They Will Kill You is an intriguing and stylistically charged horror‑action comedy that blends urban paranoia, occult mythology, and darkly comic violence into a tightly wound, 94‑minute descent into the underbelly of privilege and power.
Directed by Kirill Sokolov, the Russian filmmaker known for his ferocious, hyper‑stylised dark comedies Why Don’t You Just Die! and No Looking Back, the film marks his first major American studio project and showcases his signature blend of kinetic brutality, sardonic humour, and razor‑sharp visual storytelling.
Sokolov co‑wrote the screenplay with Alex Litvak, a writer with a background in large‑scale genre filmmaking, including Predators and The Three Musketeers, bringing together two creative sensibilities that thrive on tension, spectacle, and a sly awareness of genre conventions.
They Will Kill You is set in New York, but was shot in Cape Town, South Africa. Prior to pre-production, writer/director Kirill Sokolov storyboarded every single frame of film he expected to shoot—creating approximately 1200 boards—and was even able to utilize them during casting, to show prospective talent how he envisioned the film.
The story centres on Asia Reaves, played by Zazie Beetz, an ex‑convict seeking a fresh start who answers a help‑wanted ad for a housekeeping job in an exclusive New York City high‑rise known as The Virgil. What begins as a chance at stability quickly devolves into a waking nightmare as she discovers that the building is home to a Satanic cult responsible for a string of disappearances.
The premise—simple, claustrophobic, and instantly gripping—allows Sokolov to build tension through confinement, secrecy, and the slow revelation of a community whose wealth and influence mask a grotesque devotion to ritual sacrifice.
The supporting cast deepens the film’s tonal range: Myha’la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette populate the building with a mix of charm, menace, and eccentricity, each contributing to the unsettling sense that The Virgil is less a residence than a gilded trap. Felton plays Kevin, a member of the cult, while Graham and Arquette add layers of brittle glamour and moral decay to the ensemble.
Thoughts From The Filmmakers
Writer-director Kirill Sokolov
On the unusual inspiration behind the story…
So there is a true story that inspired this one. Basically eight years ago, my wife and I moved to a new apartment. It was a strange 16-story building. A couple of days after moving in, we realized that we were the only two people who were younger than 60 years old living in the building. Everybody was much older than us, and mostly women. No dudes. And we were like, what’s going on here? And then we noticed that they all had cats, and they hated us because we had a dog. And every time I walked in or out of the building, I heard them whispering. They had benches in front of the entrance where they just sat, these old women, whispering, “Why is he so late, what is he wearing?” And we started to make this running joke that this whole building probably belongs to some sort of cult, and they had our apartment for rent to lure young people like us in and then sacrifice us.
On crafting the script with cowriter Alex Litvak…
Alex Litvak loved this idea. From day one, we discussed how to do a classic horror movie, but a little bit more twisted. How to play with this genre. We have this classic beginning with a female protagonist who steps into a dangerous place, so everyone would think that she probably will be a victim. She will slowly get her empowerment, a classic movie trope, but we made it different.
On what makes everything happening at the Virgil so frightening…
I think the scariest part of it is that it has this social base that really feels and looks familiar, because it’s taken from real life. If you just watch how actual cults in real life operate, it’s how this Virgil system works. How they lure people in, how some of the people become their sacrifices and the others stay in it and work for the cult. People with money abuse their power and use the rest of the people who they’ve confined. So that’s, I think, the scariest part of it. But also, there are a lot of classic horror moments like jump scares, darkness, violence, and blood.
Screenwriter Alex Litvak
On how the inspiration for They Will Kill You came about / developing the script with Kirill Sokolov…
I originally met Kirill after he read and loved a big-budget heist script I had written. But I figured I should at least watch his earlier work before forming an opinion. That’s when I discovered Why Don’t You Just Die?, which I absolutely loved. It was stylish, bloody, operatic, violent, funny, scary and completely unconventional—Sergio Leone meets Sam Raimi, an epic set inside a tiny apartment. In short, very Kirill.
A few years later, over dinner, Kirill mentioned an idea he had called Nine Floors of Hell, inspired by an apartment building where the neighbors always seemed to be watching and whispering about you. The moment I heard it, I could instantly see the trailer in my head. I knew it was a movie. From there we started developing the story together, shaping the idea into the world and narrative that eventually became THEY WILL KILL YOU. Writing the script took time, but we kept pushing forward until we finally cracked it.
On what it was like working with renowned horror filmmakers Andy and Barbara Muschietti…
When we took the script to market, we were fortunate to have two competing buyers. For us, the goal wasn’t just to sell the script—it was to make the movie without losing the unconventional style and the inspired madness we had baked into the pages. The moment we met Andy and Barbara, it was clear we weren’t dealing with producers so much as fellow artists who immediately understood what we were trying to do. They believed in the tone of the film and supported our mission from the start. That ultimately made the choice to go with them a no-brainer, and it turned out to be the best decision we could have made.
On combining the elements of action-horror-comedy into a nonstop ride of a story…
With every scene, we kept asking ourselves: can we make this scarier, funnier, or more exciting? If the answer was yes, we pushed it further. The goal was to keep the audience constantly off balance and on the edge of their seats.
On devising the setting and significance of the Virgil…
In the original pitch, the building was a scary tower in the middle of nowhere. But we quickly pivoted and landed on the idea of an exclusive condo complex in the heart of the city—a seemingly welcoming Rosemary’s Baby-style community most would kill (or die) to live in. That helped fuel some of the film’s themes: class, disposable people, the struggle to belong, to find a home, and the cost that comes with it. We also played with the idea that each floor represents a level of Hell. At one point the metaphor was more explicit, but we felt the building was starting to overshadow the characters, so we dialed that back. Suffice it to say, we think we’re only scratching the surface with the Virgil—and there may be more places like it all over the world…
Filmmaker KIRILL SOKOLOV (Writer/Director) is known for his unique vision with a mix of visceral horror and sharp humor. His work includes 8 short films, 3 feature films, as well as numerous commercials and music videos.His first feature film made within the Hollywood Studio system is They Will Kill You, starring Zazie Beetz with an ensemble cast including Patricia Arquette, Myha’la, Heather Graham, Tom Felton, and Paterson Joseph. Kirill directed the film, wrote the screenplay (along with Alex Litvak), and was as an Executive Producer. They Will Kill You unleashes a blood-soaked, high-octane horror-action-comedy in which a young woman must survive the night at the Virgil, a demonic cult’s mysterious and twisted death-trap of a lair, to avoid becoming their next offering. The film breaks the genre norms by combining an action-packed horror movie with visceral elements of gore and wickedly dark humor. It is fun, bold, scary, and original. The production team behind They Will Kill You, includes Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti along with Skydance and New Line Cinema. Warner Bros. will release the film in theaters on March 27, 2026. Why Don’t You Just Die was his feature directorial debut. The film is an action-filled dark comedy that is distinctly Russian but uniquely characterized as a Western-style action film playing out in the confines of a Moscow apartment. It premiered at Fantasia, where it won the Audience Award as well as Best New Director. Arrow released the film, and it currently has a “Certified Fresh” rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Born in Russia, Kirill is currently based in Los Angeles. He graduated with a master’s degree in the Physics and Technology of Nanostructures before turning his career sights to filmmaking.
ALEX LITVAK (Writer) is a screenwriter whose produced credits include the upcoming live-action feature Masters of the Universe (2026) for Mattel and Amazon MGM Studios, They Will Kill You (2026) for Skydance and New Line, the Disney+ original Secret Society of Second Born Royals (2020), The Three Musketeers (2011) and Predators (2010). Litvak is currently writing the action-adventure Becoming Houdini for Disney and adapting the young adult bestseller Sky’s End as a feature film for director Antoine Fuqua. Prior to his writing career, Litvak was a feature executive at Fox and Intermedia, where he worked on more than two dozen films, including X-Men, Training Day, and Terminator 3. He is a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Andy and Barbara Muschietti are the sibling filmmaking team behind some of the most commercially and critically successful horror films of the past decade. Andy, as director, and Barbara, as producer, first broke through with Mama, a short film that evolved into a feature backed by Guillermo del Toro. They achieved global recognition with It (2017) and It Chapter Two, redefining Stephen King’s iconic story for a new generation and demonstrating their ability to blend emotional depth with large‑scale, crowd‑pleasing horror. Together, they founded Nocturna, a production banner dedicated to championing bold, director‑driven genre projects. They Will Kill You marks the first film under this label, reflecting their commitment to nurturing distinctive voices like Kirill Sokolov and expanding the boundaries of studio‑backed horror. Their work is characterised by ambition, craftsmanship, and a deep respect for the emotional core of genre storytelling.
