Commentary: ‘They Will Kill You’ Is Closer To ‘Willie’s Wonderland’ Than ‘Ready Or Not’

It’s odd how often films come out around the same time with similar premises. It can almost seem as if these two movies are copying each other, and sometimes they are … on the surface. That feels like the case with They Will Kill You and Ready Or Not. The latter came out years ago and only recently released a sequel. Around the time that second installment came out, They Will Kill You was also released. Both feature a female protagonist being hunted in an enclosed location, which can lead viewers to believe one is a clone of the other. However, after actually watching They Will Kill You, horror fans will see that it is in fact much more like the Nicolas Cage film Willie’s Wonderland.

The story centers on Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz), a woman who ran away from an abusive home with her sister, Maria (Myha’la), but ends up losing her when she is arrested. After a stent in jail, she gets out and tracks Maria down to a high-rise apartment building where she reportedly went missing. Infiltrating the building under the guise of working there, the residents make repeated attempts on her life. Fortunately, Asia became very good at fighting while in jail and kills her attackers, but they come back to life, revealing themselves to be immortal cultists who want to sacrifice Asia to the devil.

The similarities to Ready Or Not consist of a woman being hunted by cult members in an enclosed space. But story- and tone-wise, the similarities end there. By contrast, this premise bears some resemblance to Willie’s Wonderland, which features Cage set to clean a restaurant overnight while being hunted by killer mascots. Even though the action for all these films shares the same format, the setups are all different. Instead, it helps to look at their tone. Ready Or Not falls in line with a horror film, while They Will Kill You is more of a thriller. It is also stylized as a wild fever dream with bizarre cinematography and lighting, making it much more akin Willie’s Wonderland. It just goes to show that premises can be deceiving and audiences should look deeper into their comparisons.

They Will Kill You is now streaming on HBO Max.