull together in graphic body horror fashion. Or, even better, the bodies crawl around beheaded, or eyeballs slingshot themselves up vent shafts, acting as surveillance organs while detached from the main vessel. It's supremely gross, and isn't even the tip of the iceberg of surprises in store. I bet you didn't have a Japanese-inspired Lady Snowblood standoff between Asia and someone wearing a possessed, severed pig's head on your bingo card? This movie is balls-to-the-wall graphic and darkly comedic, finding inventive and diabolical ways for Asia to dispatch her wealthy, cult-robed foes.

Although, for as brazenly batshit as They Will Kill You is, there's a disconnectivity about its storytelling. Every scene tries to one-up the insanity levels, yet the routine becomes predictable—even expected. The emotional beats of this complex of the damned don't really establish themselves, and despite the film's striking visual composition, there's not really that much development. It's an idiosyncratic film—this commentary on the almighty one-percenters featuring brainwashed maids and a very '50s massacre aesthetic—that's extremely surface value. The further the film presses on, the more you realize there's not much meat behind this post-Pulp Fiction freak show.

Then again, there's a blood-drenching charm to Sokolov's creative intentions. It's a hollow midnighter, but that doesn't stop They Will Kill You from staying empathetically psychotic and wholly watchable. The reimagining of manga-inspired Japanese action-dramas as a modernist devil-worshipping gauntlet is like eating sweet-as-hell candy; you'll get a stomach ache eventually, but at least it tastes yummy. That's in large part to the film's language, speaking in boisterous battle cries, Carlos Rafael Rivera's too-cool score, and Beetz's impenetrable will. You'll clock every reference like a gonzo movie historian's "Where's Waldo," and so what? If the vibe is rockin', I say kick out the jams.

They Will Kill You is comparable to the Domino's order from an astoundingly baked teen who giggles, selects every topping, and waits. It's the pepperoni, pineapple, buffalo sauce, and garlic-crusted late-night treat that's overflowing with ingredients—but it's still pizza, and when you've got that special craving, ain't nothing gonna disappoint you. The same goes for Sokolov's out-of-bounds, bodaciously violent, and unrelentingly original revenge thriller. A lot is going on; some might say too much, but what's on the screen cuts one hell of a trailer and then some. For its highlight lunacy, I can't begrudge such exquisite mutilations or Beetz's remarkable though-as-nails hero. Like I said, a bad pizza's still pizza—pass me a slice.

Movie Score: 3.5/5