Don’t Kill It
USA 2016
Written by Dan Berk & Robert Olsen
Directed by Mike Mendez
Watched on 01.10.2016

“Don’t Kill It” was a lot of fun. Silly, trashy, violent, and very entertaining, it’s exactly what I hoped for after the torturous, insufferable “Greasy Strangler”. It offered a couple of really funny moments (like the hilarious bit where the police tries to drag Jebediah out of the Sheriff’s office, while he goes on and on with his monologue), cool scenes and great one-liners, and also features a Dolph Lundgren in top form. It seems like he did have a great time shooting it, and the movie definitely profits from his engaged performance.

I also really liked the basic idea behind the movie, which makes for an interesting threat. How do you defeat a demon and defend against the people who are possessed by it if you’re not allowed to kill his hosts, as killing them makes the demon take over the killer’s body? (Hence the title.) That was a great and fascinating idea. I also liked that this time (and in contrast to his previous feature, “Big Ass Spider!”, which was PG-13) Mike Mendez doesn’t shy away from blood and gore (which, in my opinion, is an essential part of trashy B-movies like this – and one of the main reasons why, despite its great concept and a couple of hilarious scenes, the “Sharknado”-movies never really reached their full potential). The scene in the church was especially gory, and arguably the highlight of the movie. Everything that came afterwards, while still entertaining, didn’t reach quite the same heights. Also, the story isn’t particularly sophisticated, the acting so-so, and the characters, apart from Jebediah (who was great, not least thanks to Lundgren), rather bland, uninteresting and clichéd. Still, it was very entertaining, with a neat concept, many hilarious moments, and Dolph Lundgren in probably his best role to date.

Overall, “Don’t Kill it” is a good bad movie. It knows exactly what it wants to be, and doesn’t pretend to be anything else than trashy B-horror-fun – something it excels in.
7/10

IMDB