The Killing of Sacred Deer (2017) | Arthouse in the Uncanny Valley.

" What's in the Box!?" -Se7en(1995)

 "Anna Murphy: You have beautiful hands. I never noticed before. Everyone's been telling me lately what beautiful hands you have and now I can see for myself, nice and clean. But so what if they're beautiful? They're lifeless. Sometimes Steven, you're just an incompetent man who goes on and on saying stupid things like, "Let's do a scan. Let's do an ultrasound. Let's wear brown socks. Let's make mashed potatoes. Let's go to the beach house."

Steven Murphy: Excuse me?

Anna Murphy: Our two children are dying in the other room, but yes, I can make you mashed potatoes tomorrow." 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a psychological thriller directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and co-written by Efthymis Filippou. It was produced by Film4 Productions and Element Pictures and was distributed by A24 in the states and by Curzon Artificial Eye in the U.K. It is available on Netflix. TKOASD stars the acting talents of Colin Farrell (Steven Murphy), Nicole Kidman (Anna Murphy), Barry Keoghan (Martin Lang), Raffey Cassidy (Kim Murphy),  and Sunny Suljic (Bob Murphy). For a Full list of Cast and Crew. 

Art House refers to films that are created for artistic expression rather then commercial success. Often these films are highly symbolic or allegorical and like other forms of "high art" often are a bit unaccessible to a broad audience. In recent years a sub-genre of art films has re-emerged appropriately titled art horror combining the robust language of cinematography and cinema and combining it with horror plots. Some notable examples of this are recent horror blockbusters Get Out(2017), Midsommar(2019), and Parasite(2019) as well as older movies such as the Original Wicker Man (1973) and The Babadook(2014), (this is actually a great example of allegory in art films as many people see The Babadook as a allegory for the mother's grief). Lanthimos is well known for his art house style and TKOASD is a culmination of many of his quirks. I want to disclaim now that if you are not a fan of art films or prefer a movie with a clear concise movie without the monotony of navel gazing this movie is not for you however if you would like to broaden your horizons keep reading. 

Another aspect of the film was its taking inspiration from Iphigenia at Aulis by Greek Playwright Euripides. While the film is (very) loosely based on the play I thought it might be helpful to provide a plot synopsis for context. I could do it myself but this video by Overly Sarcastic Productions explains it better and more sarcastically than I ever could. So enjoy!

Before getting into the meat of the review I wanted to stress that despite what the marketing implies The Killing of a Sacred Deer is not a horror movie. It can be generously be called a psychological thriller through if we're being honest listing it as a drama would have a more accurate connotation. While it does have disturbing imagery and an unnerving atmosphere the film itself is not scary nor with its glacial slowburn pace be described as thrilling. This being said the movie is good in what it is but to consider it a horror film would be erroneous as well as degrading to the experience. 

Now enough of that. What's the effing movie about Ryen?

The Good Stuff                                      

Stephen Murphey is a skilled heart surgeon living his best life fixing people heart problems, not being an alcoholic, and being a loving family man to his two children: his tweenage daughter Kim whose into singing and losing her MP3 Players, and Bob whose character arc mostly focuses on him cutting his hair. Rounding out the family dynamic is Anna, his wife, who not only being in the top of her field in her own medical specialty is also one of the few dynamic characters of the film. Stephen has befriended a young teenage boy by the name of Martin, who he feels guilty for killing his father on the operating table. Martin is needy to saw the least and this is exasperated by his mother wanting to bone down on the man who killed her husband. Stephen's youngest child Bob becomes paralysed one day and this is when Martin reveals the big chestnut that drives the rest of the film. Basically through some kind of art house wizardry Martin has cursed his family to die of consumption unless he "sacrifices" one of them to atone for the death of Martin's father. 

Now for some criticism. All shade aside I do believe that Lanthimos's characters are well realized on screen despite their lack of deep characterization. In Lanthimo's previous work The Lobster(2015), the characters obsession with superficial traits built into the commentary and worldbuilding however when applying the concept TKOASD it distracts from more interesting characterization. These flat characters add to the general atmosphere of the film, (more on that later), but for the most part don't bring much to the table in terms of drama or character growth.

 Another aspect I was unimpressed by was the progression of the sickness. We are told that the characters will eventually die but besides the children's paraplegia the actually effects of the illness were not shown enough for effect. While watching the film I was constantly reminded of Jovanka Vuckovic's excellent short film adaptation of Jack Ketchum's "The Box", (which premiered the same year as TKOASD in the horror anthology XX). In it a mother watches as a consumptive illness spreads through her family forcing them to starve to death. Vuckovic manages to instill horror and unease with an eerily similar illness in 20 minutes then Lanthimos does with more symptoms and a two hour runtime. If we are being honest the lack of horror or really visibility, (besides a few scenes of the children crawling down the stairs), their illnesses is one of the biggest disappointments of the film. 

                                      

Now that I've mentioned it let's discuss the run time. It clocks in at 121 minutes or just a bit after two hours of screen times. Now it should go without saying that there are fantastic, captivating, movies that just so happen to have a run time, (i.e Pulp Fiction(1994) [154 Min], Shawshank Redemption(1994) [142 Min], The Matrix(1999) [136 Min], and Brokeback Mountain(2005) [134 Min]), but TKOASD is not one of them. It's in this reviewer humble opinion that Lantimos could take a page out of Zawiny's playbook and cut out some of the filler. (I mean did we need that much discussion about watch bands. No. No we did not.). 

While I will admit that I have not completely consumed Lanthimos entire filmography, I can honestly say that his idiosyncrasies in directing are incredible strong in this film. Lanthimos signature deadpan dialogue is apparent in the film as the cast speaks in deadpan unlilting passages often on incredible banal topics. Also featured are numerous vastly inappropriate sex discussions, (the "Secrets" game was memorable disturbing), as well as more dispassionately not-in-the-slightest-bit-titilating sex scenes (Stephen's kink is apparently roleplaying fucking comatose patients and it's super fucking creepy). I will say being a horror film there was a lack of his "Pitch Black" Humor in this film but many of his other quirks rage rampart. It's clear that Lanthimos is not the most accessible director in the bunch and for the uninitiated TKOASD might be a bit too off the wall. That being said I want to share this article by Danielle Ryan from SlashFilms.Com which discusses in detail Lanthimos directorial style and filmography for those that are interested. 

Now I realize that this article has taken a turn to the negative so I wanted to discuss the positives about the film. 

Emotions are complicated and the ways that we can elicit spontaneous emotion are myriad and complex. In the same way that there is no perfect way to make someone laugh there is also no perfect way to make someone afraid. I feel it would be wrong to call this movie scary, (and no offense to Joey Keogh of Wicked Horror, while I think the spaghetti scene was one of the best parts of the film, calling it "terrifying" is beyond hyperbolic). Nor with its drawn out glacial pace can the efforts of terror be properly used. The best synonyms I can give is eerie or better yet Uncanny. Imagine if you will a film where the actors speak in monotone stark sentences. There faces are expressionless and they say hurtful terrible things to each other with emotionless deaden eyes. Like a dollhouse after a fire all the pieces are technically there but the stroke-stricken mannikins continue their house playing with a disturbing gimp. This is Lanthimos interpretation of horror a not traditional scary but overall disturbing portrayal of family drama and sacrifice. Without this sickly atmosphere the film wouldn't be as half as good as it is.

Another great aspect of the film is of course the technical direction, (after all this is a ART film), from the cold open of a Living, Beating, Heart the film moves into even more clever camera work and framing. Much of the shot composition is reminiscent of the acting showing cold, sterile, hospital walls and unfeeling architecture. These shots are a purposeful homage to the work of  Edward Hopper and are reminiscent of the Urban Isolationism* that Hopper is known for. The connotations of unease and loneliness, (while having a different motive than the original artwork), help add to the overall atmosphere of the movie. Let's be clear TKOASD is an art film so it should come as no surprise that the film is stunning and beautifully shot. 

I can best describe the scoring of the film as innovative. The majority of the scoring consists of a variety of atonal sounds from tea kettle whistling to a variety of ominous synths. Besides the eccentric and ultimately unique sound design there is a lack of traditional scored music or a soundtrack. However we do get to hear the daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy) sing "Burn" by Ellie Goulding, (which tops my list of songs that I wouldn't expect in a horror film), and Carol of the Bells. The singing was a nice touch but in my opinion adds little to the already polished sound design. 

Lanthimos is not the most accessible director. Fans of traditional horror and those who have no interest in the hoighty-toightyness of high art will be sorely disappointed with his avant-garde stylings. But admires of Art House or established fans of his work will find a fairly decent drama with some horror stylings. That being said The Killing of a Sacred Deer shines with a strong visual direction and atmosphere but the 2 hour runtime may have some wondering if it was worth the effort. 

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*While not a standard art term Urban Isolationism refers to the social commentary of Urbanization in the early 20th century. The general fear of the time was that the increasingly busy life of office workers and the isolation of large cities prevented people from forming deep connections and led to emotional ills such as depression. This idea is well shown in Hoppers 1927 painting Automat. George Tooker, (who stated Hopper as a influence), was another commentator on the topic pushing the idea into the realm of surrealism. This article by The New York Times discusses his work and life excellently while delving more into the concept.