Review #349: 'Kill List' (2011)

If there are two genres that the UK do excessively, and not very well (these days), it is the horror and hit-man/gangster genres. Usually flooding the straight-to-DVD market and being picked up by morons who see a promising film when they see Danny Dyer's name above the title, it would seem the British movie industry is indeed in a dire state (especially with the demise of the UK Film Council at the hands of Nick Clegg and uber-cunt prime minister David Cameron). Yet, seemingly out of nowhere, comes Kill List, director Ben Wheatley's sledgehammer second feature after 2009's Down Terrace (which I will certainly be tracking down).

After a disastrous but unspecified mission in Kiev, ex-soldier Jay (Neil Maskell) is living a strained relationship with his wife Shel (MyAnna Buring). When his partner and best friend from Kiev, Gal (Michael Smiley), comes to dinner with his new girlfriend Fiona (Emma Fryer), tensions spill over and Jay loses it, while in the bathroom, Fiona carves a strange witchcraft-like symbol on the back of the mirror. Jay and Gal eventually head out on a new mission set by their shadowy client, and are given a list of people that need killing. After the first, a priest, is killed after thanking them, it seems that they have stumbled upon a child pornography ring. The next victim has stashes of it in his locker, and Jay goes sick on him. As Jay starts a spiralling decline of rage, Gal must try and hold them together. But not all is at it seems, as they eventually come across a strange woodland sacrifice.

You may be forgiven from that synopsis in thinking that it sounds like many a British gangster/revenge flick, but it is anything but. The first half an hour focuses on the drunken dinner party, which at first, seems to be Ken Loach-inspired with a bit of Gary Oldman's Nil by Mouth (1997) thrown in, but soon it becomes more Lars von Trier than anything else. There is a growing discomfort in the proceedings, with an underlying menace simmering beneath the surface, and this prevails throughout the film. Yet as the story moves on, the menace starts to bubble over, and the film becomes almost Lynchian. There's no out-and-out weirdness of a Lynch (the film maintains a neo-realist style throughout), but there's a staggering darkness here, and bursts of screeching industrial soundtrack makes the viewing all the more uncomfortable.

You'll also need a strong stomach, as one scene provides the most shocking and sickening burst of violence I have ever seen on screen, beating even the facial disintegration of Irreversible (2001). Jay is a thug, and feels most at home when at work letting his rage spill over. I almost don't want to say any more as I feel it will ruin the experience, as the climax will alienate as many as it will inspire. For me, the juggling of genres tightly contained in one unsettling film is quite brilliant. The lead performances by Maskell and Smiley are outstanding, but the real star here is Wheatley. I can't remember the last time I've been so excited by a director. This is simply a sensational film. There is hope for the British film industry after all.


Directed by: Ben Wheatley
Starring: Neil Maskell, Michael Smiley, MyAnna Buring, Emma Fryer
Country: UK

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie