Editorials
Uncomfortable Cinema: Finding Awkward Terror in ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’
If there’s one director whose entire filmography is consistently horror-adjacent, it would have to be Yorgos Lanthimos. The Athenian filmmaker is mostly known for his absurdist dramas, but nearly all of his movies feature some form of horrific undercurrent beneath the offbeat dialogue and odd characters. And while his 2023 feature Poor Things wears its horror influences on its Frankenstein-inspired sleeves, today I’d like to look back on the director’s most effortlessly terrifying film – 2017’s psychological thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
After reaching mainstream critical acclaim with 2015’s The Lobster, Lanthimos was basically given carte blanche on his next strange project. Borrowing the premise of an ancient Greek play, his next film would be a modern-day tragedy co-written by Efthymis Filippou and financed by Irish and British production companies. And like Yorgo’s previous English-language project, The Killing of a Sacred Deer would also benefit from a star-studded cast of both returning collaborators and newcomers.
In the finished film, Collin Farrell stars as Steven Murphy, a Cincinnati heart surgeon whose family becomes the subject of a mysterious curse once he meets Martin (Barry Keoghan), the son of a patient who died on the operating table. As Steven’s wife (Nicole Kidman) and children slowly succumb to a seemingly supernatural illness, Martin reveals that the only way out of this “curse” is to sacrifice a member of Steven’s family.
The flick mostly plays out like an arthouse drama rather than a traditional scary movie, but both critics and audiences were quick to call it one of the most unsettling experiences of 2017 back when it first came out. In fact, plenty of writers referred to the film as a great example of psychological horror despite the movie not really featuring any overt scares or aesthetic elements commonly associated with the genre.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
The Killing of a Sacred Deer is just as meticulously crafted and visually compelling as Yorgos’ previous output, though I’d argue that there’s an increased amount of polish here that makes it stand out among the director’s other films.
I mean, the visuals alone are stunning, with cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis going so far as to incorporate elements from the art of Edward Hopper into certain shots so that the picture feels appropriately lonely. There’s an intentional distance (not to mention awkwardness) to every frame, and it’s amazing to watch Lanthimos extract tension from virtually nothing as these characters go about their days even before they get sick.
That’s not even mentioning the incredible performances, with nearly every character being given a chance to shine as a part of this eerie hyper-reality. Colin Farrell has always been one of my favorite actors, so I may be a little biased when I say that this is one of his meatiest roles, but even I have to admit he’s actually outshined by Nicole Kidman’s desperate housewife (who has some of the most uncomfortable scenes in the film) and our bizarre “antagonist.”
After all, the real stand-out here is Barry Keoghan. From his overall strange demeanor to his ominous line-deliveries, Martin is half the reason that this is such a memorable film in the first place. It takes a real thespian to make eating spaghetti feel like a genuine threat, and kudos to Keoghan for making his awkward dialogue feel completely spontaneous.
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
There are plenty of legitimately scary movies out there, but I’d argue that dread is much more difficult to convey on celluloid than passing frights. We’ve all had nightmares about being chased by a monster or haunted by a demon, but how exactly do you depict that nagging irrational feeling that things aren’t exactly what they seem and we’re heading towards imminent doom?
Naturally, “difficult” isn’t the same as “impossible,” and The Killing of a Sacred Deer is the rare film that actually manages to scare viewers purely through the use of atmosphere. Between the unseen entity bringing pestilence down on the family and a remarkably eerie soundtrack, the general vibe here makes you feel like you’re only moments away from disaster. Hell, Yorgos even doubles down on the uncomfortable factor by including real footage of heart surgery in the flick, as well as some intentionally cringe-inducing moments of uncomfortable sexuality.
And when it comes to the aforementioned performances, some of the strange character interactions here remind me of the peculiar voice-acting in early survival horror games like the Silent Hill series, with the odd voices giving the experience an otherworldly feel that enhances the horror instead of detracting from it. This may sound like a jab at the film, but I honestly think that it wouldn’t be as impactful without the awkward deliveries.
There’s also the matter of that shocking finale (which still hits like a brass-knuckled gut-punch despite being hinted at during the entire experience), but I’d rather not spoil the moment for readers who haven’t yet seen the film. Suffice to say that Yorgos doesn’t shy away from the brutal bits of the story.
Bizarre yet meaningful, eerie yet compelling, it’s hard to put The Killing of a Sacred Deer into a box. Objectively, much of the film is comprised of wide shots of an upper-class family walking around looking worried and occasionally getting into stiff conversations, but it’s still somehow one of the most uncomfortable cinematic experiences in recent memory. That’s why I’d recommend it to horror fans who don’t mind their horror with a side of ambiguous Greek tragedy.
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
Director Sébastien Vaniček has been set to helm the next Evil Dead movie, and it’s easy to see why with his feature debut, the spider horror movie Infested. Playing like a cross between Attack the Block and Arachnophobia, Infested makes you care about its characters while delivering no shortage of skin-crawling spider horror moments.
Available now on Shudder, Infested follows Kaleb (Théo Christine), a lonely 30 year old who’s estranged from his best friend and at odds with his sister over their crumbling apartment. His dreams of opening a reptile zoo get drastically thwarted when he brings home an illegally acquired desert spider, one that happens to be gravid, and it gets loose. One hatched egg sac gives way to hundreds more, plunging the apartment building into a visceral arachnophobic nightmare.
It’s not just that Infested employs real spiders for many of the skin-crawling horror moments that make it so effective, though that certainly is a factor. Or in the way the spiders’ venom inflicts a painful, grotesque demise. It’s in the constant escalation of the horror and the way Vaniček captures the arachnids on screen. These eight-legged terrors may not exist in the real world, thankfully, but the movements look authentic enough to make you squirm. That authenticity, the high octane energy, and the constant rise and fall of palpable tension as the spiders skitter about and wreak devastation are enough to leave viewers curling into the fetal position.
While Infested offers no shortage of arachnophobia-inducing moments, from tiny shoebox origins to giant garage encounters, we’re counting down six of the most skin-crawling moments of spider terror. Warning: some plot and death spoilers ahead…
6. Shoe Babies
Poor Toumani (Ike Zacsongo). He finally gets a shiny new pair of coveted sneakers after wearing his to the point of falling apart, only to get bit by a spider when he tries them on. It’s a move straight out of Arachnophobia. Director Sébastien Vanicek draws out the tension in this unsettling scene; the audience knows there’s a spider somewhere in that box as Toumani struggles with the light switch (hell, foreshadowing) before finally giving up to test his new kicks on the stairwell. That his sweet canine companion is with him heightens the suspense as we wait for the metaphorical shoe to drop. Vanicek doesn’t give his audience a reprieve when Toumani smashes the culprit behind his bite, though. A second look inside the shoe reveals the spider had a host of small babies that skittered across Toumani and inflicted even more spider trauma.
5. Air Duct Infestation
Madame Zhao (Xing Xing Cheng) is introduced as the tough building custodian who tirelessly works to get the crumbling building in order, which is no easy task. That makes her one of the first to notice the infestation as she carefully picks up a smashed spider and arms herself with bug spray, and she notices telltale signs of webbing. Zhao uses caution when handling the carcass and even more when attempting to clear the vents with her spray. In a normal world, the pesky spider problem would’ve been handled or at least slowed until professionals could show up. But this isn’t a normal spider situation and the moment Zhao pokes her head up into the vent to check the aftermath, she’s face hugged by a venomous arachnid. Vanicek ensures this terrifying moment comes with maximum suspense. We know what’s going to happen, and that makes it all the more excruciating to watch.
4. Never Put Your Face in a Spider Hole
Vanicek paints a visceral picture of what happens when you put your face in a spider hole in the film’s opening sequence. That brutal lesson lingers as Infested unfurls one of the most intense spider invasions on film in a long while. Seeing the consequences of an illegal trapper getting face hugged in the intro makes what happens to Moussa (Mahamadou Sangaré) all the more skin-crawling. His attempt to squash a giant spider lurking on his bedroom wall creates a hold in the wall, and Vanicek again slows time to an unbearable degree to let Moussa discover the hard way why some dark crevices, holes, and hidden spaces are better left alone.
3. Prime Time TV Watching
When the infestation has fully taken root, and the dire situation has convinced the protagonists to finally flee, Kaleb insists they also attempt to save the long-term residents that were there for him and Manon (Lisa Nyarko) when their mom died. It heralds a harrowing montage that demonstrates the physical and emotional devastation the spiders are causing. Most unsettling of which highlights the fate of Claudia (Marie-Philomène Nga), a parental figure to the siblings. Kaleb and Mathys (Jérôme Niel) enter her dimly lit apartment and find her seated in front of the TV. Though she appears to be sleeping peacefully, Vanicek terrifies with the sudden burst of spiders from the back of Claudia’s head. A quick shot later reveals that Claudia was infested from the inside out, and the image is pure nightmare fuel.
2. Bathroom Attack
Lila (Sofia Lesaffre) is deeply arachnophobic, so she understandably freaks out when she spots a giant spider while she’s using the bathroom. She screams for her boyfriend, Jordy (Finnegan Oldfield), to rescue her, who gallantly brings a glass to collect it. Of course, it doesn’t go well. Jordy eventually gives up and smashes it, scattering the babies on its back everywhere, just in time for dozens more to bubble up from the shower drain. Vanicek dials up the intensity of this scene from the start by showing the audience that there are far more spiders lurking about than an oblivious Lila knows. Keeping her in the dark lends unpredictability, but the anxious screaming from everyone, including nervous friends in the hall, only increases the stress of the unexpected attack. The constant misdirection and frenetic camerawork ensure this sequence gets your heart pumping out of fear.
1. Bad Timing in the Webbed Corridor
Early foreshadowing made it clear that the building’s broken timer on a crucial light switch would become a problem later. And boy does it. When the protagonists come upon it in their bid to escape, they find it now transformed into a webbed tunnel filled with an obscene amount of venomous spiders. The only path forward is through it, but the faulty timer leaves them vulnerable to death when the lights go out. Naturally, Vanicek wrings as much dread from this scenario as possible, leaving Manon (Lisa Nyarko) very nearly caught. The group hits a dead end, forcing them right back into the webbed corridor, which leads to one of the film’s most emotionally painful scenes. Everything about this particular hallway is a skin-crawling nightmare, from the close brushes with spider bites to the dizzying way Vanicek captures the sheer scale of the infestation within this hall alone.
Infested is now streaming on Shudder.
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