The Killing of a Sacred Deer

2017 • 121 minutes

About this movie

Dr. Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon presiding over a spotless household with his ophthalmologist wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and their two exemplary children, 12-year-old Bob (Sunny Suljic) and 14-year-old Kim (Raffey Cassidy). Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin (Barry Keoghan), a fatherless teen who Steven has covertly taken under his wing. As Martin begins insinuating himself into the family’s life in ever-more unsettling displays, the full scope of his intent becomes menacingly clear when he confronts Steven with a long-forgotten transgression that will shatter the Murphy family’s domestic bliss. Lanthimos has crafted a sensational thriller brimming with unsettling humor and creeping dread, steeped in Greek tragedy, existential horror, Hitchcockian psychodrama, and riveting suspense. Darting confidently between genres to subvert our expectations at every turn, The Killing of a Sacred Deer firmly cements Lanthimos in the pantheon of world-class auteurs and marks him as a cinematic provocateur without precedent.

Ratings and reviews

An interesting premise for a story that's wasted by being told through a pretentious art-house lens. It's slow, it's boring, and, as is typical with these types of movies, it abruptly just sort of ends with no satisfactory conclusion. Every single character (Every. Single. Character) acts like a wooden puppet. All dialogue from all characters is spoken like they're imitating Microsoft Sam. The whole movie feels like I'm trapped in an art gallery where every painting is just a red dot on a white canvas, and the curator is trying to convince me that it's "art". It's not art - it's pretentious and boring, and I want it out of my face. Don't watch this if you value your time.

Pretentious! Oh my, how this movie was boring, boring, boring! And then … yep … boring again. I normally don’t do these reviews on movies, but I just want to try and save some people, their money and their time. It was unrealistic, poorly acted and a ridiculous storyline. It was slow, uninteresting, and the robotic way that everyone talked in the movie was so annoying! That is two hours of my life I will never get back. What a horror show of a movie.

Long, boring, awkwardly acted (on purpose I supposed), and meaningless. If there wasn't a dog in the movie there would be no likable characters. Some people will point to this film and laud it for its unique retelling of an old Greek play, which I give it credit for, but it's hardly a reason to offer any sort of praise. If you're looking for a horror movie, you won't find it here. If you want a thriller, look somewhere else. Acting? No dice. I can't figure out who this film caters to other than those with a free Google Play credit looking to scratch their heads incessantly.