Bill Skarsgård Goes On A Wild Martial Arts Rampage In The Boy Kills World Trailer
Bill Skarsgård has quickly become an actor whose very presence in a film suggests something twisted is about to go down — that's what happens when you play a child-eating clown monster in two of the highest-grossing horror movies of all time. But where "Barbarian" cleverly used that foreknowledge to subvert audience expectations and "John Wick: Chapter 4" embraced it by casting the "IT" star as the slimeball Marquis Vincent Bisset de Gramont, Moritz Mohr splits the difference in his feature directing debut, "Boy Kills World." Instead of casting Skarsgård as a blood-thirsty killer, the film casts him as a righteous killer in the vein of John Wick himself. And you know what? It might just work!
While it didn't exactly blow critics away last year during its premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, "Boy Kills World" still managed to garner praise for its distinct blend of bloody slapstick action and irreverent comedy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the film attracted the attention of Sam Raimi — a connoisseur in the art of mixing gore and guffaws if there ever was one — and his producing partner Roy Lee early on, with the pair adding their names as producers after being impressed by Mohr's previsualization reel (per The Hollywood Reporter). The "Evil Dead" influence here seems to extend beyond that, too, with much of the action in the "Boy Kills World" trailer captured in wild camera movements that recall the famous Deadite point-of-view shots from that franchise. See for yourself by checking out the footage featured above.
When this Boy Kills World, Boy Kills World
If I had a nickel for every time an action film about a mute hero seeking revenge for the death of a loved one came along ... well, you know how the rest of the joke goes. "Boy Kills World" is arriving mere months after John Woo lent his magical touch to a somewhat identical premise with "Silent Night," with both films being announced just a few weeks apart back in October 2021. What we have here is what you could call a "Dredd"/"The Raid: Redemption" situation, i.e. two movies releasing in close proximity that have a fair amount in common on paper yet are decidedly unalike in motion. In the case of "Boy Kills World," the film's post-apocalyptic setting is a far cry from the present-day backdrop of "Silent Night." That and Skarsgård's non-verbal hero technically "speaks" thanks to his "inner voice" (who's played by none other than Bob Belcher himself, "Bob's Burgers" actor H. Jon Benjamin).
Directed by Mohr from a script by Arend Remmers and Tyler Burton Smith (with Mohr and Remmers also sharing story credit), "Boy Kills World" boasts a cast full of actors with significant street cred, including Jessica Rothe ("Happy Death Day"), Famke Janssen ("X-Men"), Brett Gelman ("Stranger Things"), Andrew Koji ("Warrior"), Sharlto Copley ("District 9"), Michelle Dockery ("Downton Abbey"), and Skarsgård's "IT Chapter Two" co-star Isaiah Mustafa. Expect plenty of carnage to ensue when "Boy Kills World" barrels into theaters on April 26, 2024.
Bill Skarsgård stars as "Boy," who vows revenge after his family is murdered by Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen), the deranged matriarch of a corrupt post-apocalyptic dynasty that left the boy orphaned, deaf, and voiceless. Driven by his inner voice, one which he co-opted from his favorite childhood video game, Boy trains with a mysterious shaman to become an instrument of death and is set loose on the eve of the annual culling of dissidents. Bedlam ensues as Boy commits bloody martial arts mayhem, inciting a wrath of carnage and blood-letting. As he tries to get his bearings in this delirious realm, Boy soon falls in with a desperate resistance group, all the while bickering with the apparent ghost of his rebellious little sister.