Review: They Will Kill You (2026 SXSW Film Festival)

14 May, 2026 William Eguizabal 0 Comments 4 categories

Title: They Will Kill You
MPA Rating: R
Director: Kirill Sokolov
Starring: Zazie Beetz, Myha’la, Patricia Arquette
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins

What It Is: Asia (Beetz) takes a job as a maid in a mysterious and old hotel in New York City. But Asia isn’t who the hotel was waiting for. You see there’s something sinister about this hotel. A fact that Asia will find out almost immediately. She’s there looking for the sister she left behind ten years ago, before she went to prison. Now free, she is aware via a tip that her sister is already in this hotel. The building however is hiding secrets that are old and deep.

What We Think: Insane, crazy, bonkers, bat shit — pick a word. That describes this. Zazie Beetz is on one. She should be an action star. I know she’s done some stuff with Marvel like Deadpool 2, but I’m talking about a real action film she’s built for it! Her charisma and the raw aggression of her character Asia couple perfectly with the mania on screen. When you uncover the truth about this hotel it’s a really fun reveal. So I’d recommend not even watching the trailer we’ve attached. The cleaner you go in the better. I really had a riot with this and I found Sokolov’s direction all kinds of good. This thing MOVES. From the action to the camera everything is whirling and darting. It’s hard to tell if it’s deliberate or not and I find that also refreshing. There’s an exhilaration about the whole thing. Patricia Arquette is insanely good here and this is not really a role I’d have expected to see her in. A nice surprise amongst the casting but not the biggest one. No, no, that belongs to Heather Graham. I did NOT see her coming in this at all.

Our Grade: B+, This is such an entertaining little action/horror film, it does its job and then gets the hell out of there. 94 minutes is how long, like every movie, should be. It doesn’t even feel that long and again, this is like the best feeling when watching a movie like this. I can recommend this highly. It’s a fantastic and gloriously violent little horror film. See this one! It’s such a fun time.