Kill List review

Hitman Jay (Neil Maskell)hasn’t lifted a trigger finger in eight months. Money’s low, his wife’s (MyAnna Buring) spirits are lower.

Then best buddy/co-killer Gal (Michael Smiley) comes round for a roast and a chat in the basement. He’s been offered a lucrative assignment: kill some people, on a list.

Moral salve? They’re bad people, probably. Besides, it’s time Jay “got back on the horse.”

Anyone who saw jobbing TV director Ben Wheatley’s 2009 feature debut Down Terrace - a galvanising mix of kitchen sink, soap, crime drama, Shakespearean tragedy and piss-taking comedy shot in eight days for £6,000 - will go into his slippery sophomore effort with a toehold on what to expect.

Just don’t be surprised if that toe is then hacked off and sent to you in the mail…

Set in a Sheffield that’s dingy and banal yet infused with the mystic malignancy of the surrounding countryside, Kill List, like revenge, is best served cold.