Overlook Film Festival – Kill Your Lover is a break-up movie with a sharp punk rock edge and body horror. It’s a story about a couple that are absolutely no good for each other and a relationship that’s well past its sell date. However, sometimes getting out isn’t always so easy. As the old cliche goes, breaking up is hard to do.

Written and directed by Alix Austin and Keir Siewert, the film follows polar opposites Dakota (Paige Gilmour) and Axel (Shane Quigley-Murphy). For whatever reason, the two start dating and move out of Dakota’s dingy apartment to a swanky pad that Axel purchases for them. The relationship moves rapidly, even though the two are nothing alike. Dakota used to play in a punk band. She dresses in black and smokes. A wall in her apartment is adorned with pictures of her punk rock friends, which annoys the strait-laced and controlling Axel, who questions why there’s no pictures of them yet. He also accuses her of having slept with all her friends, while she slams him for changing her and snuffing out her individuality.

From the get-go, it’s obvious this relationship is doomed. Dakota still clings to her punk rock days. She wants to go out with friends, party, and listen to loud music late at night. Axel and even his mom question how she’s going to land a job with blue hair and tattoos. Why the two even start dating isn’t quite clear. Was it merely the sex that made Dakota stay? Was she his project, someone he hoped to mold? As the runtime progresses, the film balances the present, specifically the relationship’s breaking point, with flashbacks that underscore various strains that led to the current crisis point. We see the evolution and disintegration of their relationship.

The film also has some gnarly body horror, after Axel catches something that, well, makes his body excrete an oily looking substance that burns Dakota’s skin if he touches her. Oh, and he’s contagious. The illness worsens, as does Axel’s abuse. In fact, by the last 30 minutes, he becomes quite terrifying. There are a few gory kills here as well. Hats off to the special effects team for such a good job with the body horror bits.

While this film does raise a few questions and contains one or two plot holes about the illness and its effects, it does bolster strong acting from its two leads. By the end, each gives an explosive performance that raises the stakes. You start to wonder if either character will make it out of the relationship alive. The narrative also handles each character’s point of view well, making the widening cracks in the relationship more than a simple black or white issue.

Kill Your Lover has plenty of punk rock spirit and more than one grotesque body horror sequence. It’s a break-up movie where the stakes feel very real and deadly.

The film was recently acquired by MPI Media Group/ Dark Sky Films and played the Overlook Film Festival.

7 Out of 10