Screened as part of NZIFF 2011

Kill List 2011

Directed by Ben Wheatley

Get Carter meets The Wicker Man. “A brilliantly constructed horror-drama that is put together in such a way that its grim twists surprise and engage.” — Screendaily

UK In English
90 minutes

Director

Producers

Claire Jones
,
Andy Starke

Screenplay

Amy Jump
,
Ben Wheatley

Photography

Laurie Rose

Editors

Robin Hill
,
Ben Wheatley
,
Amy Jump

Production designer

David Butterworth

Art director

Julie Ann Horan

Costume designer

Lance Milligan

Music

Jim Williams

With

Neil Maskell (Jay)
,
Michael Smiley (Gal)
,
MyAnna Buring (Shel)
,
Emma Fryer (Fiona)

Festivals

SXSW 2011

Elsewhere

Ben Wheatley’s quasi-vérité UK horror-thriller starts off in Mike Leigh territory, with a cringe-inducing dinner party, before spiralling into a world of paranoid pagan terrors. Unemployed ex-soldier Jay and his Swedish wife Shel are on shaky ground with money woes and a marriage that’s unravelling. When Jay’s cheerful war buddy Gal and his new girlfriend Emma turn up, the wine-fuelled celebration turns downright nasty as Jay’s ever-simmering temper erupts. Later on, Gal lures Jay back into their murky past life with promises of a big payout for a few dodgy missions. On one of these missions Jay discovers something so depraved he switches from work-for-hire guy to vicious moral avenger. The film delicately shifts in tone from a kitchen sink melodrama to a funny buddy movie, to an edge-of-your-seat horror film in its final reel. A masterful assured second feature from one of the most exciting new genre directors working today. — AT