The newest notch on the belt of the stylized horror duo Alix Austin and Keir Siewert, Kill Your Lover, is a polarizing tale of a fiery romance turned toxic. The writer-director’s vision shines through the metamorphic performances of Paige Gilmour as Dakota and Shane Quigley Murphy as Axel. Accompanied by a compelling original score, makeup, and special effects, Kill Your Lover holds up to any body horror.
It is hard to discuss a body horror without first mentioning how saturated the market is becoming in today’s industry. It’s easy to feel like you can’t even digest a horror film before the next is shoved down your throat. Are we really surprised by this resurgence, though? I know I am not. We live in a time where the media smothers us with shame, genocide, and corruption from the moment we awaken. New technologies and ideologies are leaving people lost in an unfamiliar world. What better way to deal with these unnavigable feelings than with impulsive violence, gore, and horrifying metamorphoses?
Now, back to Kill Your Lover. The slow pace moves from past to present, showing the timeline of Dakota and Axel’s relationship. With a mantra of “Everything is Replaceable,” Dakota is straight from the shoulder and covered with tattoos and piercings. Recently, coming out of a failed punk-rock band, she has no direction. With a kaleidoscope of past lovers and friends in pictures on her wall, she is a free spirit who invites all into her experience. That is until her one-night stand with Axel. Axel is clean-cut, talks of chemistry, and lives to impress his mother. Their relationship starts strictly sexual. As he seduces her and offers the possibility of a stable life, she is drawn into a relationship with him.
“…a fiery romance turned toxic…”
The cinematography seamlessly shifts in exaggerated tones as time transcends. From the luminescent whirlwinds of sex of the past to the jaundiced isolation of a woman trying to break free from a man in the present. A man who now literally burns her to the touch as a strange ooze begins to seep from his pores. Giant black veins begin to encompass his entire being, bringing forth all his internal pain to the exterior. Brutally, the consequences of what happens when two lovers are not compatible are painted to the viewer. Transforming them into two unrecognizable versions of themselves. Each scene leaves you at the edge of your seat, itching for what’s to come next. Will they reconcile, or is it a love too far gone?
The editing and utilizing a split screen leaves you confused about which side to be on. When told through Dakota’s lens, you mostly sympathize with her. With that being said it is impossible to not understand the intrusive thoughts that plague Axel’s insecure mind (Nobody wants explicit pictures of their significant other with their exes on the living room wall). In the spirit of the Davids, Cronenberg, and Lynch, Kill Your Lover is a horror tied with complex emotional relationships. It is also impossible not to think of Taxi Driver’s influence when viewing the character’s final relief through violence.
If you’re looking for a quick film that will leave you feeling deeply affected after watching, I can’t think of too many better options. There’s not much more you can ask for from the genre than what it gives you (considering its length and resources, of course). And what it gives is everything that fans crave from body horror!
"…everything that fans crave from body horror"
