The Killing of a Sacred Deer is artsy, cold, clinical, and touched on a disturbing theme that many will find difficult to deal with. This is subject matter that we have discussed on a few other movies we have reviewed as being deeply disturbing. The Killing of a Sacred Deer Trailer https://youtu.be/CQFdGfwChtw I dare you to watch this trailer and not want to watch the movie after. If you want to watch The Killing of a Sacred Deer, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. Currently, you can find this on Amazon Prime for free with a Prime subscription. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is, as far as I can tell, a modern-day retelling or rendition of the Greek tragedy of Agamemnon and Iphigenia, where Agamemnon accidentally kills a sacred deer and ends up offending the gods because of it. The goddess Artemis demands that he pay for the killing with blood from his own family as payment in what is called blood for blood. Check Out Our Review of Midsommar! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/07/10/midsommar-review/ The interesting thing about this movie is that it takes a Greek tragedy, which I think we can all agree, seems distant and hard to relate to at best, and makes it relevant to today’s audience in a very real way. What’s even more interesting is that while they are making this hard to relate to Greek tragedy more relevant and easier to relate to, they simultaneously make the whole movie very cold and clinical. So it’s a bit of a mixture, making it more relatable and also harder to comprehend. Because it isn’t a literal retelling of the story of Agamemnon, it becomes a unique story of its own. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is, at its core, a psychological thriller. The acting is delivered in a way that makes you feel mildly alarmed because it’s so deadpan and void of real human expression. There is a bleakness that pervades the whole script, even the sets, camera angles, and framing are set up to invoke minimalism and clinical feelings. Alicia Silverstone is still sexy as hell There are plenty of topics that The Killing of a Sacred Deer touches on that are meant to make the viewer at the very least intrigued, and usually, a little bit disturbed. Lot’s of strange sexual undertones pervade this movie but never make it to the surface. The overall effect is an oily residue that coats your brain with the thought of, “that was awful and strange… I want to know more.” The actors did a great job of doing what they were told to do by the director – act detached. The Killing of a Sacred Deer centers around Dr. Steven Murphey (Colin Farrell) who is a surgeon, and his wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) who is a clinic owner, and their two children, Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and Bob (Sunny Suljic). A key role is that of Martin (Barry Keoghan), a teenage boy whose father died in the hands of Steven on the operating table. Young Martin has taken an interest in Dr. Murphey’s profession, and Dr. Murphey obliges Martin by allowing him to do a kind of job shadow thing when it’s convenient. Like These Cold and Clinical Movies? Check Out The House That Jack Built Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/05/the-house-that-jack-built-review/ Interestingly, Martin’s mother is played by Alicia Silverstone, who has made a fabulous transition from being my teenage heartthrob to being my middle-aged heartthrob. Bravo, Alicia! Although it’s a small part, her character is effective and deeply sexual. This scene is like most of the aesthetic, cold and clinical The Killing of a Sacred Deer was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who did The Lobster, which was also an A24 distribution, and starred Colin Farrell. Lanthimos and a Greek man named Efthymis Filippou wrote The Killing of a Sacred Deer. My Rating 8/10 If you love psychological thrillers, this is a must-see movie. Spoilers The whole movie feels “off” from the start.