How’s this for a cinematic recipe: Take two parts ultraviolence and witty, pop-culture-laden dialogue a lá Tarantino, add a generous dollop of Sam Raimi-esque gonzo Looney Tunes attitude, and mix it all up in a blender made in Russia until it’s hard as nails and infinitely more colorful. That’s about what you can expect from—or, at least, all we can really tell you about—Why Don’t You Just Die!, the first feature from up-and-coming Russian genre auteur Kirill Sokolov.
Although the film definitely wears its influence on the sleeve of its blood-soaked Batman hoodie, it also takes its story in some surprising directions that—you know what, let’s just give you the official synopsis:
Matvey (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) has just one objective: to gain entry to his girlfriend’s parents’ apartment and kill her father Andrey (Vitaliy Khaev) with a hammer to restore her honor. But all is not as it initially seems, and Matvey’s attempts to bludgeon the family patriarch to death don’t quite go to plan as Andrey proves a more formidable – not to mention ruthless – opponent than he anticipated… and Matvey, for his part, proves stubbornly unwilling to die.
Following a 2019 festival run with stops in Chicago and Austin, Why Don’t You Just Die! is now plotting its U.S. theatrical release, which kicks off April 10 with weeklong runs in L.A., New Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Columbus. After that, the film will screen in New York, Chicago, Knoxville, and Ithaca in a handful of special screenings, along with Alamo Drafthouse special screenings in Houston, Lubbock, El Paso, and Phoenix. And for our friends in the U.K., the film opens nationwide on April 10.
We’re premiering the trailer for Why Don’t You Just Die! above, courtesy of Arrow Video.