There are films that when you watch them for the first time, they’re imprinted forever in your mind. Perhaps the occasion and circumstance in which you watch them helps, and it’s why you sometimes refer to those as unforgettable cinematic experiences. You actually remember everything that surrounded you at that moment. They’re usually happy memories.
But there are other kinds of films that get stamped on your mind for different reasons. They’re a completely different variation of the term “unforgettable;" in fact, they’re usually associated with an effect and not with the place or situation in which you saw them. You remember how that film made you feel.
Ben Wheatley’s masterpieceKill Listis an unsettling piece of cinema that’s hard to get off your mind. It will stay with you for days, months, and even years. Its effect comes from a fantastic script by Wheatley and his partner in real life Amy Jump, who decide to tell a story about a broken man whose only chance is framed under an idea of success due to immoral acts.
And right after that,Kill Listturns into something else, anexploration of psychological horrorthat’s as effective today as it was 10 years ago.
Skills In The Writing Room
Kill Listfinds Jay, a former soldierplayed perfectly by Neil Maskell, coming home with nothing to offer. Jay’s marriage with Shel is shrouded by a lack of success and trauma brought by a failed mission. His friend Gal, offers him a job as a contract hitman. The pay is good. This is an opportunity he can’t miss.
Jay and Gal take the job. After all, they’re the kind of buddies who fight in drunken brawls and laugh at each other any way they can. Gal has a promising date, and he decides to take her to a dinner date. Fiona’s presence can’t avoid the awkwardness sparked by Jay’s unstable spirit. He needs help making ends meet and Gal’s offer is far too good.
Related:A Field in England Exclusive Interview with Director Ben Wheatley
But the two men actually start a journey of strange hit jobs that are suspiciously linked to them, especially Jay. These don’t seem like random choices by a powerful man who has enough money to get people killed. They are special men for this job.
Revealing more would be a sin.
Wheatley and Jump wrote a script that sits comfortably within the boundaries of a dramatic thriller with excellent performances that aren’t usually seen in horror. This is the story of a man trying to survive trauma and the terror of being a terrible leader to his family. Even if his wife seems to have unconditional love for him, there’s shame in how she sees the whole situation.
There’s so much confidence in its short third act that the film drives itself towards it but never goes for the probable outcome. Sure, there is mystery in what Jay and Gal discover, but it’s nothing comparable to the paranoia he feels because of his state. The twist is an impressive example of storytelling and one that you probably won’t guess.
A Great Genre Twist
Kill List’s blunt version of a resolution is still powerful today. The way it is edited and how nothing can serve as a spectacle (that could derive in a twist afterwards) is what makes it such a realistic conclusion to a story that to this point had nothing of horror in it. It was somewhat of a thriller, but then it becomes part of the genre most people love to hate.
Related:Hereditary and the Disturbing Horrors of Family
What actually happens feels heavy as an ending. Even after 10 years and dozens of rewatches,Kill Listremains solid as agreat piece of folk horrorand a psychological thriller that gets more powerful when you start thinking about it. Jay’s encounter with the most horrible consequence of his acts feels lukewarm in the eyes of traditional resolutions. But Wheatley is a master at shooting films that call for some interpretation. There’s nothing traditional about the way he decides to give peace to Jay and the audience.
When Drama Becomes Horror
In 2011, we became obsessed with Wheatley’s decision to make a dramatic film flowing confidently into the territory of horror without needing to make asupernatural show with ghostsand ghouls. InKill List, we follow protagonists who get picked in mysterious games where absolutely nothing is random and chance is actually a decision taken by someone who perhaps knows what your role in life is, even more than you.
So much ofKill Listis about the broken spirit of man and the incapacity to be the role model you’re expected to be. In it, a father/husband can’t see himself performing what he’s supposed to be, and when he gets the chance to start, darkness engulfs him at the very last second. His rage and inability to think have made him a king in a kingdom that’s absurd and distant from logic. But it’s his, and we just wonder what he will do after he realizes he’s just committed the most horrible act ever.
