Line #16 Film/KillList


1	[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-Kill-list-poster_936.jpg]]
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3	''Kill List'' is a 2011 British thriller/horror film directed by Creator/BenWheatley, written by Wheatley and Amy Jump, and starring Neil Maskell, Creator/MichaelSmiley and [[Creator/MyannaBuring [=MyAnna=] Buring]].
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5	Jay is a former soldier and ProfessionalKiller who's fallen on hard times. He hasn't worked since a disastrous job in Kiev eight months ago and his wife Shel is pressuring him to do something about their family's financial problems. So when Jay's best mate and business partner Gal tells him about a contract to assassinate a list of targets for a mysterious client, he reluctantly pulls himself out of retirement and takes the job. But it soon becomes clear that this isn't an ordinary hit list -- the client insists on Jay signing the contract in blood and his victims take the time to thank him before their deaths. It's clear that Jay and Gal have been dragged into something far bigger and more disturbing than they could possibly have imagined...
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8	!!Tropes include:
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10	* ActionGirl: The movie firmly establishes Shel is a trained soldier, and we see it in action towards the end. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, it's not enough to save her]].
11	* AffablyEvil:
12	** The hitmen's client is polite but sinister, even when threatening the men's lives. [[spoiler: His compatriots in the cult seem the same way, politely applauding Jay after he is deceived into killing his wife and child]].
13	** Gal is also a cold-blooded hitman, but he's also a really nice guy who genuinely adores Jay's son Sammy and wife Shel, and refuses to abandon Jay even when it would clearly be best for him.
14	* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The cult is able to easily take over every single location, but perhaps the creepiest example is when [[spoiler:Jay and Gal are running through the underground tunnels and, despite Gal's insistence that he checked it out, their intended exit is concreted up.]]
15	* AntiHero: Jay and Gal are both cold blooded hitmen, but they do have certain moral standards, particularly a hatred of pedophiles.
16	* ArcSymbol: The symbol shown in the poster above. It's first seen at the very start of the film, is carved into the back of Jay's mirror by Fiona and is found by Gal on files in the librarian's safe. [[spoiler:It's also visible in several [[FreezeFrameBonus Freeze Frame Bonuses]] and eventually, it's revealed to be the symbol/logo of the cult.]]
17	* ArcWords: "Thank you." Said by all of Jay's intended victims throughout the film, culminating in an IronicEcho when [[spoiler:Gal]] says "Thanks" before [[spoiler:Jay delivers a MercyKill.]]
18	* AssholeVictim: Discussed. Jay is adamant that all the people on the list (and additionally the librarian's associates in the porn business) are bad people and deserve to die. Though we see this is true for the librarian and his associates, we can only infer that it's true for the others on the list. On at least one occasion Jay offers unfounded assertions about the crimes the people on the list may have committed (such as suggesting that the priest is [[PedophilePriest raping children]]).
19	* AwfulWeddedLife: Shel and Jay, although they love each other, are very unhappy. It's one of the first things we learn about them.
20	* TheBadGuysWin: [[spoiler:It's not entirely clear what the cult wants, but they seem to come out of the film on top.]]
21	* BerserkButton: Child abuse for Jay. Being a father himself, he's willing to go above and beyond to punish the librarian and his associates when he finds out he's been making snuff porn with children.
22	* BilingualBonus: Shel's phonecall is not subtitled in most releases. But if you know Swedish you get to know that Shel is talking to her mother and her mother wants Shel and Sammy to move in with her in Malmberget in northern Sweden, something Shel is very against. Shel also says that Jay is a good father, but she feels like she is talking to a wall when she speaks to him.
23	* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Fiona is a member of the cult, and more than likely the one who killed Jay's cat]].
24	* BloodOath: When meeting the client, he slashes Jay's palm open so that both his and the client's blood spills onto the contract. Gal reacts by pointing a gun at the client, but Jay inexplicably finds nothing strange about this.
25	* BookEnds: The film begins and ends with a shot of the ArcSymbol of the film.
26	* ChekhovsSkill: Shel's national service.
27	* ColdBloodedTorture: After seeing the librarian's porn video, Jay decides to torture him before killing him, firstly to get the names of his associates and then just to make him suffer.
28	* CruelAndUnusualDeath:
29	** The librarian's brutal death by hammer. Notably, this lacks a GoryDiscretionShot; we see it onscreen in all its bloody detail.
30	** [[spoiler:Shel and Sammy's]] deaths. They are [[spoiler:forced into going into a fight with Shel's husband / Sammy's father, Jay and are viciously beaten and stabbed to death by him]].
31	* CrypticBackgroundReference: Kiev. We never find out what happened there, other than it left Jay physically and mentally scarred enough that he spent eight months out of work.
32	* CrypticConversation: Jay's victims seem to recognize him and thank him before he kills them. The Librarian even asks him if Gal knows who he is. It's never overtly explained, but this is all apparently a reference to [[spoiler:the ending, which implies that the kill list was an initiation ceremony for Jay, with all of the people on the list being members of the cult]].
33	* {{Cult}}: [[spoiler:The client and Fiona turn out to be part of one, and it's implied the targets are too. We don't learn exactly what they want or believe, but they seem to like death and sacrifice.]]
34	* DarknessEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Jay and Gal try to escape the cultists in a darkened tunnel system. Gal doesn't make it out alive.]]
35	* DeadpanSnarker: Gal, at times.
36	-->''(The morning after a dinner party during which Jay and Shel got into an enormous fight.)''
37	--> '''Jay:''' Good one last night wasn't it? Good food and that.
38	--> '''Gal:''' ... it had its moments.
39	* DeadAnimalWarning: The [[spoiler:cult]] hangs up Jay's cat and kills it. This is a particularly extreme example, as Jay adores the cat and it's enough for him to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
40	* DeadlyHazing: The ending reveals that the entire "kill list" was [[spoiler:actually an InitiationCeremony for Jay and the pagan cult that's been stalking him. As a hitman, he easily dispatches the list members but then has to DuelToTheDeath with "the hunchback", who is revealed to be his kidnapped wife and son, Shel and Sammy. Upon killing them, he's crowned by the cult...though it's not answered as to what or who he is to them.]]
41	* DeconReconSwitch: Starts off being a deconstruction of HitmanWithAHeart films. Though Jay does [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes love his family]], he's also a jerkass to everyone including his best friend Gal, and is a coldblooded murderer who has no intention of doing only one more job. Then it reconstructs [[spoiler:the FolkHorror tradition in modern suburban England.]]
42	* DieLaughing: [[spoiler: Shel laughs mockingly at Jay as she bleeds out at the end]].
43	* DinnerAndAShow: Early on, Jay and his wife have an enormous fight in front of guests.
44	* DontGoInTheWoods: Jay and Gal entering the woods near the MP's house signals the film's GenreShift, and is where things really start going badly for them.
45	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Jay unwittingly murders Shel and Sammy.]]
46	* DroneOfDread: Much of the soundtrack.
47	* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Gal's new girlfriend, Fiona, one of the first hints in the film that something is very, very wrong here.
48	* EvilVersusEvil: Two coldblooded contract killers against what appears to be a pedophile gang...but turns out to be [[spoiler:a FolkHorror cult.]]
49	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
50	** Jay and Gal are murderers, but they loathe pedophiles, and people who harm children in general.
51	** A possible interpretation of Fiona's expression close to the end is that [[spoiler:despite being an evil cultist who has led them all to their deaths, she is genuinely upset by Sam and Shel's deaths.]]
52	* EyeScream: [[spoiler: The final ritual prominently features a nude woman with a blindfold made out of thorns, causing her to weep TearsOfBlood]].
53	* FaceDeathWithDignity:
54	** The targets seem to be expecting their killers and thank them genially before their deaths. This is the second sign, after the BloodOath, that something really weird is going on.
55	** Going along with the IronicEcho in this scene, [[spoiler:Gal]] also encourages Jay to kill him when he realises it's too late for him and his last words [[spoiler:declare his love for Jay, Shel, and Sammy.]]
56	* FamilyOfChoice: Gal genuinely adores his best friend Jay's wife, Shel, and their son, Sammy. There is never any indication that Gal sees Shel as anything but a family member, even when he hugs and kisses her to comfort her over Jay's breakdown.
57	* FatalFlaw: Jay's [[PayEvilUntoEvil pay evil unto evil]] morality causes way more harm than good, like torturing the Librarian and [[spoiler: opening fire on the cultists after witnessing the human sacrifice.]]
58	* FauxAffablyEvil: Part of AlternativeCharacterInterpretation.
59	** Jay is an extremely violent, murderous hitman who genuinely loves his son, but he also becomes more and more of an unstable dickhead to the ones he loves in a MasochismTango with his wife Shel and violently attacking his best friend Gal for tiny perceived slights.
60	** The [[spoiler:cult]]. Yes, they're all nice and polite and seem to be a GreaterScopeVillain, but they also probably know that [[spoiler:they're about to force Jay into killing just about everyone he loves.]]
61	** Fiona. She becomes very friendly with Shel and brings presents for Sammy even after her relationship with Gal breaks down. [[spoiler:She eventually sets them up to be killed by Jay, but she doesn't look happy in the final scene. Whether this is BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor, PyrrhicVictory, or if she was genuinely hoping for a different outcome is left ambiguous.]]
62	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Several seemingly innocuous events early in the film foreshadow events in the last act:
63	** Jay and Gal's play fight after the dinner party becomes a real fight when their relationship's tested late in the film.
64	** Jay's cat kills a rabbit and leaves it in the yard ("as an offering, not an insult" to quote Jay). Later, [[spoiler: that same cat is killed and hung up in front of the door by the cult, possibly as their own offering to Jay, whom they may be trying to initiate]].
65	** Jay mentions a desire to kill pedophiles when stalking the priest. Later, when he discovers that the librarian is apparently making snuff films with children, he goes off-contract and messily kills both the librarian and his associates, causing trouble for himself and Gal.
66	** [[spoiler:Jay finding the rabbit left with its entrails hanging out by the cats mirrors how he finds the wounded Gal in the tunnels.]]
67	** [[spoiler:Jay's play fight with Shel and Sammy foreshadows how he's forced to fight and kill them for real at the film's climax.]]
68	** Fiona explaining how she works in human resources and is responsible for terminating employees' contracts [[spoiler:hints at how she is involved in the sacrificial death cult: "terminating" members of the cult.]]
69	* FolkHorror: It turns into one.
70	* FromCamouflageToCriminal: Jay and Gal used to be soldiers, but now both are career hitman.
71	* FullFrontalAssault: [[spoiler:Some of the cultists]] are completely naked when they attack Jay and Gal. It only serves to make them creepier.
72	* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:The hunchback is revealed actually be Shel with Sammy on her back and she laughs before succumbing to her wounds. The cultists reveal their identities and applaud Jay's victory in the fight. Cue credits.]]
73	* GenreShift: The film is basically split in thirds, with the first being a KitchenSinkDrama, the second being a crime thriller and the third being horror.
74	* GoOutWithASmile: All of the targets smile and thank Jay before he kills them, with them all seeming genuinely, if [[DissonantSerenity eerily]] happy to have seen him. [[spoiler:Shel]], however, qualifies under DyingSmirk.
75	* GottaKillThemAll: The film's basic premise. Jay and Gal are given the titular list and are paid to kill everyone on it.
76	* {{Gorn}}: Even by the standards of horror movies, the film is ''very'' gory - the most obvious example, of course, being Jay's graphic torture and murder of the librarian with a hammer.
77	* GoryDiscretionShot: We don't get a clear look at [[spoiler: Gal's wounds]] after he gets disemboweled, though one can see some intestines sticking out for a split second.
78	* GreaterScopeVillain: The cult qualifies in several ways:
79	** First, it's clear that they are capable of much wider, and much more varied, evil than we've seen so far, as it's heavily implied that they are behind the [[spoiler:child pornography / snuff film]] that Jay finds in the librarian's possession.
80	** Secondly, they are clearly connected all over the establishment, if the victims being an MP and a priest are anything to go by, but quite ''how'' connected they are, and how many of them there are, is left very ambiguous.
81	** It's never fully clarified what they want. Presumably their mission - whatever it is - doesn't end with [[spoiler:Jay's crowning]], but what else do they want? What else will they do?
82	* GuttedLikeAFish: Happens to [[spoiler:Gal, when he's attacked by the cultists]] late in the film. It doesn't kill him, however -- instead, Jay has to shoot him to finish him off.
83	* HairContrastDuo: The only two significant female characters, the [[DissonantSerenity softly-spoken]] EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette (and [[spoiler:pagan cultist]]) Fiona and the aggressive blonde soldier Shel.
84	* HairTriggerTemper: It doesn't take a whole lot to send Jay into a screaming fit, especially if his wife is involved.
85	* HellIsThatNoise: [[spoiler: When the cultist attack there are all kinds of weird shrieking noises that are heard on the soundtrack. It's especially creepy because it's left ambiguous if that is just the soundtrack or the cult members are making those sounds themselves]].
86	* HenpeckedHusband: Shel is constantly haranguing Jay for his laziness.
87	* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Jay
88	--> '''Jay:''' It doesn't feel wrong. They're bad people. They should suffer.
89	* HitmanWithAHeart: Deliberately subverted, according to WordofGod. [[spoiler:Jay does seem to genuinely love Shel and Sammy, but mistreats both of them and ultimately ''kills'' them at the end of the film, albeit unknowingly.]] Gal is a straighter example.
90	* HonoraryUncle: Gal to Sammy. Gal seems to care for him as much as Sammy's actual parents, if not even more than Jay.
91	* HumanSacrifice: The hitmen witness the cult committing one. It's also implied that the Kill List itself is a form of this.
92	* InitiationCeremony: [[spoiler:Jay's fight with "the hunchback" (really Shel and Sammy) seems to serve as his involuntary initiation into the cult.]]
93	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Even though the protagonists kill ''a lot'' of their mooks, none of the leaders of the cult suffer for their actions and their plan seems to go off perfectly]].
94	* KillTheOnesYouLove: [[spoiler:Jay has to deliver a MercyKill to Gal and is forced by the cult to fight Shel and Sammy, ending with him killing them both.]]
95	* KickTheMoralityPet:
96	** Many non-fatal examples to Jay's best friend Gal, but from a certain point of view, subverted. [[spoiler:When Jay eventually does kill Gal, it's a mercy kill and he is visibly ''devastated''.]]
97	** The most obvious one is [[[spoiler:unknowingly killing his own son Sammy.]]
98	* KindHeartedCatLover: Jay owns a black cat that he loves quite dearly. [[spoiler: When it gets killed and hung up on his front step as a message, he's immediately ready to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge]].
99	* KitchenSinkDrama: The film was acclaimed by many critics for its highly naturalistic dialogue (much of which was improvised) and believable presentation of a middle-class family.
100	* KnifeFight: [[spoiler:The film concludes on a rather tense one of these between Jay and the hunchback.]]
101	* MalevolentMaskedMen: [[spoiler:The cultists wear intimidating wicker masks.]]
102	* MercyKill: [[spoiler:After he's mortally wounded by one of the cultists, Jay has to put Gal out of his misery.]]
103	* MindScrew: The film's plotting is deliberately opaque and unclear, particularly regarding [[spoiler:who's in the cult and what their motivations are]]. This has opened the film up to a lot of different interpretations.
104	* MoodWhiplash: There's some surprisingly funny moments scattered amongst all the violence and horror.
105	* MoralityPet: For Jay, it's his son and his cat. See KickTheMoralityPet for how well this turns out.
106	* MutualKill: [[spoiler: Gal gets gutted by one of the cultists, but manages to blow his head off with a shotgun before he expires]].
107	* MysteriousEmployer: The client. Neither the characters or the audience ever learn his name and it's never made entirely clear what his agenda is.
108	* MysteriousPast: Jay apparently took part in a mission in Kiev that went seriously wrong, and left him unable to work for 8 months. Furthermore, it's implied that he might have some history with the cult, as he's unfazed by the client's BloodOath and the librarian seems to know who he is as well as some dirty secrets from his past.
109	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Gal warns Jay that [[spoiler:attacking the cultists]] is a bad idea. Jay does it anyway, with tragic consequences as it leads directly to [[spoiler:the deaths of Gal, Shel and Sammy]].
110	* NoEnding: [[spoiler: Jay kills the Hunchback, and pulls the hood back to discover the bloodied corpses of his wife and child. She laughs, the cult applauds, Jay stares into the distance, and the film just kind of... stops]].
111	* NoNameGiven: The names of the client and all of Jay and Gal's targets are never revealed.
112	* NoodleIncident: We never find out just what happened in Kiev, save that things didn't go according to plan.
113	* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: After Jay and Gal try to back out of the job late in the film, the client makes them one of these -- they finish the list or their families die.
114	* OneLastJob: Pointedly averted, according to WordOfGod. Many critics mistakenly got the impression that Jay accepts the contract as this, but the film never even suggests this. Jay doesn't accept the contract as his last job before he retires - killing people is his ''profession'', and he's simply been off work for eight months.
115	* OneManArmy: Gal [[spoiler: kills at least a dozen cultists with his shotgun during the MP job. Shel also manages to mow down a few with a silenced pistol during the finale]].
116	* PayEvilUntoEvil: Jay's treatment of the librarian is incredibly brutal, but unlike the others on the list it's made clear that he ''really'' deserves it. He is apparently involved with the production of ''pedophilic snuff films''.
117	* PhraseCatcher: An unnerving number of people [[spoiler:actually members of the cult]] show a great deal of appreciation towards Jay, call it an honor to have met him, and thank both Jay and Gal. [[spoiler:This is because Jay seems to be a new king or knight to their ReligionOfEvil, though it's never made clear.]]
118	* PedophilePriest: Discussed. The first target is a priest, and Jay wonders if this might be the reason he's on the list. [[spoiler:He might be given the contents of the "library", but it's never made clear if he's specifically involved.]]
119	* PlatonicDeclarationOfLove: Towards the end of the movie, just before the film really cements itself as FolkHorror, Jay and Gal have been fighting (literally and figuratively) over Jay's increasing brutality, and Jay wakes Gal up to apologize for it. Gal tells him that he doesn't like what is happening to Jay but regardless, he deeply loves him and refuses to abandon him.
120	* PlatonicLifePartners: The above example is probably the strongest example of the depth of Jay and Gal's friendship, but the movie is bursting at the seams with other ones. Gal comforts Jay's son after Jay and Shel get into a nasty fight, Jay reassures Gal after Fiona leaves him, and the movie goes to a lot of trouble to show how well they work together without even needing to speak that often.
121	* PluckyComicRelief: Gal acts as this, providing much needed light relief in what is a very dark film.
122	* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Played straight with the priest and [[spoiler: one of the pornographers]], who are killed with a small-caliber pistol, averted with [[spoiler: some of the cultists]], who get their heads blown off with a shotgun.
123	* ProfessionalKiller: Jay and Gal's profession.
124
125	* RewatchBonus: Heavens, yes. Lots of foreshadowing (such as Jay [[spoiler: playing with toy swords while Shel gives Sam a piggy-back]]) and subtle hints as to characters' true natures (such as Fiona's description of her profession).
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127	* RedOniBlueOni: Irritable, HotBlooded Jay is the Red, while the affable and good-humored Gal is the Blue. Best shown with their respective reactions to a group of annoying Christian hippies in a hotel restaurant: Jay snatches their guitar from them and goes on a tirade telling them to shut up, and then Gal apologizes for his friend's behavior and orders a bunch of orange juices for their table, all while still subtly mocking them.
128	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The porn on the librarian's computer provokes one of these in Jay. He goes "off-list" and tortures and kills the librarian in an exceptionally brutal way, then goes and murders all his associates too. Gal is visibly shocked by this.
129	* ShellShockedVeteran: Jay, maybe. He's been semi-retired since a mission in Kiev, and tells his son stories about his experiences in "Baghdadistan".
130	* SnuffFilm: What the librarian's porn collection (presumably) consists of.
131	* StealingFromTheHotel: The hitmen peruse the toiletries in their hotel room and decide to pack them all up to take home, showing that their lives are pretty unglamorous.
132	* TakeOurWordForIt: We (thankfully) don't get to see the librarian's porn video, but we know it was bad enough to provoke a ''very'' extreme reaction from Jay (it makes the hardened contract killer break down into tears), leading to the deaths of everyone associated with it.
133	* TearsOfBlood: [[spoiler: The blind woman in the final ritual has blood streaming from her eyes as a result of thorny blindfold she's forced to wear]].
134	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: It's initially implied that some of the weirder events in the plot might be symptomatic of Jay suffering from PTSD (such as, for example, a bizarre sequence in which he looks out his hotel window and sees Fiona standing there, waving at him). By the end of the film, it looks a lot more like the events depicted are really happening.
135	* VillainOfAnotherStory:
136	** Specifically, the cult leader that hires Jay and Gal. He's clearly very sinister, but we never actually see him do anything outwardly bad except the blood oath.
137	** Fiona qualifies, if only because of how ambiguous she is. She probably [[spoiler:killed Jay's cat]] but what exactly she does while she's in Jay and Shel's house, buddying up to Shel and Sam, is mysterious.
138	* ViolenceIsDisturbing: The whole movie qualifies for this but the scene where Jay [[ColdBloodedTorture interrogates]] [[WouldHurtAChild the librarian]] is especially unpleasant. Let's just say the camera shows ''everything'' Jay does with that hammer.
139	* VitriolicBestBuds: To a point. Jay and Gal are close friends, but as the film progresses, the vitriol is sometimes not teasing on Jay's part.
140	* WhamLine: "Thank you", from a man about to get his brains blown out.
141	* WhamShot: TheReveal of [[spoiler: the cult's procession through the forest]], and later [[spoiler: the reveal of Shel and Sammy underneath the Hunchback's robes at the very end]].
142	* WholePlotReference: Bizarre as it may sound, the whole film is a play upon Arthurian myth and legend.
143	* YouDoNotWantToKnow: After viewing a couple seconds of the snuff film on the librarian's computer, Gal says this to Jay. Jay doesn't listen, and is driven to BerserkerTears by what he sees.
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Context Film / KillList