KILL (2023)

4 stars

Kaleidoscope Entertainment. In Cinemas. 13th September

KILL is a well made thriller with horror elements produced and shot in Scotland.

Three brothers, Henry the eldest (Daniel Portman), John (Brian Vernel) and the youngest and his Dad’s favourite Vince (Calum Ross) are out with their father (Paul Higgins) hunting in the woods. They are hunting deer – except the siblings have other plans and kill their father. We learn through through extensive flashbacks that he was abusive and often brutally violent and they feel they have no choice after the recent death of their mother. They shoot him dead and bury him in a shallow grave.

Returning to their farmhouse they celebrate that night but realise the next morning that they don’t have the key – which he wore round his neck – that they need to get into the family safe. It has been mistakenly buried with him.

So they have to return to the scene of the crime and dig him up… except the body has gone!

Tensions begin to arise between them… apparently there is a fortune in the safe (though their father has never revealed how he got it). They try to search for him… but as they do strange things start to happen which unnerve them and things begin to spin out of control. Further flashbacks begin to fill in more of the story and secrets start to come to the fore.

This is an excellent feature directorial debut for Rodger Griffiths who co write the tight script with Rob Drummond (also debuting on this production), with the twisty turny story throwing up various surprises along the way and nicely builds a sense of unease from the start. The cast is very good, giving believable performances. Especially notable is Higgins who is relishing the nasty character he is portraying.

Aka: Betrayal

Steve Kirkham