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Kill List

Play trailer Poster for Kill List Released Feb 3, 2012 1h 34m Mystery & Thriller Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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78% Tomatometer 97 Reviews 58% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Events take a darker turn as a contract killer (Neil Maskell) and his business partner (Michael Smiley) carry out a new assignment.

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Kill List

Kill List

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Critics Consensus

Kill List is an expertly executed slow-burn crime thriller that thrives on tension before morphing into visceral horror.

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Critics Reviews

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J. R. Jones Chicago Reader Wheatly aims for something like moral complexity by having one of the killers believe in God and the other aspire to be a good husband and father, but once the graphic violence starts, it upstages everything else. Rated: 3/5 May 28, 2015 Full Review Andrew Barker Variety Displaying both a nasty edge and a playful sense of humor -- but thankfully, never at the same time -- Brit import Kill List is several cuts above its fellow midbudget horror brethren. Jan 8, 2013 Full Review John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter Deeply edgy, gory crime film maintains perfectly calibrated tension before dropping a bombshell that will be too much for some viewers. Jan 8, 2013 Full Review Michael Leader Den of Geek Some may be frustrated by the coyness of the narrative, which prefers to leave integral storytelling threads up to the viewer’s imagination, but that is all part of the fun... Rated: 4/5 May 7, 2024 Full Review Justin Harrison The Spool Kill List is, by design, an extremely disturbing film. Aug 8, 2023 Full Review Brent McKnight The Last Thing I See An element of the occult, of some sinister, unknown outside force encroaching on the narrative, driving characters closer and closer to the brink of madness. Rated: A Jul 11, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Camero W Absolute rubbish. This movie sucked so bad I can’t even believe that let this hit media at all. Made absolutely no fucking sense and the acting, plot, music, cinematography, etc was awful. 0/10. Major waste of time. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 11/08/24 Full Review Jay A This movie was a complete surprise, shocking ending. Superb. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 10/29/24 Full Review Christian K This was kind of all over the place pacing and tone wise, it does feature one of the wildest final 20 minutes ever which was cool. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/01/24 Full Review r96 s Rubbi... Wait, people love this? Before I started my review, I decided to take a quick look at the Letterboxd reviews. I always play a minigame in my head by attempting to guess the average rating, for example for the last film I watched - 'Jack the Giant Slayer' - I called it spot on at 2.4. This I genuinely predicted less than 2.0... it's at 3.5! To tell you I was flabbergasted would be an understatement. There have been films in the past when my thoughts are the opposite (both positively and negatively) to the majority elsewhere, but I think this one takes the crown as the most polarizing so far. I just didn't like this 2011 release at all, there's one good piece of violence involving a hammer and a head (not like that, ichthyologists) but otherwise I found it all super underwhelming. I hadn't heard of 'Kill List' prior to watching it, I only decided to do so as I noticed it had Neil Maskell in it and I loved his performance a decade ago in television's 'Utopia' - which is of similar ilk to this actually, just as violent but miles, miles greater. Those behind/alongside Maskell didn't get my approval either, with only the aforementioned violence keeping my attention. I could sense a promising concept in there (which I guess many others actually did see, evidently), though this honestly didn't do anything for me all the way through. I sit here flummoxed reading other reviews, even the Wikipedia 'reception' section is all-out gushing about it too. Did Prime Video play me the wrong movie?! Just noticed that this has the same director as 2016's 'Free Fire' (which I rated 6/10), which is a good example of what I mentioned earlier in regards to my thoughts sometimes being a noticeable difference to the majority (fairly uncommon, fwiw). Maybe I just don't like Ben Wheatley movies? Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/11/24 Full Review Jeffrey P Spent too much time setting up the conclusion and not enough time on it. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/25/24 Full Review Gero C A perfect combination of action and horror. I didn't expect that it would go from action and suspense scenes to horror and gore scenes. Honestly, I was surprised and fascinated. The performances are incredible, the action and violence scenes are incredible, the atmosphere and the concept are incredible. Highly recommended Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/10/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Kill List

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Movie Info

Synopsis Events take a darker turn as a contract killer (Neil Maskell) and his business partner (Michael Smiley) carry out a new assignment.
Director
Ben Wheatley
Screenwriter
Ben Wheatley, Amy Jump
Distributor
IFC Films
Production Co
Warp X, Rook Films
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 3, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$26.3K
Runtime
1h 34m
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