Saagar Kote
‘They Will Kill You’ is the story of Asia Reaves, a woman who takes up a job as a housekeeper at The Virgil, a tall and menacing residential building in Manhattan. Although she appears to be a simple woman who follows her employers’ orders, Asia hides her true intentions. Just like her, the building and its residents have mysteries of their own that could change the new housekeeper’s fate forever. It is revealed that people have gone missing from the building in the past.
When Asia finds out that there is possibly a Satanic cult present within the walls of The Virgil, her situation turns upside down. Stuck in an unfamiliar environment, haunted by her past in unexpected ways, Asia finds herself fighting forces she never imagined. With the residents revealing their true nature and the stakes getting higher and deadlier, Asia is forced to make hard choices and fight against the odds, which might be the difference between life and death in the secretive building. SPOILERS AHEAD.
They Will Kill You Plot Synopsis
Asia Reaves and her younger sister, Maria Reaves, try to escape their violent and physically abusive father. He catches up with them at a convenience store at night, and Asia shoots him to protect her sister. Asia is arrested, while Maria is left behind with him, who is saved by the emergency responders. The narrative picks up a decade later, when Asia reaches The Virgil, a tall and menacing residential building in Manhattan. She is there to be the new housekeeper, and is welcomed by the building manager, Lily Woodhouse, who proudly says the building is over a hundred years old and home to rich and powerful people. That night, while Asia is resting in her assigned bedroom, she hears strange noises and also spots a masked individual stalking her through the air vent. Several masked attackers, including Bob, Kevin, and Sharon, break into her room.
They expect an easy target, but are shocked to learn Asia is armed and knows how to fight. She kills the attackers and corners Lily, demanding to know where Maria is. It is revealed that Asia is there not to work as a housekeeper, but to find and rescue her sister. We also see glimpses of Asia’s past: she picked up combat skills during her time in prison and met a lawyer who investigated Maria’s whereabouts. The lawyer told Asia that Maria is at The Virgil, where strange incidents have happened in the past. Lily also learns that Asia forcibly took Isabelle’s ID card, who had led Maria to The Virgil for potential employment and was supposed to join as the housekeeper. In a shocking moment, the dead attackers begin coming back to life, forcing Asia to escape through the air vents. Kevin and Sharon chase her through the building.
Asia later destroys Sharon’s body with a shotgun blast to the head, but Sharon’s eyeball still moves, and her skin grows back. Asia is then helped by Lily’s husband, Ray, who reveals the truth about The Virgil. He says the building is home to a cult devoted to Satan, and the residents stay immortal by carrying out human sacrifices to Satan. Ray also reveals that Lily hires new housekeepers from time to time and chooses not to kill them if they prove their loyalty and willingness to join the cult of immortality. Thus, the cult lures people in, pretending to offer them money and jobs, but sacrifices some of them to maintain the immortality contract with Satan, and makes some of them housekeepers who could earn immortality if they prove themselves. Asia and Ray move to another floor, not knowing Sharon’s living eyeball is following them.
They soon find Maria, who admits to Asia that she already knows the truth about the building and has no wish to leave. Asia knocks her unconscious, hoping to force her out, but cult members attack them. Asia and Maria escape through a dumbwaiter while Ray is captured by Lily, who is aided by Sharon, whose body is now fully grown again. Maria explains to her sister that she escaped their father shortly before he died of cancer. She survived by working as a toilet cleaner until she got a job at The Virgil. Though she was meant to be sacrificed, she was spared and now enjoys the comfort and safety the building provides. Lily orders all residents and staff to hunt down the sisters. Maria briefly helps Asia by stopping one attacker, but she is captured again.
Asia fights through the building and kills many cult members with a burning axe. The sisters attempt to escape through the elevator shaft and reach the fire escape. Before they can get out, Lily and the remaining cultists surround them. Lily then reveals the final condition for Maria to gain immortality. To secure her place in The Virgil forever, Maria must sacrifice Asia. Maria was originally supposed to sacrifice Isabelle, who led her towards The Virgil, the same woman whose ID Asia stole to pretend to be a housekeeper. However, with Isabelle not present, Maria must kill her own sister to finally gain immortality and become a cult member forever.
They Will Kill You Ending: Do the Immortal Cultists Die? How?
Asia learns that Maria has made a deal with Satan to gain immortality and join the Satanic cult permanently by sacrificing a human being. This shocks the elder sister, who never imagined such a situation would unfold. As Lily and her fellow cultists try to grab Asia, she steps back and accidentally falls down the old elevator shaft. For a second, it looks like she will die after hitting the ground, and avoid being a sacrifice to Satan. Before Asia can hit the ground, Bob, one of the cultists, catches her. This is the same person who was chasing Maria and Asia up the elevator shaft earlier. Having captured Asia, Lily and her people take the sisters to the shrine of the Pig’s head, placed on a stick. Lily also lightly stabs Asia before walking into the shrine.
This head is the one that acts as a host for Satan’s spirit, and the names of all the cultists who enjoy immortality are written on it. Satan appears from a portal-like mechanism and enters the Pig’s head, allowing the severed head to smell, see, and speak. The Pig erases Ray’s name from the immortality list for helping Asia and then commands Lily to kill him. Despite her love for her husband, Lily kills Ray by slicing his throat. The Pig commands Maria to kill Asia and stay true to her pact to offer a human sacrifice. The Pig also orders the younger sister to write her name, so that she can gain immortality. Maria goes up to the Pig’s head and writes her name, after which she turns to Asia and apologizes for her actions. In a shocking moment, Maria slashes her own throat and chooses to spare her sister.
It is revealed that Maria discreetly wrote Asia’s name on the Pig’s head, making her immortal. Before dying, Maria tells her sister to hurt the other cultists. Now immortal, Asia slices the part of the Pig’s head’s skin where her name is written and keeps it with her. Asia starts fighting Lily and the cultists, putting her combat skills to good use. After a series of brutal close-range fights, Asia manages to inflict significant damage on the cultists. Lily wears the Pig’s head and gains more power. Asia and Lily engage in extreme brutality, but the former gains the upper hand. She removes the Pig’s head from Lily’s head and then impales Lily on the stick that was used to hold the Pig’s head.
Asia takes the Pig’s head and pours kerosene on it, following which she torches the head, erasing everyone’s names from the list of immortality. After this, Lily and the other cultists who were injured during the fight against Asia instantly die. Asia places the burning Pig’s head on a trolley and sends it down the elevator shaft. Thus, the immortal cultists who dared to fight Asia die in a gruesome manner. Despite everything stacked against her, Asia’s combat abilities make it possible for her to achieve this.
Does Asia Escape From The Virgil? What Happens to the Pig’s Head?
The Pig’s head goes down the elevator shaft, and Asia picks up her sister’s corpse. She then walks towards the remaining cultists in the building, as they look on in fear. Though it seems for a moment that the other cultists will fight Asia, they choose not to after she warns them of the potential consequences. Having seen Asia’s extraordinary fighting skills, the cultists stay still and let her go, with Maria’s corpse. Asia walks to the exit door and makes use of Lily’s card to open it. Asia exits and is greeted by bright sunshine as she steps out onto the street. Meanwhile, the Pig’s head explodes within the building, ending its role in the immortality contract between the residents of The Virgil and Satan.
This is a poignant moment in the narrative, showing how a simple act of bravery can sometimes lead to devastating consequences for long-held beliefs. Though the other residents of The Virgil are still alive, they will now have to remember what Asia did to their legacy single-handedly and even destroyed a body capable of hosting Satan. Asia’s escape from The Virgil is revolutionary, as nothing like this has ever happened in the building’s long and dark history of secrecy, human sacrifices, and deception through promises of eternity.
Is Maria Mortal or Immortal? What Happens to the Pig’s Skin?
After stepping out of The Virgil, Asia takes Maria’s corpse and heads towards her lawyer, who is also her private investigator. The unnamed lawyer waits for her by the car and helps her place Maria’s corpse in the backseat. As Asia and the lawyer sit in the front, the latter is curious about what happened inside. In an almost unbelievable moment, Maria wakes up, and her slashed throat begins to heal. The lawyer is scared to see Maria alive and well. This is a pivotal part of the story, as it introduces a new mystery that could significantly impact Maria and Asia’s futures. It is revealed that Asia erased her name from the Pig’s skin during the fight, added Maria’s name in its place, and kept the piece of skin. Though the Pig‘s head is destroyed, the skin still survives and appears to move in Asia’s hand.
This indicates that the skin is still “alive” and capable of maintaining Maria’s immortality contract. Since Maria’s name is the only one written on the Pig’s skin, it can be presumed that she is now effectively immortal. What makes the skin still work is the possibility that Satan’s powers are still intact. The Pig’s head is merely a vessel to communicate Satan’s will. Satan’s real power and ability to control the immortality contract are still intact. Unless someone erases Maria’s name from the skin, she will continue enjoying immortality. The Pig’s skin is now a very important object with the power to alter fate, break the cycle of life and death, and possibly lead vulnerable souls into temptation.
Will Asia Pursue Immortality? Will the Satanic Cult Continue to Exist?
Asia goes through pain and desperation to save her sister from the clutches of The Virgil’s Satanic cult. As a free woman at the end of the narrative, she still has possession of the Pig’s skin. Though the story ends here, it is highly likely that the skin will continue to tempt whoever learns of its powers. Asia is a strong woman who cares for Maria above all else. Despite the power of the skin, she will likely choose not to pursue immortality, as this would mean that her sister’s name has to be erased. If Asia chooses immortality, she will have to live according to the wishes of Satan and stop being a free soul. Having struggled due to her abusive father’s behavior in the past, Asia will presumably value her freedom more than anything else. She is not going to let Satan or anyone else dictate how she has to live.
Essentially, the narrative is a powerful commentary on female liberation and the meaning of life and death. Now that the Pig’s head doesn’t exist, the cult within The Virgil will probably have to find a new body to host Satan whenever he wishes to communicate with the human world. Although Asia’s actions inflicted damage on the cult, it will still continue to exist, since Satan’s resolve cannot easily be quelled. More human sacrifices will be made in the future, and a new host will likely be found. Asia might choose to fight the entire cult in the future, which could lead to greater chaos and action. If a future battle indeed takes place, the cult will be under greater threat, as Asia already knows its weaknesses and strengths.
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