Kill Your Friends

"Get fucked, you wouldn't last 10 minutes" quips Steven Stelfox (Hoult) right into the camera early on in KILL YOUR FRIENDS, the adaptation of John Niven's 2008 novel. He's aiming this put-down at the viewer as an exclamation of his superiority over us. He wants us to be envious, jealous, maybe even hate him. He's an A&R man in the music business, and he wants us to know that his life is awesome, and ours is not when compared to his. This set-up is then followed by roughly 90 minutes of the sort of drug-taking, jet-flying and partying exploits that could be expected, with the odd merciless killing thrown in for good measure. By the end though, it's difficult to feel envious of him, because when it comes down to it, his life (and by implication; this film) is really not that great.

Set in the year 1997, Stelfox is consistently hunting for the next big thing in music. In doing so, his excessive lifestyle can be permitted to continue. He will stop at nothing to be successful in this business and he's not afraid to step on toes to get there. When even that won't work, there are always... other options.

Nicholas Hoult, at first glance appears too young to play this role. The baby-faced actor is a little difficult to take seriously as a top A&R man when the majority of his colleagues appear at least 10 or 15 years older than him. Hoult however, carries himself nicely in the lead role, doing all that can be reasonably required of him. Unfortunately the issues for KILL YOUR FRIENDS stem from a very unfocused script that never seems to have a chief goal to aim for. The story attempts to make up for this by throwing in some genuinely shocking scenes of violence that will long be the images engrained in people's mind when they think back to this film.

The consistent fourth-wall breaking nature of Stelfox's character, coupled with the ever-present voiceover means we always know exactly what's going on in Stelfox's head. But this doesn't necessarily ensure we always know why he's doing the things he's doing. His eventual foray into murderous tendencies is not handled with any clear focus and subsequently just feels out of character, even for someone with his levels of excess.

John Niven's adapted screenplay is keen to hammer in the point that the music business is full of people, tasked with pulling the strings of artists who all have egos that outweigh their talent by a considerable margin. Niven himself worked in the music business for ten years, so its more than likely his characters are loosely based on real people that he has came across during this time. This adds a certain authenticity to the proceedings here, and it's not exactly too difficult to imagine some of the people were genuinely like this, especially in the 'experimental' 90's music era.

For all the good intentions involved here, KILL YOUR FRIENDS comes across as a distant British second cousin to both THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and AMERICAN PSYCHO, paying homage to both but never really finding its own identity.

I attended the world premier for "kill your friends" at the fantasy film festival in Berlin which was the opening film - and was pleasantly surprised. Usually the open movie is OK, this time it was the best I have seen in the last 15 years going to the fantasy film festival.

I had not read the book on which it is based, had not read the description (as I always go to the opening movie no matter what), so I did not know what to expect.

Kill your friends is about a hotshot in the finding and signing music talent industry who wants to be the department head, however is clueless but very determined. It is an over the top black comedy that has tons of coke and pills, some nudity and gore, and great lines.

I was very entertained and can only recommend the movie. Most likely will get an 16/R rating for the violence, drugs and nudity.

I like Nicholas Hoult enough to check out the movie when I saw the poster at my local theater, plus I became really found of music around the time period the movie takes place in and was a fan of the Britpop thing going on at the time. Also, this is the second time I've seen Hoult do something that was not Superhero or genre (the first being Dark Places, starring Charlize Theron).

Although the title did make it seem like it may be a horror movie. In a way. it is, especially if you seen American Psycho.

Hoult plays a brutally honesty (which makes him very unlikeable) A&R rep for a record label, who's trying to climb to the top of the ladder, at the same time trying to find the next Britpop sensation. He falls under all the clichés of a man trying to reach the top, coping with stress with sex and drugs, all the while trying to be the cool guy in the room. Then we discover how far he will go to climb up that ladder to success, of which the term back stabbing does not fully explain.

It's brilliant as a satire on the music industry as a whole during that time. They go over the bubblegum pop machine that is boy bands and pretentiousness of bands that want to be considered indi, it even pokes fun of the techno scene that was developing and the moment when Hip hop was about to dominate. No stone is left unturn making it a hard hitting poke at whatever category you fit in and really hopes you have a good sense of humor about it.

Holt plays the villainous protagonist that has become popular on TV (like Tony Sprano and Walter White). It's something different than the Awkward but good looking kid he plays in a lot of his movies and he handles that fact that not everyone will fancy his character and keeps it completely true to form.

For everyone who remembers the late 90s and loves stories on the music industry.

Pretty slick dark comedy a bit similar to American Psycho but set in the British music-scene circa 1997 about a A&R man who'll do anything to get a new hit.

Nicholas Hoult does really well in the lead I thought, doing something really different to anything I've seen him in before which mostly have been American films.

It doesn't have any likable characters but it doesn't really need to, that's not really what this movie is about after all it's a (extreme) satire on the music-business and if you are aware of the 90's music-scene you can easily tell some groups that are being poked fun of, but mostly it's about the people behind the scenes.

I can't really say too much more about it than that as I might end up spoiling something, but yeah it's a pretty cool flick, fairly fast paced and with a rocking 90's soundtrack to match.

Despite only loosely living up to the title, Kill Your Friends is a darkly funny and very twisted look at the high stakes world of music management that desperately wants to be American Psycho but lacks the energy and darkness to fully achieve those lofty ambitions. It's still able to sustain itself on some good jokes interspersed throughout and the overall cynical nature, culminating in a satisfyingly twisted ending.

Nicholas Hoult doesn't always feel like the best choice for this material however, he is fully committed to this irredeemable character so he can move past those early growing pains. He's ambitious to the point of being ruthless and conceals his true villainy under a false layer of incompetence. Even with a fairly strong supporting cast of characters it's still all resting on his central performance to keep things going.

Owen Harris' competent yet bland direction weirdly lacks the necessary manic energy outside of some brief glimpses into Hoult's darkest thoughts. For a film that spends so much time in clubs and drug fueled parties, its lowered visual energy becomes kinda distracting, counterbalanced by the tone never wavering. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tom Holkenborg's score and the soundtrack really understood the assignment.