A death in the family makes for an intense reunion in an exclusive clip from The Things You Kill

Family meetings don't get more intense than the one in this exclusive clip from The Things You Kill, the new thriller from Canadian-Iranian filmmaker Alireza Khatami.

By Matt Schimkowitz | November 17, 2025 | 5:51pm

Photo: Cineverse

Film News Alireza Khatami

A death in the family makes for an intense reunion in an exclusive clip from The Things You Kill

The holidays are a time for reunions, when airports fill with folks fleeing to their hometowns for a fresh round of family judgements. But things aren’t so cut and dry, and they’re certainly not so pleasant, in this exclusive clip from The Things You Kill, the new thriller from Canadian-Iranian filmmaker Alireza Khatami. Set hours after the suspicious death of his mother, as the family tries to understand what happened to her, Ali (Ekin Koç) decides now is the time to confront his father (Ercan Kesal) about the years of abuse he inflicted upon her during their marriage. Could his father be responsible for her death? Could Ali have called more? Would it have killed him to call more? There’s only one path forward: Revenge. Or at least, finding out what happened to her.

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Canada’s entrant into this year’s Oscar race for Best International Film, The Things You Kill, follows Ali as he deals with his mother’s death in a healthy and reasonable way: By coercing his gardener into taking revenge. The A.V. Club Film Editor Jacob Oller found Things You Kill “gripping.” “It’s a film built upon stacked facades, each giving way to another feeble delusion as the pressure mounts,” he wrote. “Like those in any good psychological twister, these facades are scrupulously maintained, preciously guarded, as they prevent the vulnerable truth from being exposed to the world. Khatami’s methodical film excavates these fragile artifacts with quiet care and an elliptical trust in his audience’s enraptured attention.”

The Things You Kill is in select theaters now.