Who’s the f*ckboy? Who’s the potential husband? And who’s the serial-killing psychopath? Those are the questions confronting one woman in new horror-comedy F*** Marry Kill—streaming on Prime Video. As Katie Parker writes, director Laura Murphy delivers the goods in delightfully gamified style.
There’s nothing quite like a good whodunnit. From Miss Marple, to Knives Out, to The Hateful Eight, few genres are quite so enjoyable or engaging as those that assemble a cast of curious and shady characters with whom we, the audience, are in a race against (run)time to categorize as innocent or guilty.
Horror comedy F*** Marry Kill is the latest to try its hand at this most-crowd pleasing of tropes – and with a sharp script, charming performances, and a killer twist, director Laura Murphy delivers the goods in delightfully gamified style.
Lucy Hale stars as Eva, a freshly single – and freshly 30 – woman stuck in a rut. Mourning the end of an eight-year relationship and working a dead-end job editing cheesy family pics for her friend’s photography company, a night out with her besties has her decide that there is no better time to turn over a new leaf, get on the dating apps, and have a little no-strings-attached fun.
Actually, there might be a slightly better time, given the fact that there is a serial killer on the loose seemingly targeting women attempting to find love online. Dubbed the Swipe-Right Killer, little is known about their motives or machinations – only that each victim embarks on a blind date arranged through an app very much like Tinder, only to be discovered dead in the morning, with no sign of a break in and just an empty bottle of rosé to indicate that anything went on the night before.
As a true-crime podcast junkie, Eva is all too aware of the dangers inherent in meeting strange men at night – but with her ex-boyfriend already engaged to someone else and an overbearing sister cramping her style, stepping on the dating scene becomes an act of liberation as well as lasciviousness. In no time, she has dates lined up with three very different eligible bachelors – cute bar-owner Anthony (JayR Tinaco), veterinarian Kyle (Jedidiah Goodacre), and home security system installer Norman (Samer Salem).
But the course of true love never did run smooth – and even less so when women are dropping like flies thanks to a certain serial killer. Soon, Eva starts to suspect each of her dates may be responsible – and her true crime instincts see her investigating each of her suitors.
So which one is it? As Eva gathers clues and divides her dates into three categories: those she would f***, those she would marry, and those who might be better if they shuffled off this mortal coil.
The joy of F*** Marry Kill is in the detective work – and this light, fun, delightfully silly film wisely keeps this front and centre. Does Eva ever actually go to work? How does she afford to live alone in such a nice house? What city is this even set in? None of these things matter in the slightest to F*** Marry Kill, and, honestly, what a relief. Packed full of jokes and never distracted by anything even close to realism, we are along for the ride with true-crime lover Eva.
You might be thinking, in a world where women are pretty familiar with the fear of being murdered by the men they meet online (or anywhere else for that matter), that this sounds slightly glib. Sure, there’s nothing funny about the near constant threat underlying any and all interactions with dudes – but where Murphy finds her best comedic moments are in the moments that wryly acknowledge the way this anxiety has become almost comically banal for many of us ladies.
Eva gets ready for her dates listening to podcast accounts of gruesome murders; her sister tests her readiness for attack by bursting into her house in a ski mask; the mere act of signing up for a dating app invites an onslaught of terrifying yet laughably pathetic messages from weirdos. It’s exaggerated yes, but moments to which many are also ludicrously acclimatized. If you don’t laugh you’ll cry, right?
Making her feature film directorial debut, Murphy – whose experience working with improv actors and stand-up comedians sets her in good stead here – embraces the genre mashup with infectious glee. Hale too proves herself to be a chronically underrated performer, imbuing the, at times, unbelievably dim Eva with lively wit, deft comic timing and surprisingly believable chemistry with each of her suitors.
Joining other recent comedy-horror releases like Heart Eyes and Companion, F*** Marry Kill may not be a cerebral experience, but sets itself apart with a distinctly female perspective that proves that horror, romance and comedy can be excellent bedfellows. Topped off with a twist you won’t see coming, it’s the girls’ night movie we need right now.
