I discovered people living behind my fridge – I turned it into 2026’s wildest horror film

Like the craziest stories, the wild premise for new horror-action-comedy They Will Kill You came from its writer-director’s real life.

Considering the movie is set at a creepy New York art deco hotel which turns out to be the base for a blood-thirsty satanic cult intent on making the heroine and its new maid (Joker and Deadpool 2’s Zazie Beetz) their next human sacrifice though, it’s not the answer that was necessarily expected.

‘Around 10 years ago, my wife and I rented an apartment in a big, 16-floor building, and after a week living there, we understood that we were the only two people younger than 65 – somehow everyone else was mostly old, lonely ladies,’ filmmaker Kirill Sokolov told Metro.

But this is when it starts to get weird, with what the Russian-born director discovered when starting renovations in his kitchen, eerily influencing the invasion Asia (Beetz) faces in her living quarters at the Virgil on her first night, as glimpsed in the film’s trailer.

‘I found a huge hole behind the kitchen cabinet that was leading to my neighbour’s apartment.

And we started [to think] like, okay, this is a strange place.

We had this running joke that we were kind of living in the middle of a cult, and one day we [will] wake up and they [will be] standing around our bed!’
Again, this ‘cult’ joke ended up a very serious part of the movie, with Sokolov adding: ‘Later, I found out that this whole building belonged to one community – they all worked in one factory, and the government gave them the apartments in one building, so that’s why they all knew each other and were the same age.’

However, it wasn’t until he re-watched Rosemary’s Baby three years ago, a horror classic that makes its protagonist’s foreboding Gothic apartment with a murderous backstory as much of a character as her sinister neighbours, that he thought to do anything with his real-life experience.

‘I was like, wait a second, I know this type of building!

I know this environment!

And it just brought this idea that, oh my god, this is a movie!’

We had this running joke that we were living in the middle of a cult

They Will Kill You, which Sokolov penned with his friend Alex Litvak, is his first English-language feature, but he previously made a splash with Russian dark comedy thrillers Why Don’t You Just Die!

(2018) and No Looking Back (2021).

He delights in producing ‘genre and tonal blends and mash-ups’ with his movies, referring to past classics from different eras and countries; for They Will Kill You, the influences are clear with Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, as well as Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill thanks to Aisa’s ‘modern samurai’ skills.

‘I enjoy this playful game, that the movie could be a puzzle for the audience, and they kind of can recognise something they love,’ Sokolov explains.

The movie starts with a more naturalistic brawl, without music, where you can hear the heavy breathing and body falls before the visual style and language of this movie becomes ‘bigger and crazier’.

But with Asia, the first time we see her defend herself and attack, showing off her sword skills, Sokolov pushes the bounds of realism.

‘Immediately, the first time she chops somebody, we see old-school samurai sprays of blood that hit the ceiling and a kind of cartoonish effect.

And then we go further, and it turns into [something] more epic and bigger – kind of Viking, almost.

And then when the story goes another turn, we understand that we are in a fully twisted reality.

We step into the territory of anime, basically.’
Nothing was off the table when it came to the over-the-top gore and violence – but for anyone worried about being terrified or squeamish, fret not because They Will Kill You wants to entertain ‘not disturb or traumatise’.

For Sokolov, the whole picture could fall apart if he didn’t have the right lead actor, but as a fan of German-born Beetz from the TV show Atlanta, he knew she could excel at switching between humour and being ‘touching and vulnerable, so she could make audience root for her’.

I’m not a fan of torture porn, there’s never a goal to upset the audience
The film also demanded a great deal of her physically – co-star Joseph describes her as like being made of ‘rubber and steel’.

‘This is a very old-school or John Wick type of movie where we want to see everything on a wide shot, we want to see cast members doing the fights, we don’t want to hide everything behind the cuts.

So it was a big challenge,’ says Sokolov.

The rest of the cast supporting Beetz in her first leading role – including Industry star Myha’la – is enjoyably eclectic, with its mix of American, British and international talent, which the director confirms was deliberate with the cult members.

‘It was done on purpose that people should be from different places and countries, because they are together by ideology, but not cultural background.’
He also calls the film’s cast his ‘dream document’ one, which he built ‘just based on me being a movie fan, who I imagined when I wrote the script, who I’m very happy to see on the screen’.

‘And then Tom said yes, and Heather said yes, and Patricia said yes, and Paterson, and suddenly my dream cast actually turns into a real cast.

And the studio called me and said, “Kirill, this never happens.” It’s very weird!’
But the proof is in the pudding for them as an ensemble, with Sokolov thrilled at how well they blended – ‘you feel the dynamic between them and the chemistry’.

As a movie inspired by his own life – and imagination – there are plenty of scenes that Sokolov is delighted to have fully realised and brought to the screen.

Naturally, the ‘big, bright and awesome’ fight scenes that become They Will Kill You’s trademark are among them.

But there’s also the final sequence with the head of the cult at the Virgil (no spoilers here).

‘It’s something that I never saw in a movie, it’s something that is so weird and so bizarre, and I’m very happy that we nailed it and made it happen.’
But there’s also those small, unexpected moments too that serve as a reminder of a filmmaking dream realised.

Sokolov sets the scene: ‘The first opening fight in the hotel room, where there is the explosion of the mattress, and then a stand-off between Zazie and Heather with the feathers falling down, and we have this strong backlight and these two gorgeous women standing in front of each other.

‘I remember watching the playback, and I had goosebumps at that moment, and I remember my thoughts [were] “Oh my God, I think I was dreaming to make this movie my entire life.” It’s just one shot, but everything I love about movies came together in this one shot.’
They Will Kill You is out in cinemas now.
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