52 Pick-Up #39 – The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Welcome back to 52 Pick-Up, my year long project to keep at writing with 52 first time movie watches as a jumping off point.

I considered making this more of a joke entry, but too many of these either went into spoilers or got surprisingly dark, even for me. In many cases both (if you've already seen this one, you can probably guess specifically which scene I have in mind.)

As this goes live, September is coming to a close with mere hours to go. It's been an interesting spread of movies, which several notable directors I've been keeping an eye on getting stray titles taken care of from their lists.

In that informal theme, I'm closing out with one of the gaps from director Yorgos Lanthimos. It's one of his darker works, and fitting with October around the corner, this might be the closest he's come to making a horror movie. So technically, I can count The Killing of a Sacred Deer as pregaming, much like last week.

But first, the pitch.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer introduces us to Steven (Colin Farrell), a heart surgeon living an overall normal life with his family, wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and children Kim and Bob (Raffey Cassidy and Sunny Suljic.) Steven also has a friendship that might be seen as slightly less normal – he has been in touch with young Martin (Barry Keoghan) whose father died some years earlier. While his family initially is unaware, Steven invites Martin to come over and meet them. Martin makes a good impression on the family, particularly with Kim, and he then invites Steven to his own home. After these two meetings, strange occurrences begin to happen as Bob is struck with a mystery medical condition. As Steven tries to determine the cause, Martin informs him of what is causing it – and the horrific action he'll have to take to make it stop.

Like many of Lanthimos's movies, there is something fascinating in how this seems to both fit certain genres while also bucking against them. At its core, the central idea of this movie (itself taken from Greek mythology) is very much a horror where this family finds themselves at the mercy of forces beyond their control and that will only be assuaged with the fulfillment of a grim task. That idea of the unknown is probably where the horror runs the strongest and makes for one of the more interesting parts of how this story is presented as there are so many 'why's of the movie that will never be resolved.  

By extension, this is also part of what makes Martin such a standout part of this movie. There's versions of this where the character could or would be framed as much more openly malevolent, especially in light of the casting of Keoghan (and credit where it's due, I can see why this was part of what caused him to break out as an actor.) While not in that mold, the movie does still find ways to maintain an antagonistic framing – he is presented as off-putting in many respects, at times manipulative if not outright creepy. Even with those touches, where the actual mystery is concerned, there is a sense he may be just as powerless as Steven and his family are in the face of what is happening. Yes, Martin is aware of what is happening and is the one to explain the rules (such as they are) of what is happening and will happen and how to stop it, but even as he has the advantage of that knowledge, there is also a sense he has no real control over it. As the illness progresses, and the family members each in their own way to try to plead, reason, or threaten Martin, his attitude isn't one of power or villainy – he can only shrug as the movie conveys the sense he has no more control than they do. The way he talks about it to Steven gives the sense this wasn't something he set into motion. Rather, something that he was aware of and just had to be the one to deliver the news given his role in the inciting incident.

As much as the movie makes a horror of that sense of the unknown, there are other elements that make it feel different from more 'traditional' horror. In keeping with much of Lanthimos's body of work, there is much here that would place it in the vein of dark comedy. Several of the family interactions, for example, play with a certain deadpan absurdity, both in general and moreso as tensions rise with the growing problems around them. I am trying my hardest not to spoil what this all entails as a general courtesy, but I can't pretend it isn't difficult with this one, as many of the things I want to go into do give parts of the movie away. I preface with that in that I hope you will forgive me one VERY slight tip of the hand now as far as this movie's dark humor – for much of the movie it's played in lighter doses, becoming more pronounced as the stakes rise. Finally, this leads to the moment when Steven has to make an uncomfortable decision – and the scene in question is arguably one of the funniest moments I have seen in an Lanthimos movie to date, thanks in part to how it balances something so horrifying with such an openly absurd presentation.

Thinking this over in the days since I've watched it, it's landed in a curious spot for me. In terms of what Lanthimos movies I've seen, there's several I would put over it (I still have a few gaps to fill, but if you put me on the spot right now, my first instinct answer would a dead heat between The Lobster and The Favourite). Even with this on the lower end, I have a genuine respect for the finished film here. Yes, Lanthimos doing dark comedy isn't a new thing in itself, but pivoting it into something closer to horror here is a swing I can get behind and I'm still overall satisfied with seeing how well it worked out.

Also, speaking of this and The Lobster – I hope Colin Farrell comes back to work with him again at some point. I have been loving Farrell's post-Hollywood leading man era where he has just been banking more and more into odd roles and their two collaborations have been high points in that run.

Granted, last had heard, Lanthimos was taking some time off, so whatever happens, happens. Until then, 2026 rolls on, and next week puts us into October.

Oh yeah, chances are you all figured it out – I weighted the scales for horror and the month is kicking off in a suitably weird fashion, and one that feels somewhat apropos with the upcoming remaster of The Devils coming to theaters. I'm kicking off October with another Ken Russell horror outing in his 1988 take on Bram Stoker, The Lair of the White Worm.

Until then.