The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Written by Gimly on December 10, 2017

I am a big fan of some of Yorgos Lanthimos' earlier work, so The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which I had been told in no uncertain terms would be a straight up horror movie, was well and truly on the agenda for 2017. Unfortunately, I found that not only was Sacred Deer not at all a horror, but more importantly that it lacked the dark whimsy of something truly odd, like the director's previous film, Lobster. Instead it opts for an outright uncomfortable tone. The world is real, boringly so, and it is only the characters who seem unbelievable. Which is a 180 on the sort of absurdism I usually gravitate towards. That said, Sacred Deer still contains some beautiful cinematography, and a couple of the most genuine laugh-out-loud moments I've seen in a movie all year.

Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole.