Boy Kills World: A Fun and Twisted Coming-of-Rage Story

By Thom Ernst

Rating: B+

It's a mad, mad post-apocalyptic world, and someone has to kill it.

Or so is the claim of director Moritz Mohr's coming-of-rage film Boy Kills World, a title so easy to confuse with the 90s sitcom Boy Meets World that I would not have thought it odd if its star, Ben Savage, popped up in a cameo.

But as fun as I imagine it would be watching Ben Savage live up to his name, these worlds don't collide—they don't even orbit the same galaxy.

I'm assuming that the world in Boy Kills World is a collapsed version of our own, a barbaric planet now home to myriad comic-book villains, manga heroes, and video game violence. The Boy—ostensibly out to kill the world even though he’s not all bad—is a young man who, as a child, is plucked from the clutches of the reprehensible Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen), the family matriarch of the Van Der Koy dynasty.

Played as a child by twin brothers Nicolas and Cameron Crovetti, Boy witnesses the murder of his mother and beloved sister, Mina (Quinn Copeland). He narrowly escapes death when rescued by a mystical shaman (Yayan Ruhian), but not before having his tongue removed and stakes thrust into his ears.

Under the mentorship of the shaman, fueled by anger and a hope for revenge, Boy trains from a young boy to an invincible warrior.

Boy as adult is played by a buffed and prettified Bill Skarsgård sans the Pennywise make-up worn in IT. Add Skarsgård's Boy to the list of movie marital arts heroes trained by unlikely mentors: David Carradine's Caine from Kung Fu, Uma Thurman's The Bride from Kill Bill, and Jack Black's Po from Kung Fu Panda.

Boy doesn't speak—it goes back to the whole cutting-out-of-the-tongue incident. But Mohr allows access to the unfiltered, unedited thoughts playing out in Boy's mind through a voice-over narration that feels both relevant and disconnected. The narration comedically contrasts the events on screen, rendered even more comedic by a voice that clearly does not belong to Skarsgård.

Comedic voice actor H. Jon Benjamin takes over narrating duties from Skarsgård, who narrated Boy's inner thoughts in a version of the film that played at TIFF's 2023 Midnight Madness. Fans of the adult animated series Archer will recognize Benjamin as Preston Archer's voice. It can be disorienting to hear Benjamin's voice coming from Boy, but it's not a mistake.

Boy Kills World is Mohr’s first feature film, and began as short Mohr co-directed with Arend Remmers. I have not seen the short, but the expanded version does not appear to overextend itself—not all short films need to be features.

A lot happens in Boys Kill World, most of it violent, all it stylized, plenty of it fun. There are even a few surprises.

Mohr appears to be in control even when the film takes wild swipes from the absurd to the dramatic. Still, Boy Kills World works. It can’t hurt having director Sam Raimi’s name to add to the film’s producer credits.

Boy Kills World. Directed by Moritz Mohr. Starring Bill Skarsgård, Famke Janssen, Nicolas and Cameron Crovetti, Quinn Copeland and Yayan Ruhian. In theatres April 26.