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Kill List

United Kingdom

2011

92 Min
Color
2.40:1
English
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
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DIR Ben Wheatley

EXEC Katherine Butler, Robin Gutch, Hugo Heppell, Mark Herbert

PROD Claire Jones, Andrew Starke

SCR Ben Wheatley, Amy Jump

DP Laurie Rose

CAST Neil Maskell, Michael Smiley, MyAnna Buring, Struan Rodger, Ben Crompton, Emma Fryer

ED Robin Hill

PROD DES David Butterworth

MUSIC Jim Williams

SOUND Rob Entwistle

SXSW (SX Fantastic), Karlovy Vary (Variety's Ten Euro Directors to Watch), Melbourne (Night Shift), Toronto (Midnight Madness), Helsinki (Genre Glitter), Vancouver (Cinema of Our Time), AFI FEST (Midnight), Stockholm (Twilight Zone), Mar del Plata (Hora cero), Rotterdam (Bright Future), Istanbul (Midnight Madness), Locarno (Histoire(s) du cinéma: Ben Wheatley), CPH PIX (3 X Ben Wheatley)

Synopsis

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

Director

Original

Ben Wheatley

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

Wall

Displaying 4 of 70 wall posts.
Picture of the.deft.one

the.deft.one

7May13

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.

Picture of Effendi Ben Smith-Malick

Effendi Ben Smith-Malick

12Mar13

So. That happened. I don't know exactly what happened but it happened. And I watched it.

Picture of dschank

dschank

24Feb13

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.

Picture of lpseudo

lpseudo

4Jan13

It could have been perfect. It just had the perfect rhythm, until the last 20 minutes that feel extremely rushed.

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 224 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Movie Poster of the Week: “Kill List”

By Adrian Curry on February 3, 2012

An interview with Jay Shaw about his striking new Mondo poster for Ben Wheatley’s Kill List.

read article
W184

Daily Briefing. Cinema Scope 49

By David Hudson on December 23, 2011

Featuring an interview with Ai Weiwei and more. Also: The Gold Rush and Last Year at Marienbad in New York.

read article
W184

Scary Monsters and Midnight Madness

By David Hudson on October 1, 2011

For many cinephiles, Halloween is a season, not an eve, and it begins today. Also: Wrapping Toronto’s Midnight Madness program.

read article
W184

In the UK. Ben Wheatley's "Kill List"

By David Hudson on September 2, 2011

“Wheatley might be the most idiosyncratic and exciting filmmaker the UK has produced since Shane Meadows.”

read article

Lists

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Reviews

Displaying 2 of 2

Wanted: Wow. Received: WTF.

By Michael Harbour on March 4, 2012

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

A misanthropic celebration of violence and a twist in the end sums up all this film is about

By Henrik Schunk on January 13, 2012

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

Forum

Displaying 3 discussion topics.

Wild Geese 2.0

13 posts by 4 people 5 months ago

KILL LIST - THE MEANING?

17 posts by 12 people 6 months ago

De-Glamorizing the Assassin

26 posts by 8 people over 1 year ago