Kill List
Ben Wheatley | UK | 2011
95 min
Kill List is a fusion of the British gangster and horror. It doesn’t completely work, but is gripping and helmed with sure confidence by first time director Ben Wheatley who creates something frightening out of the familiar hitman genre.
Jay lives a life of constant marital anxiety amidst recurring verbal spats with his wife and a growing debt issue. An evening spent in the company of his ex-military friend Gal results in the germination of a plan to take on newer contracts. What they don’t count on however is the bizarre nature of their assignments, which go from being strange to cruel to darkly diabolic. Kill List’s unique selling proposition is that it transforms itself as it goes along, moving from being a domestic drama in its first act, to a Guy Richie like gangster film in its second act to finally ending on a macabre high.
The script handles this transition well; you never get a sense of any deliberate shifts in tone and the director uses sharp dialogues along with interesting and unique camera work including dim, low key lighting, title cards and a frenzied chase in a dark dungeon like tunnel to disorienting results. The films low budget feel helps it as well, a brutal mid act killing is unflinchingly violent and the whole experience, including its morbid end is not for the faint of heart. Watching the film though is sometimes a frustrating experience because not everything is entirely clear and the film is content to end this way. But this should not daunt those who enjoy experimentation in cinema and enjoy the visceral thrills of black humour and carnage.
