Kill the Poor is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alan Taylor from a screenplay by Daniel Handler, based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Joel Rose. The film is set in Manhattan's Alphabet City in the early 1980s, when the neighborhood was a center of illegal drug activity. The film's title is inspired by the Dead Kennedys' song "Kill the Poor". Kill the Poor premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on May 9, 2003, and received a limited theatrical release in the United States on January 6, 2006, by IFC Films. It received mixed reviews from critics.