The film takes place in the fictional town of Salem,[11][12] which devolves into chaos and violence after a computer hacker discovers and leaks personal secrets about many of its residents.

Assassination Nation had its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 21, and was released theatrically in the United States on September 21.

[13] In the town of Salem, high school senior Lily Colson regularly hangs out with her three best friends, Bex Warren, and sisters Em and Sarah Lacey.

They go to a party where Bex hooks up with her crush Diamond, while Lily hangs out with her boyfriend Mark, simultaneously texting a man only known as Daddy behind his back.

Nick, now leading a mob of vigilantes in masks, captures Marty, whom they torture into admitting that Lily's IP address seemed to be the source of the hacks.

Nick at first pretends to help Lily before brandishing a knife, intending to rape her to death for exposing the townspeople's secrets and causing the disintegration of his marriage and family.

Lily makes a video proclaiming her innocence and urging everyone in Salem to stand up and fight back against their tormentors; she is soon joined by a crowd of victims who are suspected by the mob for wronging them with the hacks.

In October 2016, Matthew Malek and Anita Gou launched the independent label Foxtail Entertainment, with the duo announcing Sam Levinson's Assassination Nation as their first project; David S. Goyer and Kevin Turen joined them to produce the film.

[16] In March 2017, Bella Thorne, Maude Apatow, Bill Skarsgård, Joel McHale, Colman Domingo, and Noah Galvin joined the cast.

Along with Morricone, Hultquist singled out influence from Marco Beltrami's soundtrack for Scream and Cliff Martinez’s "dark synth stuff", as well as taking inspiration from pop songs by Air, Kanye West, Lana Del Rey, Migos and BTS.

A particular turning point for composition was when Levinson received from his friend Isabella Summers, who Hultquist also met as their bands Florence and the Machine and Passion Pit toured together, the song "Rage", which ended up in the soundtrack.

[1] In the United States, Assassination Nation was released alongside The House with a Clock in Its Walls, Life Itself and Fahrenheit 11/9 and did poorly in theaters.

[28] NEON's chief Tom Quinn acknowledged the film's unsatisfactory box office performance, saying "Sam Levinson has created a bold, visionary and ultimately cathartic response to the dumpster fire that is 2018.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Assassination Nation juggles exploitation and socially aware elements with mixed results, but genre fans may find it too stylish and viscerally energetic to ignore.