'Kill Your Friends' tells the story of an A&R rep who's literally kills his way to get to the top of his field. Stelfox (Nicholas Hoult) is aiming to be the head of A&R at the recording label that he works for, but keeps being shunned for other coworkers. Since this does not sit well with him, his jealous rage turns into a murderous rage and eventually leads to an 'American Psycho' type story.
The film touches on points that sat well with me on a personal level, such as:
- music is terrible - bands are terrible - music and bands are terrible
While I appreciate music, I don't like it. Does that make any sense? Anyways, Stelfox reflects the same thoughts. However, his ambitions of success and taking everyone down in order to get to the top of the ladder are paramount. What ever musical tastes and favourites that he had are long gone.
The story takes place during the high of the BritPop era, way back in 1997. Pretty much all of the music from the era was released during the film's time frame. This includes music from Blur, Radiohead, and others.
It is a good, British comedy to start. As it continues, the film seeps into Stelfox's darker side, and the film ends up in the same realm. Things get nasty at points, including fraud, framing, and blackmail. The story adds to sadistic tendencies and leaves a mark in your memory. While we think about doing these things, it's hard to imagine that we actually act on them.
Again, American Psycho.
