They Will Kill You Movie Review

They Will Kill You (2026)

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Written by: Kirill Sokolov & Alex Litvak
Directed by:Kirill Sokolov
Starring: Zazie Beetz, Patricia Arquette, Myha'la, Tom Felton, Heather Graham
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
A woman takes a job as a housekeeper in a NYC high-rise, unaware of the building's history of disappearances. She soon realizes the community is shrouded in mystery.

Verdict
It's an on the rails beat 'em up movie that could have been so much more creative. This wastes no time at all, jumping right into it. A high rise apartment full of cultists and a woman willing to fight them all to save her sister is all the story this offers. It's over the top and then some, but the movie could have done so much more with the world building. Just as Asia continues to defeat the same people over and over, that echoes the lack of creativity in the movie. This hints at what each floor holds, but we never get to see it. The final fight nearly makes this worth it due to the sheer ridiculousness, but this doesn't do enough to distinguish it from other, similar movies.
It depends.

Review
This starts with what seems like an abused woman and her daughter on the run from an abusive ex. It turns out to be sisters running from their father. He catches up to them, and that precipitates a ten year time jump.

Asia (Zazie Beetz) just got a job as a maid at an exclusive high rise apartment building where she will also live. This wastes no time getting weird, from sounds in the walls to a man wearing a pig mask in her room. At first I wondered if it was a dream, but it's not. Fifteen minutes in and she's already been attacked.

Zazie Beetz plays Asia Reaves

This cranks it up to eleven quickly. The style is over the top, from the violence to the gore. It soon seems she sought this job out on purpose. Initially there isn't much context, but some kind of secret society lives in the high rise. They're also immortal somehow. Despite killing them, they just keep coming back.

How lucky are Asia and the audience that we get a character that just happens to fill us in on this hotel's backstory. It's a little too convenient. He stated each floor is devoted to a particular vice. I hoped the movie would take advantage of that, but it doesn't. Asia's goal from the beginning was to find and save her sister Maria (Myha'la) from the demonic cult. Maria already knew about the cult. She tells Asia she needed saving when she was younger, not now.

Myha'la, Zazie Beetz play Maria, Asia Reaves

This is an on the rails action movie set in a strange world. The movie could be more fun if it developed this high rise. We're told about the other floors, but why not use it and incorporate it into the fights and escapes? The fights are gory but not all that impressive. It could have capitalized more on the fact that Asia keeps fighting the same cultists.

It's rare when the protagonist kills the same villains over and over. This at least creates a foundation for that. The inhabitants have made a pact with the devil. The final fight is sleight of hand and bargaining as Asia tries to save her sister that eventually leads to Asia fighting a tentacled pig head.

Patricia Arquette plays Lily Woodhouse