''Kill Your Friends'' is a 2015 British

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by Owen Harris and written by John Niven based on his 2008 novel of the same name. The film stars

Nicholas Hoult Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (; born Wokingham, 7 December 1989) is an English actor. He has received several accolades, including a nomination for a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe nominations, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. ...

Craig Roberts Craig Haydn Roberts (born 21 January 1991) is a Welsh actor and director. He is best known for lead roles as Oliver Tate in the coming-of-age comedy-drama film ''Submarine'' (2010) and David Meyers in the series ''Red Oaks'' (2014–2017), and f ...

, Tom Riley, and

Georgia King Georgia King is a Scottish actress. She is best known for her role as Amanda Snodgrass in the HBO series Vice Principals. Early life Born in Edinburgh, King is the daughter of Australian actor Jonathan Hyde and Scottish opera singer Isobel B ...

. It was selected to be shown in the city to City section of the 2015 Toronto Film Festival. The film was released by

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...

on 6 November 2015.

Plot

London, 1997; the British music industry is on a winning streak.

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...

bands Blur,

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Supergrass Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey (drums, ...

, and

The Verve The Verve were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones (musician), Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Sim ...

rule the airwaves and

Cool Britannia Cool Britannia was a name for the period of increased pride in the culture of the United Kingdom in the mid- and late 1990s, inspired by Swinging London from 1960s pop culture. This loosely coincided with the latter years of John Major's conservat ...

is in full swing. Psychopathic twenty-seven-year-old

A&R man Artists and repertoire (or A&R for short) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for scouting, financing, and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters. It also acts as a l ...

Steven Stelfox (

) is slashing and burning his way through the music business, a world where 'no one knows anything' and where careers are made and broken by chance and the fickle tastes of the general public. Fuelled by greed, ambition and inhuman quantities of drugs, Stelfox lives the dream, as he searches for his next hit record. But as the hits dry up and the industry begins to change, Stelfox takes the concept of “killer tunes” to a murderous new level in a desperate attempt to salvage his career.

Cast

Production

On 12 February 2014,

joined the cast of the film to play lead role as (A&R) agent Steven Stelfox. On 3 March 2014, Jim Piddock joined the film's cast to play Derek Sommers, the managing director of the record label. The film was scored by

Junkie XL Tom Holkenborg (born 8 December 1967), also known as Junkie XL, is a Dutch composer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, producer, and engineer. Originally known for his trance productions, he has moved to producing electronica and big beat music and fil ...

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

commenced in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 10 March 2014 and wrapped five weeks later. The film was shot at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

and

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

Reception

The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has an approval rating of 23% based on reviews from 60 critics, with an average rating of 4.50/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Kill Your Friends'' takes futile stabs at black comedy, all strangled by a glut of tonal jumbles, bad casting, and unremittingly unlikable characters." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

it has a score of 45% based on reviews from 19 critics "indicating mixed or average reviews". Andy Webster of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it "A richly satisfying poison-pen letter to the music industry." Stephen Dalton of

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

wrote: "Kill Your Friends remixes a brutally funny novel into an entertaining if somewhat familiar big-screen tale of amoral, chemically-fuelled decadence." Andrew Barker of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''wrote: "The film has its razor-sharp grace notes and a seductive stylishness, neither of which can override its relentlessly adolescent worldview."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kill Your Friends 2010s British films 2010s comedy thriller films 2010s English-language films 2010s satirical films 2015 black comedy films 2015 crime comedy films 2015 crime thriller films 2015 films British black comedy films British comedy thriller films British crime comedy films British crime thriller films British satirical films Films about music and musicians Films based on British novels Films directed by Owen Harris (director) Films scored by Tom Holkenborg Films set in 1997 Films set in London Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films shot in Hampshire Films shot in London English-language black comedy films English-language crime comedy films English-language crime thriller films English-language comedy thriller films