Ben Wheatley has a very interesting style. The thick layers of music over slow-mo shots are excellent, and the occasional strangeness in this movie contrasts nicely with the ordinarily shots scenes. There are times when all movement falls away, and the still characters stand with a wave of sound building around them, to be broken by the eerie laughter of the next scene overlapping into the previous one, which then blends into a song. The overall effect feels natural at ties, but distressingly unnatural at others. My favourite movie by far that he made was 'A Field in England'. In fact, that's one of my favourite movies of all time.
The film feels for the most part like a classic actiony type deal, but culty trade begins to seep in fairly early on. The jarring strings highlight these elements, and are a sound I associate strong with Wheatley's style. As the film progresses it stumbles further into the arcane, and by the end it's feeling like 'The Wickerman'.
The cultist elements were presented in a very surreal style, and as a result much of the film feels like an extended dream sequence. The ending is both confusing and satisfying, for me. As Jay finds out that the Hunchback is infact his wife with their son strapped to her back the music cuts out momentarily and the image slows to a standstill on Jay's reaction shot. It's horrible (not horribly made, just a horrible feeling to get as you watch it - good horrible). I didn't think it could any more disturbing, and then she starts laughing hysterically even as she bleeds out. I like how the initial scenes of Jay and his son play sword fighting mirror this.
The two main guys (played by Neil Maskell and Michael Smiley) both perform brilliantly, and are classic Wheatley casting choices. The other characters are all well realised too, and there are no weak points.
It's funny that Wheatley acknowledged the similarity between his cultist symbol and the Blair Witch's symbol, only to be confused by it's comparison by viewers to the one from 'Harry Potter'. I'm proud of Ben for not knowing what they were on about, though.
Kill List: 77.1