They Will Kill You (2026) – The Film Buff Review

[00:00:01]
This segment introduces the movie under discussion, highlighting its key creative contributors and notable cast:

• Directed by a Russian filmmaker bringing a unique perspective to an American film.
• Stars Zazie Beetz, recognized for her breakout role as Domino, notably in conversations with Ryan Reynolds about luck as a superpower—this moment gained significant traction on TikTok.
• The host hints at the importance and appeal of the movie by referencing these cultural touchpoints.

[00:00:39]
Here, the host outlines the podcast’s identity and scope:

• The podcast is called AKA Pad Film Buff Podcast, with over 1,200 episodes and targets approximately two drops per day.
• Several thematic series are underway, including:
• A female assassin film theme (“La Femme Assassin” series), inspired by films like La Femme Nikita.
• A baseball series.
• Upcoming deep dives into works by Woody Allen, Ridley Scott, and Marcus Kevin Reynolds (noted for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves).
• Weekend animation and nighttime documentaries as part of the ongoing content realignment.
• The goal is to maintain a comprehensive and contextual understanding of both new and older films by cross-promoting and discussing cinematic history and new releases.
• Emphasizes a “completist mindset” for viewers/listeners who aim for a full understanding of trends and evolutions in cinema.

[00:02:51]
The host begins a detailed commentary on the film They Will Kill You (2026), starring Zazie Beetz:

• Learned about the film via popular clips on Instagram and TikTok showing Zazie Beetz as an invincible, violent figure in stylized slow-motion scenes, mostly set inside a house or mansion.
• The storyline introduction involves:
• Zazie running from pursuers with her sister in rainy weather.
• Killing a pursuer, going to prison, then assuming the identity of a maid for infiltrating a mysterious house.
• A supernatural atmosphere inside the house where danger is imminent; Zazie Beetz’s character is prepared for the occult threats her sister fell into.
• The movie integrates martial arts with a balanced blend of realism and fantasy powers, resembling styles seen in Kill Bill and Atomic Blonde.
• The film manages to avoid typical disbelief issues with female fighters overpowering rooms full of men by quantum leaps in power, allowing for over-the-top yet grounded action sequences.

[00:04:52]
The host discusses the difficulty of portraying female martial artists believably and compares this film’s approach to other iconic examples:

• References similar challenges addressed in Ballerina (the John Wick spin-off) and Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers—grounding fighting techniques like Muay Thai to maintain credibility.
• Director Kirill Serebrennikov (co-writer and director) is credited with crafting a compelling vision.
• The film centers around a ritual to resurrect Satan, involving child kidnapping, trafficking, and sacrifice—common in some Hollywood narratives yet less mainstream today, giving the film a darker occult vibe.
• Cinematography by Isaac Berman and music by Carlos Rafael Rivera elevate the film to a “complete movie experience.”
• The film is recommended especially for viewers who appreciate characters unexpected as martial arts stars, aligning with titles like Kill Bill.

[00:07:04]
Plot and thematic structure details:

• The story progresses like a “room-to-room” escalating showdown, akin to Kill Bill and Ready or Not 2, emphasizing building tension and action.
• Cast includes Heather Graham, Patricia Arquette, and Tom Felton, all noted for strong performances.
• The film’s climax involves an intense ritual to sacrifice the protagonist’s sister, with Zazie Beetz fighting in minimal clothing, a scenario reminiscent of iconic scenes like Ridley Scott’s Alien—designed for audience impact.
• The movie attempts and sometimes fails to generate viral social media momentum despite its visual intensity and contest-worthy sequences.

[00:09:53]
Visual and narrative contrasts:

• The battle scenes evoke classic moments from films like True Lies (notably the bathroom fight with Arnold Schwarzenegger).
• The protagonist is depicted as a “sex object killing machine” balanced by the emotional motivation of rescuing her sister from evil forces.
• Characters who are killed resurrect and heal, upping the stakes early on.
• The story reveals precise rules and lore concerning the occult elements and the ritual.
• A symbolic pig’s head, with a shadow of Satan emerging and animatronic effects, personifies the doorway for the satanic entity’s influence—integrating Looney Tunes–style shadow play to heighten surreal horror elements.

[00:12:34]
Overall assessment and thematic significance:

• The film has a clear narrative arc with a compelling through line, making the audience root for the protagonist.
• The visual style and tone are distinct, combining sexiness, hardcore violence, and occult themes—balanced to form an engaging homage and complement to films like Kill Bill.
• The movie places female characters in extreme, fantastic scenarios without relying on hyper-realistic explanations, adding to its allure.
• A reflection on the film’s commercial performance:
• Budget approximately $$20\,\text{million}$$.
• Grossed around $$19\,\text{million}$$—Not specified if worldwide or domestic.
• The host opines that a similar film released 20 years ago might have generated significantly higher box office revenue ($$100\text{M}$$+).
• The film is suggested for re-watch to fully grasp the detailed rules and lore, and as a fun party movie.

[00:13:47]
Zazie Beetz’s career trajectory discussion:

• Rose to prominence in Deadpool 2, also featured in Joker and another undisclosed film discussed in following episodes.
• Currently positioned mostly as a secondary or tertiary lead rather than a headline star—possibly a strategic career move or limitation.
• Noted for strong photogenic qualities likened to stars like Brad Pitt and Austin Butler, suggesting untapped potential as a leading figure in Hollywood.
• The host expresses curiosity about her deliberate career choices or industry positioning.

[00:15:28]
Audience suitability and genre blending:

• The movie suits fans of:
• Violence and martial arts action.
• Occult-themed narratives.
• Films that defy strict genre classification due to their unique blending of these elements.
• The host issues a strong recommendation for They Will Kill You (2026), currently available on HBO Max.

[00:16:07]
The podcast’s structured content schedule is presented, reflecting years of planning:

• The host values education and self-directed learning within the film buff community, sharing their background as a mostly self-made autodidact with formal animation education at the Art Institute of Philadelphia.
• The schedule is designed to serve diverse interests and promote deep engagement with film and related arts.

[00:18:34]
The closing remarks reinforce community-building among listeners, expressing gratitude and enthusiasm for continued engagement with the podcast content.

Key Insights

• They Will Kill You (2026) is a distinctive occult martial arts film featuring Zazie Beetz as a complex, prepared female lead fighting supernatural forces.
• The film thrives on stylistic action with a strong narrative arc and occult mythology—drawing clear inspiration from classics like Kill Bill but adding unique elements like satanic rituals and shadow animation effects.
• Despite modest commercial success, the movie is highly recommended for its complete cinematic experience, blending fantasy violence, female-driven action, and occult horror.
• Zazie Beetz’s career shows potential for future lead roles, with her screen presence and photogenic qualities highlighted as exceptional.
• The AKA Pad Film Buff Podcast provides an extensive, well-organized schedule covering new releases, retrospectives, creator spotlights, cartoons, and educational documentaries, aiming to educate and entertain a broad film enthusiast community.

Summary Table: Film Attributes of They Will Kill You (2026)

They Will Kill You presents a refreshing and bold addition to the female assassin and occult martial arts subgenres. Its sophisticated blend of story, action, and supernatural themes, combined with a strong central performance by Zazie Beetz, make it a film worth watching for audiences interested in genre crossovers. The broader context of the AKA Pad Film Buff Podcast offers continual engagement with cinema across multiple formats and themes, fostering a knowledgeable and passionate film community.

Here is the transcript for this Film Buff Episode

00:00:01
Quiet on the set. >> Camera speed. Down production. Take one. >> Action. >> We got ourselves a Russian directing a American movie starring Zaza Zazie Beetz, which is still one of the greatest names of all time. You know her, I know her as Domino, right? Zazie really I believe just jumped onto the scene in that movie, in that role, with that that back and forth that she has with Ryan Reynolds about if luck is a superpower. Uh it’s a clippable moment. It’s all over TikTok, but we have here

00:00:39
Let Let me get some more of this coffee. And I got a cough. Give me 1 second. Now that Now that Now that we cleared the throat, I I just did I’ve just performed nine or six things you’re not supposed to do when you’re recording or broadcasting, but th- This is my show, and if you’re new here, welcome. This is the AKA Pad Film Buff Podcast. Uh we’re about 1,200 episodes deep. We We shoot for two drops a day. Uh right now we have a couple uh themes running. We’re We’re going to

00:01:12
be launching a female assassin movie theme series. We are running And if you’re not familiar with that, it would be like La Femme Nikita. I’m calling it La Femme Assassin uh film series because that genre really doesn’t have a name, but we named it here cuz we put in the work. We have a baseball series. We have a upcoming Woody Allen series. We have a continuing Ridley Scott series. We’re wrapping up a Kevin Reynolds. You know him, uh Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, one of the great summertime blockbusters of all

00:01:45
time, starring the great Kevin Costner, Fain D’Arnaud, Count of Monte Cristo. We do animation on the weekends. We do documentaries at night. Uh all of this is is just getting realigned recently for another run. By another run, it’s just a bunch of pre-recorded content that we’re lucky enough to schedule. So we can stay on top of all of these new releases. Keep in mind, everything I just told you is to stay on top of new releases because we want to promote the old, we want to discuss the old to have

00:02:18
a complete view of everything new and vice versa. You can’t appreciate the new without appreciating everything that came before it. So our task here, just a little to be a little bit of a completist mindset to develop a world view for you, the listener, me, the discussioner, reviewer, well, it’s a lot of work and we put that work in every single day. But guys, Philadelphia, PA, that’s where I’m coming from. I know that’s I know that’s what you were waiting for. Well, we’re we’re 3 minutes in.

00:02:51
Got to talk about this movie. 2026, Zazie Beetz. So I became aware of this movie through a couple clips. Clips that I saw between Instagram and TikTok. This movie just looked like it was Zazie running around killing people. And she’s invincible and you know, we have slow motion, well shot, everything seemed to be like in a house, in the mansion. And I’m just like, all right, it’s just like, what are we doing here? So the movie starts. It’s rainy. There’s She’s She’s running away from someone with her

00:03:32
sister. She kills someone. She ends up in prison. And then essentially almost like back to where she started. She off camera disposes of a maid that is lining for an interview in this one place. She assumes that person’s identity and then as soon as as she enters the walls of this house, we know something is off. She goes to bed, it starts to happen. But she’s ready and she’s prepared for all of this and she knows what her daughter what her sister fell into and entered into. So she has

00:04:13
trained for it. Now, is her training is this like a true martial arts movie? Yes. Is she doing ridiculous things and and having ridiculous like power sets meaning she can wrestle off a guy if he bear hugs her? Yes. Do we take this as seriously as something like Kill Bill or Atomic Blonde? Yes. I believe that the level of fantasy in the action and just the way it’s just just appropriately over-the-top, which is a fine line to walk to AKA Powers. It’s it’s tough. Without the powers that

00:04:52
our characters have inside the Matrix like Trinity or Jedi powers, it’s it’s hard to sometimes digest a woman fighter versus a room of men. It it just is, always is. I I feel like a little bit of the Ballerina, the the John Wick spin-off, dances around that. I will always reference Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2 and some of the Avenger movies. And you know, and even even Avengers where they they found a way to make her fighting system, which was Muay Thai and based, it’s believable. Like Scar Jo in that that

00:05:33
second Iron Man movie is maybe as far as some of it can go. But we have a director here, AKA Powers, and we we have a director that co-wrote but directed. His name is Kirill. I don’t even know why I’m trying to to pronounce his name. Kirill Serebrennikov Serebrennikov co-writer director. This guy put together something cool. What we have here is really a race against a ritual to resurrect Satan. Cuz everything’s got to be a little Epstein now. We got to kidnap children. We have to traffic the children. We have

00:06:19
to sacrifice the children. And for a lot of Hollywood movies, this is it’s it’s an odd theme that is prevalent and it just seems like it died off a little bit in the early ’80s, but it really uh cranked up in in the modern day. We have fantastic cinematography by Isaac Berman. Music by Carlos Rafael Rivera. This is a complete movie. It’s a complete experience. A full recommendation. If you like a character that isn’t supposed to be a martial arts star, you will love this movie. It is akin to Kill Bill. I You

00:07:04
kind of want to say uh someone watched Kill Bill and they said to themselves, I could put a story like this type of story around this type of action. Because similar to Kill Bill, uh the fighting escalates as the quest escalates. Meaning like we’re kind of going from room to room, from floor to floor. Uh we saw some of that recently. Well, with um uh not Catch Me If You Can 2. I want to say Catch Me If You Can 2. Uh I I I’m almost saying There Will Be Blood 2, but it’s Ready or Not 2. So,

00:07:39
the plotting and the flow of the story in Ready or Not, too, echoes a lot of what we get here and they will kill you. And who is they? Well, Heather Graham is one of them. We have Patricia Arquette, who I think Patricia Arquette who recently kind of comes off as a whack job in some interviews. I I I just watched her too in Lost Highway. Patricia Arquette is really good in this. Heather Graham is really good. Tom Felton is really good. But we get this moment and I I’m going to spoil it for you cuz I feel like we

00:08:14
got to sell this movie. We get this moment at the end of this movie where the ritual is about to happen. Our girl, Zazie Beetz, who just looks I mean, she’s in like a baby T in her underwear like doing some of the fighting and it’s it’s just hot. And that’s exactly what they were going for. Uh I’m sure at one time when you did that, when you were Ridley Scott Sigourney Weaver at the end of the movie Alien, you’re thinking of conversation, you’re thinking that you’re giving the audience

00:08:47
a part of the movie that they’re not going to be able to stop talking about. But here they do the same thing that Scott and Sigourney Weaver did at the end of Alien. They do it in the beginning of this movie and you know the conversation is this is going to get clipped. Our girl is going to you know, we’re doing a level of of self-promotion. This is going to promote itself. It’s a low-effort thing. Uh did that happen? Did not. Uh it’s been on HBO Max for a week. I haven’t seen much traction about

00:09:19
that, but it’s I like a lot of the visuals that just seem to be like a a little bit of a contrast where uh there’s uh like even that big fight with Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible where or uh it’s not even Tom Cruise. We can go back to Arnold Schwarzenegger, True Lies. Sorry, AK powers the film office all over the place. Uh in True Lies where we get this like epic battle inside of a bathroom. And then it ends with that joke with the with the guy walking through the door standing there and and that tile just

00:09:53
crumbles off the wall. Uh amazing timing. Buster Keaton level timing there. The contrast is always interesting. Here, they’re using Zazi as a little bit sex object killing machine. But she’s got to rescue her sister. And she’s against the forces of evil. In the beginning, she destroys everyone. They come back to life. They heal. Uh this is great when it comes to again, breaking down the story, breaking down the power sets. Uh it it seems like very from very early on she has too much stacked against her. She’s not

00:10:35
going to be able to make it out. We get to the very end of the movie. After we learn all of the rules, again. Uh great layout here. Great putting everything in front of you. When it comes to writing and and the blueprinting of this movie. They have to do the ritual. Her sister’s about to get sacrificed. She may get sacrificed. We learn about the ritual. We get gotcha at the end. But the pig There’s a pig’s head. And they do this one trick where it’s like the the shadow of Satan. The

00:11:14
the shadow of the devil. We see him through this window. And he essentially like walks out of the window, but he’s a shadow. And he kind of like flows. But he’s on the wall and on the floor. Like very Looney Tunes. Like if you imagine how in Looney Tunes how like the shadows stretch and kind of become characters. And then he gets inside the pig’s head and the pig’s head speaks. And the animatronics and the realism of the pig’s head and just the rules with how they write the name on the pig’s head

00:11:52
uh it’s and that’s like pretty much like the doorway like that’s the doorway for Satan to like take their soul essentially. AKA Padders this movie has an arc, it has a through line, we root for our girl, visually it is there, it’s a ton of fun, it’s sexy, it’s a great count like compliment to Kill Bill. You can watch Kill Bill part one, part two watch this and you kind you get effects and I like seeing films like this that put uh female characters in wild extreme situations that are not

00:12:34
always explainable meaning they’re within the fantastic. I’m just drawn to that. I think another like of another time like this movie would have really done well. I think if this movie was released 20 years ago it would have been like shockwaves uh would have probably made 100 110 million dollars. I think this movie cost like right it cost under 20. Yeah, it cost 20 million dollars grossed 19. I’m hoping that this film uh finds something on stream and I feel like I’m saying that time and time again.

00:13:11
I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a movie I want to watch a few more times and to also watch it to fully understand the rules and the lore around all of this. I think this is a great party movie too. Like if you’re having people over like put this movie on. Z and Zazie is I’m a little bit surprised with her trajectory because she really became a part of the scene in Deadpool 2, but again, that’s the Josh Brolin, Ryan Reynolds. She’s number three in that. But the Joker. And then there a little little bit of a

00:13:47
pause. She’s She’s actually in two movies that we’re discussing this week as well. Maybe you can guess that second one that I will drop tomorrow. But she’s not really headlining a lot. She’s more you know, she’s more like third or second or third from the the top of the billing. Uh I Is this strategic? Is this what she’s able to get? Is you know, like I think there’s maybe a little bit of a strategy there in laying out her her path cuz she eventually will star like

00:14:18
start movie. She will star. She will be uh they will have characters based around her. Reason why I’m saying this is cuz she’s so photogenic. It’s almost like a waste her not headlining movies and being on the poster and being all over the trailers and having characters that just put her on screen for more time. I think again, look, we live in the world of fantasy when we watch movies. We want that fantasy. Her appearance a lot like a Brad Pitt, a lot like uh What’s his name? Uh What’s his name? Hold up. What’s uh

00:14:56
What’s the I’m not forgetting I’m not remembering anything today. Austin Butler. Austin Butler. That’s the guy. What Hollywood give us even the individuals that seem to be special effects. I think that’s Zazie. I think that’s Austin Butler for just two of the of the newer faces. I think this is a great movie. Anyone can get into it, but you have to be into violence. You have to be into martial arts, and you you kind have to be into occult movies. Great combination though.

00:15:28
Uh this is you can file this movie in multiple categories, which I love. All right, AK Padders, nothing but a huge recommendation for They Will Kill You 2026 available right now on HBO Max. >> Roll sound. Sound production, take two. >> Let’s take this time real quick, AK Padders, my fellow film buffers, and let’s just go over the schedule. This is years in the making. This type of rollout I’ve I’ve been planning for for years, but we’re finally here. So, here we go.

00:16:07
Early in the morning, that’s the new stuff. 8:00 a.m. Now, 8:00 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, these are movies maybe of something coming out, like if there’s a Marvel movie coming out, and we want to do a retrospective on that particular franchise, or you know, if Sylvester Stallone comes back and gives us Rocky part 18, we might want to use the later time slots for a week or two to go over all of the Rocky movies. Now, we have a lot of different threads on this podcast that’s explored 8:00

00:16:47
p.m. So, 8:00 a.m., 8:00 p.m. Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. This is our creator spotlight. We could do an episode on Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, someone in new guys, Spike Lee, even composers, guys like John Williams. This brings us into the weekend. Saturday, Sunday morning, again, we’re back at that 8:00 8:00 a.m. drop. We do cartoons because I want emulate the times where you would wake up with a bowl of cereal and watch cartoons all day Saturday and all day Sunday and then eventually you would get to touch grass

00:17:24
because you would have one of your friends knocking on your doors to play in a touch football game or even some baseball, basketball. The weekend nights. Let’s get into education. 8:00 p.m. Again, all of our drops are either 8:00 a.m. or 8:00 p.m. But the weekend nights documentaries and I focus on creative documentaries because I feel like a part of this film buff movement that we’re all bathing in that I’m super grateful for is education. And some of this, some of where we’re finding our facts, some

00:18:00
of the, you know, general enjoyment cuz I love documentaries. All of this is explored at 8:00 p.m. And trust me, there is a lot there. There’s a lot out there that I even know existed. And we We’re going to go beyond that, too. We’re going to get into some of the graphic arts, some of the special effects, some of the the makeup documentaries. There’s a lot to learn and I’m so happy to bring you the 9:00 p.m. cuz guys, you guys know, I’m an autodidact. I am self-educated. Sure, I

00:18:34
have some certifications. Sure, I spent time at the Art Institute of Philadelphia for animation, but in large I’m a self-educated, self-made person. That’s connected to the weekend 8:00 p.m. drops. My AKA patters, my film buffers, I hope to see you there for all of it. I love you guys and rock and roll. Okay, that’s a wrap. >> [applause] >> Okay, that’s a wrap. >>

PETER A DELUCA AKAPD

AKAPAD is a versatile thinker known across Philadelphia, Europe, and even in the vast Multiverse as The Electic One. By day, he excels as an IT Mastermind, assisting individuals, both big and small, with a wide range of simple and complex solutions. In contrast, he is also a talented illustrator, a passionate comic book enthusiast, a creative content creator, and an active live streamer. Additionally, his podcast, “AKAPAD The Film Buff Podcast,” boasts an impressive catalog of over 500 episodes available on nearly every major platform.