Kill List

Now here's a strange little film if ever there was one. Heavily talked up by Mark Kermode last year as an interesting British thriller / horror, 'Kill List' stars Michael Smiley (him who played Tyres in Spaced) as Gal and Neil Maskell as Jay, a pair of professional contract killers. We join the film at a dinner party hosted by Jay and his wife Shel, at which Gal and his new girlfriend are guests. As the conversation unfolds it becomes clear that Jay and Gal are hired killers, and that their partners are not only well-aware of what they do, but are of a military persuasion themselves.

Jay and Gal get a new contract that means they have to travel around Britain murdering people on a list (hence the 'Kill List'). At first they act in a 'professional' way; but soon they wonder why these people deserve to die and start to lose their cool. Admittedly they don't have a lot of 'cool' to start with, but their last vestiges of civilised behaviour quickly ebb away as they become more embroiled in their work and the dangers the contract entails.

The film goes off in a very weird 'Wicker Man' direction towards the end, culminating in a final scene that is almost impossible to believe. So much so that it almost ruiins the whole film. Thinking about what happens though there's just enough plausibility in events to justify such an extreme twist. Little hints of cult and paganastic behaviour are sprinkled around the film; for instance Gal's girlfriend carves a mysterious symbol on the back of a mirror in Jay and Shel's bathroom very early on - an event so out of place it might be easy to compartmentalise and forget.

There are several gruesome deaths in the film, one of which involves a hammer and is extremely explicit in its violence and gore. There are also several very tense scenes of dialogue and marital stress that are potentially quite upsetting for the underage or those with low fear thresholds. Probably not a film for all, but if you're happy to accept an off-the-wall ending it's quite a chilling ride.