Zazie Beetz has a simple rule for surviving in a horror film: don’t go there.
We had just watched the opening scene of her latest flick, They Will Kill You, at the annual BlerDCon conference in Washington, D.C. Beetz plays Asia Reaves, a woman who takes on a job at The Virgil, a prestigious and ominous building in Manhattan. But get this: the young women hired for housekeeping are actually offered as human sacrifices to the demon inhabiting the building.
Beetz laughed over her character’s predicament and why Asia isn’t taking her advice. “She has something that’s driving her there, and that is the reason she’s overriding those fears.”
But for the rest of us? “Don’t even go in. You don’t get in the car, you don’t go in the house, you just don’t.”
Especially in this case. Beneath the slicing and dicing, They Will Kill You is a deeper dive into a socio-economic morality issue that’s been playing out in our feeds in real time: what happens when the one percent decides that other people are expendable?
“The film speaks to the class divide between the rich and the poor, and what the rich are willing to do for their own gain at the expense of those who don’t have the same privilege,” Beetz explained.
“That shows up in our day-to-day, our politics and how people interact with each other. Those are things we need to examine for ourselves and a society at large.”
But, wait — this movie still is a horror dramedy. “It’s within the world of something that’s sort of ridiculous and funny,” Beetz continued. And that’s something she can connect with, especially for Black women viewers.
“I would read Octavia E. Butler and wonder why more of her books haven’t been made into films and projects,” she stated. “We’ve all always existed in this space, and I love seeing Black women in quirky, whimsical and campy things. Being able to play that tension, that struggle, while also in a space of play, is something I hope we can spread more of in our culture.”
With this role, her name was written all over it. “My director, Kirill Sokolov, had written the character for me and was just so passionate about it,” Beetz revealed. “And with it having this pop gore element to it, it was great fun.”
Fun on screen only. In real life, Beetz would have never taken a step into The Virgil, pretty much like the rest of us.
“Honestly, listen to your instincts,” she exclaimed. “And what your mama taught you.”
They Will Kill You is now playing in theaters.