User Reviews

I loved the book. The book is laugh-out-loud funny. The problem with this cinematic adaptation is that there are only a few laugh-out-loud moments. Tone is the problem. The opening sets up the tone as dark and unpleasant and the main character as thoroughly unlikeable. We have to spend an hour and a half with this guy? It's like having to sit beside a racist drunk on a night bus. But it's hard to not like Nicholas Hoult (and the scathing honesty of his character) and the film did grow on me - perhaps like a tumour. There are moments of brilliance and a few great lines (no pun intended) but ultimately the buzz doesn't quite feel worth it.

The movie is all about Steven Stefox (played by Nicholas Hoult), a guy working in the music industry, as a guy that is supposed to discover and sign new bands. He's not very good at his job, so he tries other ways to achieve his goals. I'm not sure why it's also categorized as a comedy because you won't laugh one bit. It's more a crime story with a lot of drugs and a narrating voice describing what to do to make it in the music industry. It's entertaining to watch. Steven is a narcissistic person, addicted to fancy drugs, and doing everything it takes to make it to the top. There are no likable characters in the movie but that's not the point. They are all career driven and very egoistic. Since it is about the music industry you have a lot of tunes, some good ones but also bad ones. It's not a bad movie even though I saw better similar ones.

"Get fucked, you wouldn't last 10 minutes" quips Steven Stelfox (Hoult) right into the camera early on in KILL YOUR FRIENDS, the adaptation of John Niven's 2008 novel. He's aiming this put-down at the viewer as an exclamation of his superiority over us. He wants us to be envious, jealous, maybe even hate him. He's an A&R man in the music business, and he wants us to know that his life is awesome, and ours is not when compared to his. This set-up is then followed by roughly 90 minutes of the sort of drug-taking, jet-flying and partying exploits that could be expected, with the odd merciless killing thrown in for good measure. By the end though, it's difficult to feel envious of him, because when it comes down to it, his life (and by implication; this film) is really not that great.

Set in the year 1997, Stelfox is consistently hunting for the next big thing in music. In doing so, his excessive lifestyle can be permitted to continue. He will stop at nothing to be successful in this business and he's not afraid to step on toes to get there. When even that won't work, there are always... other options.

Nicholas Hoult, at first glance appears too young to play this role. The baby-faced actor is a little difficult to take seriously as a top A&R man when the majority of his colleagues appear at least 10 or 15 years older than him. Hoult however, carries himself nicely in the lead role, doing all that can be reasonably required of him. Unfortunately the issues for KILL YOUR FRIENDS stem from a very unfocused script that never seems to have a chief goal to aim for. The story attempts to make up for this by throwing in some genuinely shocking scenes of violence that will long be the images engrained in people's mind when they think back to this film.

The consistent fourth-wall breaking nature of Stelfox's character, coupled with the ever-present voiceover means we always know exactly what's going on in Stelfox's head. But this doesn't necessarily ensure we always know why he's doing the things he's doing. His eventual foray into murderous tendencies is not handled with any clear focus and subsequently just feels out of character, even for someone with his levels of excess.

John Niven's adapted screenplay is keen to hammer in the point that the music business is full of people, tasked with pulling the strings of artists who all have egos that outweigh their talent by a considerable margin. Niven himself worked in the music business for ten years, so its more than likely his characters are loosely based on real people that he has came across during this time. This adds a certain authenticity to the proceedings here, and it's not exactly too difficult to imagine some of the people were genuinely like this, especially in the 'experimental' 90's music era.

For all the good intentions involved here, KILL YOUR FRIENDS comes across as a distant British second cousin to both THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and AMERICAN PSYCHO, paying homage to both but never really finding its own identity.

I did not know a great deal about Kill Your Friends, didn't even say a trailer. If you are planning to see this movie then don't because what results is a shocking lock into the life of a failing music producer and the lengths he will take to become a success in a harsh industry. A pitch black comedy with a story that was actually a lot more interesting than it sounds.

Nicolas Hoult takes on the lead role, which was the first thing that worried me. The guy is a brilliant actor and in my opinion was the definitive standout as Nux in this summer's Mad Max Fury Road, but its very rare, if ever that we see him in a lead role. In this film, he takes the role and makes it his own which turns out is a very good thing because he made this movie about half of what was enjoyable. From the title you know that this guy is on the edge and could snap at any moment and Hoult makes this so believable. We also get a smaller role from a drugged up James Corden which felt so weird but so right. Every scene we see him in he is snorting cocaine and doing things his regular persona on TV wouldn't dream of. So props to Corden for managing to actually pull this off.

My absolute favourite thing about this movie however, is the soundtrack. We open with Blur's Beetlebum and if you know me you'll know im a real sucker for Britpop so i was happy to hear this and other artists i grew up with throughout including Oasis. The film explores different types of music perfectly,so i can say i am satisfied with that aspect. The black comedy aspect was slightly in your face at times with a police officer character in particular who is so dumb that you just question why he is even on this case, but then you figure out sort of why he is oblivious to this, whether or not intentional by the filmmakers.

Overall, a good British film which deserves more attention than it is getting. I can see where negative reviews may come from especially since the graphic violence sort of comes at you out of nowhere at first. But i recommend seeing this one, don't listen to the terrible reviews and judge for yourself.

This Film tells the story of a record industry talent scout in the 1990's London, who stops at nothing when it comes to career advancement.

Firstly, the music in the film is great because those songs are the songs I grew listening to. Hearing relatively non hit tracks such as "The Private Psychedelic Wheel", or other big hits like "Encore Une Fois" brings back memories of those great years!

Nicholas Hoult is insanely handsome in this film. He's charming and likable even though his character is reminiscent of "American Psycho". That's what make the film very interesting and engaging. I really enjoyed it.

I like Nicholas Hoult enough to check out the movie when I saw the poster at my local theater, plus I became really found of music around the time period the movie takes place in and was a fan of the Britpop thing going on at the time. Also, this is the second time I've seen Hoult do something that was not Superhero or genre (the first being Dark Places, starring Charlize Theron).

Although the title did make it seem like it may be a horror movie. In a way. it is, especially if you seen American Psycho.

Hoult plays a brutally honesty (which makes him very unlikeable) A&R rep for a record label, who's trying to climb to the top of the ladder, at the same time trying to find the next Britpop sensation. He falls under all the clichés of a man trying to reach the top, coping with stress with sex and drugs, all the while trying to be the cool guy in the room. Then we discover how far he will go to climb up that ladder to success, of which the term back stabbing does not fully explain.

It's brilliant as a satire on the music industry as a whole during that time. They go over the bubblegum pop machine that is boy bands and pretentiousness of bands that want to be considered indi, it even pokes fun of the techno scene that was developing and the moment when Hip hop was about to dominate. No stone is left unturn making it a hard hitting poke at whatever category you fit in and really hopes you have a good sense of humor about it.

Holt plays the villainous protagonist that has become popular on TV (like Tony Sprano and Walter White). It's something different than the Awkward but good looking kid he plays in a lot of his movies and he handles that fact that not everyone will fancy his character and keeps it completely true to form.

For everyone who remembers the late 90s and loves stories on the music industry.

'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.

Nicholas Hoult of 'Skins' fame plays Steven Stelfox who is a twenty something 'A and R' man for a London based purveyor of awful music. He is the sort of person the eighties generation of greed produced. He has no soul and is only in it for the money. He knows it is a cut throat business and so decides to take that advice quite literally by doing just that.

Now this is one of those films that has people either raving or seething and I think comparisons to 'American Psycho' have not aided this in gaining the audience it needs. It is a black comedy but the comedy is fairly well rationed out and if you find bad things happening to be about as funny as a sack of dead babies then you will not like this.

The acting is as expected with no stand out performances and no one letting the side down either. James Corden is in it for a while and does his trademark getting his kit off – which is more worn out in terms of mirth than a 'Primark' welcome mat during sale season. Craig Roberts plays an awkward record co 'gofor' and is OK in that too. Hoult is believable and very unlikeable and I think that is the total point. The record industry is full of the sort or folk that you really do not want to be your best buds – even on a multi media social network. It is cut throat but using the vehicle of humour is a very good way to send it up and so I am in between the ravers and the seethers but actually appreciated this film – the good parts outweigh the lesser ones.

Lets start with a positive, the soundtrack is absolutely banging. Even the suck my dick tune sounds good in a club a loud.

Unfortunately that's where the positives end. This really is a horrible, horrible, toxic film. It so badly wants to be the Music Industry version of American Psycho but fails miserably. In fact, the film is just one big miserable ball of moribund. It will bring you down and make you want to leave the cinema 20 minutes in.

The main character who looks about 20, lacks any real conviction in almost every scene. He is so badly miscast that at times I thought I was a watching a Friday Night Hollyoaks. He has zero charisma, zero charm and is far to young to be so cynical. He isn't believable on any level.

Patrick Bateman was a beast, but he was a charming beast, he was smooth and delivered his lines with such comedy that you actually kind of liked his character.

There's zero charm in this film. From the opening scene to the final scene. Its like someone has thrown a bowl of sick over you and it will take 90 minutes to dry.

One of the worst films of 2015.

3 out of 10, 2 of those are for the music

Pretty slick dark comedy a bit similar to American Psycho but set in the British music-scene circa 1997 about a A&R man who'll do anything to get a new hit.

Nicholas Hoult does really well in the lead I thought, doing something really different to anything I've seen him in before which mostly have been American films.

It doesn't have any likable characters but it doesn't really need to, that's not really what this movie is about after all it's a (extreme) satire on the music-business and if you are aware of the 90's music-scene you can easily tell some groups that are being poked fun of, but mostly it's about the people behind the scenes.

I can't really say too much more about it than that as I might end up spoiling something, but yeah it's a pretty cool flick, fairly fast paced and with a rocking 90's soundtrack to match.

I've been a fan of Nicholas Hoult since his Skins days, in my opinion the best written TV series ever! A part of what I like bout Skins is clearly visible in "Kill your friends" as well.

I'm particularly talking about how emotions are portrayed through sound-less party scenes or quiet shots with slower music of busy city life. Contrasts. On the surface, this movie is very much about sex and drugs. But it's really about ambition and life choices.

I also enjoyed the 90's music selection and the fact that the title of the movie makes sense and is over-the-top, but without turning the movie into some silly parody of itself.

I'm constantly surprised that stupid films like this one keep getting made when there's so much better stuff out there that could be adapted for the screen. KILL YOUR FRIENDS is nothing more than an American Psycho rip-off, set in Britain during the booming music scene in the late 1990s. Nicholas Hoult plays a young and ambitious producer who discovers that the best way to get ahead in the business is to murder his rivals.

This was based on a novel I have no interest in reading because this really is terrible entertainment. It's about the most low brow film I can think of, with a script filled with expletives and no wit. Hoult plays a horrible character in a film filled with horrible characters and there really is no reason to watch. It's widely advertised as a gory serial killer type movie when in fact it's very slow paced and murder barely plays a part in the proceedings.

KILL YOUR FRIENDS is a film about unpleasant people made for unpleasant people. I suppose it might have been made as a black comedy but I can truthfully say I didn't laugh once. Hoult has no presence as a leading man; he got away with it in JACK THE GIANT SLAYER because he had plenty of acting heavyweights in support, but here he's completely out of his depth. The less said about James Corden's non-acting style the better. This is one of the few films that I wish I'd never bothered watching.

If you liked the book, then you should enjoy the movie just fine. The issue is the book is not something easily adaptable to become a movie that you could enjoy even if you never read the book and liked it. Some more tweaking could've made this movie a lot more enjoyable to the general audience instead of just taking out the more offensive lines.

At the end of the movie you learned and felt nothing. Just an hour and a half to waste time. Steven Stelfox gives you no reason to understand why he would have friends in the first place. You literally know nothing about Steven beyond his cynical internal monologue about the world. Obviously he's not a likable guy, and he's even more charmless in the book, but it doesn't translate well on screen. That was the biggest issue.

I think all of the actors did a good job, and Nicholas Hoult did a good job of portraying Steven even though I think he was still looking way too young to be that cynical about life. Other than that, I don't think this book should have been a movie, some things are just better off being left as books.

Mr Hoult is really rather good in this piss take of the music industry, or should that be satirical look at the music industry. The pomes or limies may be poor at playing cricket but when it comes to taking the piss there is no one better. Not especially sharp or incisive but brutal and honest and of coarse funny.

'Kill Your Friends' (2015) is adapted from author, John Niven's best-selling novel, and the director, Owen Harris's admittedly darkly humorous take on it strikes a bloodily ambivalent tone right from the off. The satirical black comedy luridly lampooning the self-serving internecine machinations within the music industry, in this especially colourful, dizzily day-glow instance, the ostensibly halcyon-era of Britpop, that mop-headed epoch of plangent, paisley-hued Rickenbacker guitars, blissfully Byrdsian barnetry and foul, incongruently voluminous trews, where the absurdly polemical NME & Sounds took entrenched positions on who should be the victorious, top-Brit-Popper of the week, Suede or Gay Dad, weekly unleashing their splendidly vicious, bipartisan spleen to a largely indifferent world. Curiously we glean little new from the film, since it had always been plainly obvious that those venal, self-serving swine working within the unholy, drug-cloistered walls of the record industry had about as much practical insight on music as Count Dracula had upon the wholly imagined nuances of French wine, and while the vacillating tone is an irksome one, fitfully slipping in and out of amusingly acerbic comedy and then plunging deep into nihilistic splatter vernacular with all the subtlety of a hyperbolic Benny Hill skit, it is this very unpredictability that endows the film with its not inconsiderable charm! So, to recap, music industry bad, music industry people worse, so far, do redundant; but the sparkling, bon-mottled script does have some witheringly dry repartee, those malefic dilettantes of 'Unigram' records frequently spouting some eminently quotable banter in plentiful moments of spleen-venting angst. The nimble electronic score by Junkie X is mostly useful, keeping the febrile narrative bouncing along nicely, and all the performances are well-rounded, featuring an especially exhilarating, demonic turn from ascending star, Nicholas Hoult as the sinisterly scheming, disarmingly cherubic, wholly diabolic, Steven Stelfox, who outwardly looks as though milk wouldn't curdle in his stomach, and yet, fulminating despotically behind that sparse bum fluff roils the power-lusting, vastly murderous, glacial will of a maniacally duplicitous Conservative MP. Horror fans may balk at the lack of explicit gore, comedy fans may find the morbid lapses into slasher territory distasteful, but those singularly twisted individuals who can readily appreciate more fevered, quixotic fare might well savour Steven Stelfox's psychotic pragmatism, relishing his asinine ascent to the top of the music biz, by hook or by crook, and by every double-dealing, twist-headed trick in the book!

It's 1997 London. There's drugs, booze, girls, and more. Steven Stelfox (Nicholas Hoult) is an A&R man at a British record label. He's amoral, desperate for a hit, and ambitious. When his mate Roger Waters (James Corden) gets the promotion to be the head of A&R, he has no choice but to kill and much much worst.

I like this movie about an ugly character. He is dark with no redeeming qualities. This could be even darker. I want Stelfox to sexually harass the Lazies singer at the end after the "lamentations of their women" line. I also want Rebecca's murder to be more viscerally brutal. This is a dark movie and one could enjoy it once you embrace the darkness.

Review: Although this movie is original, I did think that Steven Stelfox (Nicholas Hoult), took his job a bit too seriously and his warped mind and vicious inner mind, led him down some extremely deep paths. In a lot of ways, I did find the movie entertaining and I liked the in depth look into the cutthroat world of being an A&R agent in the music business but I would have chosen someone else to play the lead. That's not to say that Nicholas Hoult is a bad actor or that he didn't give this role his all, it's just that I'm used to his squeaky clean, posh demeanor, which I have seen in his previous movies. He was quite good in the remake of Mad Max and Warm Bodies but I think this movie needed a bit of a bad boy to play Steven Stelfox. With that aside, I liked the whole 90's backdrop and the storyline is well written, in a warped minded type of way. Steven's determination to reach the top, no matter who gets in his way, was interesting throughout and I really didn't know what direction the movie was going to take but I still think that Steven should have been punished for his actions. The fact that no one suspected him for the murders, was a bit far fetched but there were some great performances from James Corden and Ed Skrein, and the soundtrack was great. Watchable! 

Round-Up: It's seems like I have watched Nicholas Hoult, 26, grow up since his first major role in 2002 in About The Boy, because he has become a well respected actor who takes his craft seriously. In 2005 he starred alongside Nicholas Cage in the Weather Man and then he starred in Kidulthood, which went down well with audiences. After starring in the hit series Skins, he turned back to the big screen in movies like a Single Man, Clash of the Titans, X-Men: First Class, Warm Bodies, Jack the Giant Slayer, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Mad Max: Fury Road, so he has taken on different genres in some big budget movies. He's yet to prove that he is a bankable star in a leading role but he still has plenty of time to show gain knowledge in the acting world. This is the first major release from Owen Harris, who has mainly done work for the TV. I personally think that this film was a lot like the hit series Vinyl, which I quite enjoy, so there are some good and bad points about the film.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedy/crime/thrillers starring Nicholas Hoult, James Corden, Georgia King, Craig Roberts, Joesph Mawle, Rosanna Arquette and Jim Piddock. 5/10

I attended the world premier for "kill your friends" at the fantasy film festival in Berlin which was the opening film - and was pleasantly surprised. Usually the open movie is OK, this time it was the best I have seen in the last 15 years going to the fantasy film festival.

I had not read the book on which it is based, had not read the description (as I always go to the opening movie no matter what), so I did not know what to expect.

Kill your friends is about a hotshot in the finding and signing music talent industry who wants to be the department head, however is clueless but very determined. It is an over the top black comedy that has tons of coke and pills, some nudity and gore, and great lines.

I was very entertained and can only recommend the movie. Most likely will get an 16/R rating for the violence, drugs and nudity.