They Will Kill You (MA) – 94 minutes

Mayhem abounds in this blood soaked, high octane, horror action comedy.

As a young adult, Asia Reeves and her child sister, Maria are first seen in the pouring rain, having escaped from their violent father who imprisoned them.

They enter a convenience store, where Asia tells Maria not to be scared, as they attempt to find their way to New York City.

But moments later, their father is back in their lives, having tracked them down.

Asia shoots him and flees.

Their father survives, with Maria again in tow.

Asia in jailed.

Next, we cut to 10 years later. 

Asia is in New York City and accepts a job as a maid at an historic, high-rise hotel called the Virgil, which is populated by several wealthy guests.

Her boss is superintendent Lilith Woodhouse (Patricia Arquette), whose word goes.

She has employed a bunch of minorities and illegals to tend to the needs of the guests.

But within moments of entering her room, Asia (played by Zazie Beetz) discovers that not everything is as it appears.

She is being monitored and the guests are out to kill her. 

In fact, she is trapped in a building that is home to a Satanic cult and the guests, including one played by Heather Graham, have made a deal with the devil.

The Virgil is a temple to Satan and each month the guests must pay with a human sacrifice. Tonight, Asia is it.

What the guests don’t count on is that Asia is a highly skilled combatant, who learned to fend for herself in prison.

She fights back … hard, even though she is kicked, punched, stabbed and worse.

In fact, she gives far more than she gets, leaving a blood-soaked trail.

The problem for her is that these “guests” are immortal.

As such, try as Asia does, her pursuers simply won’t die.

Asia finds an unlikely ally in the superintendent’s husband (Paterson Joseph).

He helps her track down her sister, played by Myha'la, who Asia deeply regrets having abandoned.

Still, escaping the hotel fortress will prove to be her ultimate challenge.

You can either see They Will Kill You as errant nonsense or as a magnificently choreographed, deliberately over the top, slasher flick.

Make no mistake, it is certainly out there and is a film for selective tastes.

Let’s take the latter view and look at it as loads of gory fun.

Asia beheads some guests and cuts limbs off others.

We – the audience – are very much on her side throughout.

Nevertheless, each time the guests regroup and go again and again.

The thrill is in the dangerous “game” that is being played.

Zazie Beetz is a dominant force throughout. As Asia, she refuses to take a backward step.

The scriptwriters – Alex Livtak (Predators) and director Kirill Sokolov – throw in a few surprises too.

Visually, They Will Kill You is striking. 

The production values are strong, the settings evocative and the cinematography by Isaac Bauman potent.

The same can be said for the score by Carlos Rafael Rivera.

Let me put it this way, this is a film where you won’t die wondering (pun fully intended).

Enter with the right attitude and you will be rewarded.

Rated MA, They Will Kill You scores a 7 out of 10.