No fiction exists in a cultural vacuum, and horror movies are no exception. When we watch zombies rise from their graves to hunt the living or masked psychopaths slaughtering unknowing victims, we are witnessing fears of our society made manifest. And whenever we tell stories for any reason, we bring along with us the cultural context of other ideas that have shaped who we are.
Sometimes those influences are quite visible, especially within larger genres like horror. Modern slasher films owe a debt to John Carpenter, Sean Cunningham, and Tobe Hooper for their works in the 70’s and early 80’s that helped define the genre – and they too owe early influences to creators like Alfred Hitchcock.
Any well constructed media will, however, also incorporate some influence from outside the sphere of just its genre. Usually those influences will be subtle, and sometimes it will be small details borrowed from ‘adjacent’ genres – such as a slasher flick borrowing elements from a psychological thriller.
They Will Kill You (2026)
In the case of They Will Kill You (2026), these influences come from a lot further afield. This horror comedy directed by Kirill Sokolov follows Asia Reaves (played by Zazie Beetz) as she battles her way through an exclusive high rise building occupied by immortal satan worshippers who have chosen her as a sacrifice to a pig headed demon.
Asia initially turns the tables on her assailants, revealing that not only is she not the innocent maid they thought they were hiring, but she’s a trained fighter prepared to hack, slash and shoot her way through the building to rescue her sister being kept there.
But while we see a lot of elements reminiscent of Rosemary’s Baby (Including an Easter egg in the hotel manager’s last name) and the bloody comedy horror spectacle that would feel at home in an Evil Dead movie, the fictional layout of the Virgil apartment building actually draws influences from even older media.
The 7 Deadly Sins (Floors)
As one character explains during their blood soaked rampage through the Virgil Apartments, the immortal satanists have devoted each floor to a particular sin, with the first floor (not counting the lobby/staff living quarters) devoted to lust and going up from there.
While we don’t get an in depth breakdown of each floor and each sin, there is another famous depiction of Satan’s lair where each level is devoted to a different sin – Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. In that 14th century narrative poem, hell is divided into circles that descend by depravity. The first level there is Limbo, a narrative equivalent to the Virgil’s staff living quarters where the maids wait in the hope of admission into the unholy host.
This is also where Asia’s journey through the metaphorical hell begins.
From there, the next level of hell is depicted as Lust (same as in the Virigil) and then descends all the way to the lowest level where Satan is trapped in icy darkness. And at the top floor of the Virgil, the dark lord of this fictional satanic society is sitting in a freezer room to accept blood sacrifices.
Channeling Tarantino
For another influence outside of the genre, many of the reviews for They Will Kill You draw comparisons to Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies with the depiction of a sword wielding femme fatale dismembering her way through waves of bad guys (though in this movie, it’s the same bad guys on repeat).
While They Will Kill You does have the quality, it also draws from the influences that shaped Kill Bill in Japanese Ronin stories. In that genre, our protagonist is often a lone warrior risking their life and pitting their skills against an enemy in hopes of redeeming some past dishonor. Asia slashing her way to the top floor of the Virgil in the hopes of saving the sister she abandoned nine years ago is an echo of this trope.
A Fun Ride That’s Almost Too Much
These influences all make They Will Kill You a visually compelling ride, and if you like a bloody sword fighting scenes, there are a lot of them to choose from.
Zazie Beetz shines as the films protagonist, and though the rest of the cast does well with what they’re given, few of the other characters really have much in the way of development. And while the action is stylistically very cool, it also takes up a large portion of the film’s modest runtime without changing fundamentally as it goes along.
It can be possible to have too much of a good thing, and some viewers will likely find that the formula starts to feel repetitive.
Still, most people will find something to love in this film. And whether it’s the humorous interludes between bloody kills, the stylistic hack and slash action, or the cultural references that draw you in, you won’t forget the time you spend with the Virgil and her Satanic residents.
They Will Kill You (2026) - A Mixed Bag of Influences for a Unique Horror Comedy Ride - Malevolentdark
Director: Kirill Sokolov
Date Created: 2026-01-01 13:00
3.5