"I fucking hate dirty soap." Gal
☆☆☆☆☆ Classic
Kill List (2011) is a disturbing, perplexing and manipulative film that never fails to keep you on edge.
Directed by Ben Wheatley.
Starring Neil Maskell, Michael Smiley, Harry Simpson, MyAnna Buring among others.
I had no idea what Kill List was about as I started the film. This made the movie more unsettling to watch. Rarely, have I been, so manipulated by a director as I was by Ben in Kill List. Wheatley allows his story to unfold gradually, without any hint of whats to come. My mind was constantly trying to put the story together as it unfolded in a way you put pieces of a puzzle together to see how they fit. Ben always stayed a few steps ahead of my deductive powers.
The Neil and Michael performances were outstanding. The chemistry between them made the perplexing story enjoyable and at times funny. Neil looks normal but slowly comes across as a very disturbed man in need of a psychiatric restraint jacket. Michael looks disturbed, but eventually turns out to be normal. The character reversals reminded me of those done by William Friedkins in To Live And Die In L.A. (1985).
The ending is unexpected and leaves you perplexed and astonished. Ben is a director to follow as are Neil and Michael as actors. The scene below I enjoy the contrasting character types that Neil and Michael create. Neil appears calm and relaxed, then explodes, while Michael looks ready to scream and instead stays quiet.
Trivia - Wilhelm Scream is used when Gal fires his shotgun at his pursuers after the hanging. Below is a compilation of Wilhelm Screams since it was first used in the film Distant Drums (1951). The scream is named after Private Wilhelm in the film The Charge At Feather River (1953). It was named by George Lucas' sound engineer Ben Burtt when he found it in Warner bros. sound library in a reel titled, Man Being Eaten By An Alligator for Distant Drums. It was recorded by Sheb Wooley who played Private Jessup in the film. Wilhelm Scream Compilation : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbYsoEasio .
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