Quick observation: One of the many brilliant aspects of Ben Wheatley's sophomore feature Kill List is in its narrative construction. In the first half of the film we are introduced to our characters, which seem to inhabit a very contemporaneous and real world plagued with the same problems as everyone else. The failing marriage, mainly due to monetary problems, of our protagonists seem the main concern of the narrative. Once our main character Jay (Neil Maskell) is forced to solve the monetary situation events begin turning surreal and horrific, exemplified in Kill List's first draw of blood that seals Jay's fate for the rest of the film. This narrative construction of realistic leading towards the surreal and horrific is perfect for a horror film. The audience clinging to that sense of believability established in the beginning marking the events to follow, no matter how terryfying they get, and making them that much more horrific.
That's why the first half is so long and we spend so much time with them. In horror movies, you usually don't know the people very well, of they're kids, and they get slaughtered by somebody who is much more charismatic than they are, some thing in a mask. The hero of the film is a monster. I wanted the viewer to like these people, even if they have a sort of shouty relationship. I think Jay and Shel's marriage is pretty good. I like Gal a lot. What they do is reprehensible, but by then, the are scenes are like money in the bank. It gets you through the madder stuff, and it also makes you feel the madder stuff more.
Ben Wheatley on Kill List, From Cinema Scope Winter 2012, Issue 49
No comments:
Post a Comment