Year: 2023
Genre: Thriller
Director: Rodger Griffiths
Writer: Rodger Griffiths, Rob Drummond
Executive producers: Erik Barmack, David Taghioff, Jim Reeve
Producers: Claire Mundell, Lee Brazier
Cast: Brian Vernel, Daniel Portman, Calum Ross, Paul Higgins, Anita Vettesse, James Harkness, Joanne Thomson
Production companies: Synchronicity Films, Mr. B Films, Wild Sheep
Screen Scotland funding: Kill accessed £500,000 through Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund to support filming in Scotland at a critical time following the Covid-19 lockdown allowing crew to return to work, and to support writer/director Rodger Griffiths make his feature debut. Kill also accessed £12,000 through Screen Scotland's Distribution Fund.
Synopsis
In a remote forest, the daylight dying fast, three brothers, Henry, John and Vince are on a hunt with their domineering father Don. Finally, they catch sight of a deer, but as Don takes aim something catches his eye – a rope hangs around the deer’s neck. As John stands a few feet away, finger nervously straining on the trigger, Don realises that the animal is a decoy and he is the prey.
Don, a violent and abusive father, is responsible for the recent death of the boys’ mother Kate. Her sons are here to avenge her murder and put an end to the cycle of violence that has consumed their young lives. After fatally wounding him with one shot. they bury Don in a shallow grave and make their way back to the farmhouse. But what should be the start of their freedom, kicks off a whole new set of problems.
Before long, they realise the key to the safe containing Don’s life savings is still around his neck and so the boys must return to the forest to face the gruesome task of digging up their dead father. But when they do so, Don’s corpse is no longer there and in its place lies, instead, the carcass of a freshly killed deer…
More information
Kill had its World Premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2023.
Saban Films has acquired the North American rights to Kill, with Kaleidoscope handling international sales.
Kill was released in selected cinemas across Scotland from Friday 13 September 2024, with a digital release following on Monday 30 Sept 2024.