They Will Kill You doesn’t just wear its influences on its sleeve—it practically bleeds them.

There have been quite a few movies that have popped up here and there since the early 2000s that clearly have been inspired heavily by Quentin Tarantino. None have had the same cultural impact of his work, and few have had a shred of its success. They Will Kill You may be my favorite Tarantino rip-off yet. I know that may sound like a bad thing but, coming from a big fan of all of the controversial filmmaker’s work, I mean it in the most positive way possible. That said, there is no ignoring the tall, lithe, bright yellow specter in the room. They Will Kill You is Kill Bill lite, with Zazie Beetz doing her best impression of the blood-soaked Bride.

For what it’s worth, Kirill Sokolov has clearly co-opted Quentin’s style, but not his influences. While so many of the director’s films, famously known for his humble beginnings as a video store clerk, are known for wearing his influences on their sleeve, Sokolov uses a more modern, straightforward approach in TWKY. To start with, if this guy didn’t direct music videos earlier in his career, he certainly missed a calling. His use of music, especially when combined with excellently choreographed fight scenes, had my eyes glued to the screen for 94 minutes. Speaking of eyeballs, Sokolov has also taken a novel approach to the gratuitous bloodletting and his use of gore throughout the film, taking Tarantino’s over-the-top geysers of blood from Kill Bill a step further and, at times, a great deal sillier.

Zazie Beetz, playing Beatrix Kiddo, er, I mean, Asia Reeves, is a clear standout here. She summons her inner Bride and kicks (and stabs, slices, punches, & shoots) ass from beginning to end. I really enjoyed what Heather Graham was doing here as well. She was all in on her role and brought a good dose of levity to the film while also managing to refrain from getting ‘too goofy’ in a role that could have easily veered that way. Patricia Arquette is… fine (nothing on the level of her work on Severance) and doesn’t really come alive until she goes full Malignant on Zazie near the end. And Tom Felton doesn’t bring anything particularly noteworthy to the table.

Sokolov’s work may live in the shadow of another filmmaking giant, but it also takes that influence and runs with it. And I mean RUNS. This is exactly the kind of movie that’s going to get written off as “style over substance,” which usually says more about the reviewer than the film. If you’re coming into something like this expecting restraint or subtlety, you’re watching the wrong movie. Altogether, if you’re a fan of super-stylized and hyper-violent action-horror films with over-the-top blood and gore, this has all of that in spades.

Verdict: 4.5/5 – too damn fun to care if it isn’t completely original