Eight months after a disastrous job in Kiev left him physically and mentally scarred, ex-soldier turned contract killer Jay, is pressured by his partner Gal, into taking a new assignment. As they descend into the dark, disturbing world of the contract, Jay begins to unravel once again – his fear and paranoia sending him deep into the heart of darkness. —SXSW
Ben Wheatley (born 1972) Animator, Director of internet viral ads, TV idents, TV adverts, TV comedy shows and feature films.
Early life
Wheatley was born in Billericay, Essex. He went to Haverstock School in North London and it was here during the sixth form that he met Amy Jump who is now his wife and co-founder of Mr and Mrs Wheatley. They have a son and live in Brighton.
Film career
Initially a short film maker and animator, Wheatley moved his work to the internet instantly gaining a wider audience. His viral clip “cunning stunt” which shows his friend Rob Hill jumping over a car has had over 10 million views. The hundred or so short virals, animations and games found on mrandmrswheatley.co.uk soon caught the eye of large media companies and Wheatley’s work expanded into main stream media.
In 2006 Wheatley won a Lion at Cannes advertising festival for directing AMBX viral with the viralfactory.
In July 2006 Wheatley directed the live action… read more
In the era of torture porn and all things paranormal here is a genre entry that doesn't rely on cheap ‘boo!’ tactics or clichéd, stock characters but creates a foreboding atmospheric tension whilst grounding the narrative very much in the ‘real world’. Perfectly cast, Wheatley directs with such control, never revealing too much and thus gets away with the metaphysical, unexplained twist in last twenty minutes.
So. That happened. I don't know exactly what happened but it happened. And I watched it.
as an asymmetrical, head-scratchin' entry into the horror genre, i suppose this works well enough. the first hour's mike-leigh-style red herring is effectively out of sync with its eventual destination - a trick, in the end, but a decent one. beyond that, i'm not sure this has anything particularly interesting to say about human brutality or whatever. and i'm kinda tired of the faux "wicker man" mystical shit lately.
An interview with Jay Shaw about his striking new Mondo poster for Ben Wheatley’s Kill List.
Featuring an interview with Ai Weiwei and more. Also: The Gold Rush and Last Year at Marienbad in New York.
For many cinephiles, Halloween is a season, not an eve, and it begins today. Also: Wrapping Toronto’s Midnight Madness program.
“Wheatley might be the most idiosyncratic and exciting filmmaker the UK has produced since Shane Meadows.”
I was admittedly pretty tired when I saw “Kill List” late at night two weeks into seeing two to five movies a day at a film festival. Perhaps that contributed to the confusion. There’s lots of good… read review
This film would have been an interesting short film but as a feature film it just does not work as there is just not enough to it. The acting is solid, but the actors pretty much all play themselves… read review