The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Movie, 2017, R

Premise - Based upon the Greek myth, a surgeon is accidentally responsible for the death of one of his patients on the operating table. The deceased man's son decides to take revenge and threatens the surgeon to choose one of his family members to kill (either his wife or one of his two kids) or he will slowly kill all three of them.

Review - I'm still not sure how I feel about this movie... yet after several hours, I'm still thinking about it... so I suppose my overall impression must be positive? The Killing of a Sacred Deer is definitely one of the creepiest, most disturbing movies I have seen in my lifetime. Yet, at the same time, it is also incredibly beautiful. There are some stunningly unique shots, and gorgeously unsaturated color schemes. The friend I was watching this film with actually paused the movie a few times just to take a screenshot of its brilliance.

I ended this film with an overwhelming feeling of "What?!?!" so of course I had to do my research. I read one film review which called the film's style a modernized Hitchcock, and now I cannot get that frighteningly accurate comparison out of my brain. The movie is not a traditional horror in the sense that there are no jump scares. Instead, the film is just creepy. Even the situations themselves, when isolated, are not creepy. The tension comes from the the addition of constantly suspenseful, never-resolving music that accompanies the character interactions, along with either eerily distant or close-up and suffocating shots. That is very Hitchcock-esque. The film also has a tendency to zoom in and out of shots (not pan in with the camera, but literally zoom in). These are not Hitchcock zooms, per say, but that very unique technique reminded me of Hitchcock nonetheless.

The "modernized" part is that this film has far more controversial subject matter than an old Hitchcock movie ever could. The dialogue is quiet, monotone, distant, yet often includes horrific subject matter (one time a character just casually admits he sexually assaulted his father while he was sleeping?!) and equally horrific actions. The teenage girl talks about her period, the teenage boy and doctor compare arm hair... everything is just uncomfortable and weird and taboo. Most taboo of all, of course, is the actual premise itself. The father literally weighs pros and cons for which family member to kill, and the family members each try to leverage themselves to make them more worthy of staying alive (i.e. the mother sexualizes herself to her husband more, and insists that if they kill one of the kids, they can always have another).

So here we have a film that was highly successful in terrifying its audience. But what does it all mean? Unfortunately, the answer is nothing. The premise is based on a Greek myth, and this is a modern adaptation of the same concept. It reminds me of many theoretical ethics problems that are near impossible to solve. However, the conclusion of the film is unsatisfying. Actually, it's horrifying. Spoiler alert, but the father blindfolds himself, spins around in a circle, and shoots one of his family members at random. He ends up killing his youngest son, who is arguably the most pure character. The teenage daughter is psychotic and in love with the boy who is killing them all, and the mother clearly does not have her priorities straight. The rest of the family lives, but there is no lesson to be learn, or no conclusion to be drawn. Even the director, and Colin Farrell (the main actor) admits that there is no meaning. The director had the concept in his head and acted on instinct.

In many ways, the film exists entirely without logic. The whole time, I was thinking "GO TO THE POLICE!!!" but this is never even considered. Moreover, we never get an explanation for how the boy was even killing the family. It is unclear whether he used some sort of medical drug, or if he was a supernatural force, or even used hypnosis. There is a lot left unsaid, but considering how dark this movie was, maybe its preferable that I don't know what sick explanation could have been thought up by the writer's twisted mind. The best way to watch this film is in a highly detached way, appreciating the art, preferably watching it on a small screen so it's not overly terrifying, and with another person to break the tension. (74/100)

Quote - "You know, not long after my dad died, someone told me that I eat spaghetti the exact same way he did. They said what an extraordinary impression this fact had made on them. Look at the boy, look how he eats spaghetti. Exactly the same way his father did. He sticks his fork in. He twirls it around, around, around, around, around. Then he sticks it in his mouth. At that time, I thought I was the only one who ate spaghetti that way. Me and my dad. Later, of course, I found out that everyone eats spaghetti the exact same way. Exact same way, exact same way. This made me very upset. Very upset. Maybe even, um, more upset than when they told me he was dead." - As this quote was being delivered, I literally thought to myself, 'That's how everyone eats spaghetti...' so I'm glad that was the punchline ahaha

If you liked this movie, I'd recommend Vertigo!

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Distributed by A24