Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Boy Kills World 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 15, 2024

There's one really intriguing sleight of hand (and/or mind) that takes place partway through Boy Kills World that reveals a certain commendable level of ingenuity, and that one moment may be enough to offset an otherwise pretty rote exercise that is another example of unbridled ambition to seemingly create a live action film version of a video game. It's maybe just a little ironic, then, that Boy Kllls World evidently actually sparked the creation of a video game, but even without that "sidebar" tie in offering, the film may engender a certain hopelessness in younger male viewers in particular who may momentarily wonder why they can't move focal character Boy (Bill Skarsgård) around with a PlayStation controller or something similar. It's probably salient to note that co-story writer and director Moritz Mohr pretty much identifies himself as a "gamer", which is probably all anyone really needs to know about the general outlines of this story, as well as its hyperbolic presentational aspects.

Among the undeniably cliché ridden aspects to Boy Kills World is its dystopian future setting with an authoritarian leader, though at least in this case maybe there's a bit of innovation (if not much, when you think of efforts like The Divergent Series' main antagonist) by offering a female villain, Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen). A plot point reminiscent of everything from Shirley Jackson's The Lottery to more contemporary (and once again dystopian) efforts like The Hunger Games includes an annual "culling" where Hilda and her charges kill selected townspeople, for no really apparent reason than to provide the film with conflict.

It's probably unsurprising when an early reveal documents the fact that Boy's own mother and sister were murdered in just such a fashion, with Boy standing right there, watching, which has in turn led to a traumatized deaf-muteness. In a rather interesting segue which actually may be a bit of subterfuge once that above mentioned moment of ingenuity enters the fray, a Shaman (Yayan Ruhian) rescues Boy and begins schooling him in martial arts, with the obvious intent to at some point take down Hilda and the rest of the Van Der Koy clan. Meanwhile, Boy continues to fantasize that his sister Mina (Quinn Copeland) is still alive and is actually "aiding" him in his quest, perhaps as only a little sister can. To say that this initial setup is at least partially turned on its head is probably enough to indicate that things are indeed not exactly as they seem in this already unreal, cartoonish environment.

With that one putative "big twist" aside, the rest of the story offers bizarre character bits for the rest of the Van Der Koy family, portrayed by Brett Gelman, Michelle Dockery and Sharlto Copley. Boy gets a little assistance along the way from a hanger on named Basho (Andrew Koji) in particular, a character whose name attains a certain "new, improved" meaning in an early vignette where he unwittingly takes out a potential informer. Another character with the unlikely name June 27 (Jessica Rothe) also ends up playing into the tale in a supposedly surprising way. The basic culling aspect of the story is so derivative (down to and including a "broadcast" that is marketed much like in that Suzanne Collins franchise) that whatever "innovations" the film may attempt to offer probably ultimately fall by the wayside. There is style in abundance here, though even that can seem like a cut and paste job from any number of other similarly "video game"-ized films.

Boy Kills World 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 disc included in this package.

Boy Kills World is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. As of the writing of this review, the IMDb doesn't offer much in the way of technical data points, and the closing credits roll also don't disclose a camera, but this is an appealing digital capture that perhaps due to the film's lackluster box office has not even been granted HDR in this format. As such, all of the detail positives of the 1080 version are probably at least marginally improved in this increased resolution, but the palette is pretty similar looking throughout (though I guess an argument could be made that suffusion at least looks a bit better here, even if highlights aren't materially altered). The emphasis on "jiggly cam" as well as certain stylistic flourishes like those seen in screenshot 4 can lead to intermittent loss of fine detail, but that is probably counterbalanced by an emphasis on close-ups, where fine detail on facial features can be exceptional. Again, while not markedly different from the 1080 presentation, the palette pops nicely, though my hunch is HDR might have helped elucidate a bit more shadow detail in some of the rainy forested scenes in particular.

Boy Kills World 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Boy Kills World features a nicely immersive Dolby Atmos track that provides clear engagement of all surround channels in both the action scenes, but also in terms of nicely enveloping ambient environmental effects in some of the training material in particular. The hand to hand combat scenes offer some of the most noticeable emanations from the Atmos speakers, and both scoring and source cues also offer some good surround moments. LFE can be quite forceful. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Boy Kills World 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Total Bedlam: Making Boy Kills World (HD; 17:15) is a fun EPK with some good behind the scenes footage and interviews.


• Winter Wonderland (HD; 00:37) is a very brief look at the setting for the culling TV show.


• F**cked Up Fairytale (HD; 00:37) is another super short series of snippets from the film.


• Martial Arts (HD; 00:39) is another quasi-trailer like the above two, this one focusing on the action side of things.


• Bill Skarsgard Training (HD; 1:20) features an interview along with action moves.


• Bill and Yayan (HD; 1:02) features Boy and Shaman.


• Trailer 1 (HD; 2:32)


• Trailer 2 (HD; 2:15)

A digital copy is included and packaging features a slipcover.

Boy Kills World 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Lionsgate doesn't really seem to be promoting this release in any major (or frankly even minor) way, as I received absolutely no PR hype whatsoever about this film. It's probably not hard to see why, as it evidently tanked pretty badly at the box office, and despite lots of energy is probably simply too obviously reminiscent of any number of other properties to be able to attain its own distinctive identity. This 4K release might have been a real winner with HDR, since the visual are so stylish, but this may be a case where for fans the 1080 version should suffice perfectly well enough.