They Will Kill You opens with Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz – Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die) on the run with her sister, Maria, away from their abusive dad, but getting separated to the point where 10 years later, Asia checks into a hotel, where, as they title states – and neatly displayed from the steam in the shower, you’re unlikely to last long.
As you can see from the trailer, when someone tries to get in during the night, almost kills her, she manages to retort successfully, but she’s ready for what’s about to ensue, which gets very gory, even for a 15-certificate. Similarly, Ready Or Not 2 retained its gore, despite going down to a 15-cert from the 18-cert that the first one was given.
Asia has come to the hotel to rescue Maria (Myha’la – Leave The World Behind), who’s now working as a maid, but this is a film which mixes in vampire-style elements and human sacrifices, and where death might not quite be the career setback that it once was.
There’s also plenty of brilliant fight scenes, especially one with a ‘fiery axe’.
However, the one big mistake that director and co-writer Kirill Sokolov has made, in filming this in an odd 2.20:1 aspect ratio, meaning that cinemas end up treating it like a 1.85:1 film, and if you’re watching it on a 2.39:1-ratio wider screen, it’s horrendously windowboxed. Similar happened with Project Hail Mary, when not shown in IMAX.
I did try emailing Warner Bros about this, but no-one bothered to reply. It’s so easy to resolve, in sending out two versions: one for 1.85:1 screens, and one for 2.39:1 screens, where the 2.20:1 image is placed within a 2.39:1 ‘container’. However, some film studios really don’t care, it seems.
The resolution was shown effectively for 2023’s Oppenheimer, and the recent Undertone, which is a 2.12:1 film within the 2.39:1 container.
As an aside, there’s a scene where Asia’s bedroom mirror is broken, but in a continuity error, it does briefly appear intact as you can see a reflection in it, even though there’s all the glass on the floor.
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credits scenes.
They Will Kill You is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 94 minutes
Release date: March 27th 2026
Studio: Warner Bros
Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1 (ARRIRAW (4.6K))
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 8/10
Director: Kirill Sokolov
Producers: Dan Kagan, Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti
Screenplay: Alex Litvak, Kirill Sokolov
Music: Carlos Rafael Rivera
Cast:
Asia Reaves: Zazie Beetz
Lily Woodhouse: Patricia Arquette
Maria Reaves: Myha’la
Ray: Paterson Joseph
Kevin: Tom Felton
Sharon: Heather Graham
Bob: Willie Ludik
Tall Steve: David Viviers
Short Steve: Gabe Gabriel
Sophia: Viktoria Korotkova
Pig’s Head voice: James Remar
Anne Sheapman: Dorothy Gould
Dr. Sheapman: Mike Huff
Ritchie: Darron Meyer
Young Maria: Orefile Moloi
Teardrop Man: Brandon Auret
The P.I.: Angus Sampson
The Manager: Chris van Rensburg
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.