If there’s one trade sector that’s almost uniformly shat upon in film, then its the American pharmaceutical industry – responsible for a crisis so widespread that it made us root for a literal serial killer in the 2023 prequel Saw X.
Down to do some more shitting is Illya Konstantin’s Night of Violence, in which a group of masked killers descend upon an office party at Big Pharma to dole out bloody vengeance.
With a title like that, certain expectations are set, and Night of Violence initially lives up to the promise. As its killers get down to business, short work is made of the office drones caught in their path, leaving only a small group of survivors trying to escape.
This includes angsty Elliott (Kit Lang) and the Pam to his Jim, Janelle (Abria Jackson). What they see in each other is unclear, but they’re preferable to his crude pal Rudy (Vince Benvenuto) and obnoxious Blake (Russ Russo). Together, the group must fight their way toward an exit… if only they knew where that was.
After a strong but entirely out-of-place opening sequence, Konstantin and co-writer Christopher Lang forget to settle on a unified tone, veering between broad comedy-horror and bleak slasher film. One minute, a terrified guy is farting on a toilet; the next Janelle is talking Elliott down from a panic attack using CBT techniques.
The film also lacks the courage to properly condemn its characters, choosing to err on the side of bothsidesism rather than sticking to its guns. Maybe if its killers had bothered to properly target Big Pharma rather than just a bunch of low-level office workers? Instead, the wronged little guy is mostly just picking on another, relatively blameless, little guy.
There’s some fun to be had here, but Night of Violence is too much like hard work.
NIGHT OF VIOLENCE premiered at UK FrightFest on August 21st, 2025.
READ MORE: The FrightFest digest 2025
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