17/12/2025
Screen Gems pays tribute to The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) …
Let’s get this out of the way: The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) didn’t work for me. But that doesn’t mean I don’t admire Colin Farrell and Barry Keoghan … far from it. If you want to see both actors at their most unsettling and magnetic, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is the film to seek out.
I’ve watched it four times. And I’m still haunted. Eerie. Hypnotic. Surreal. Unnerving. Visceral. Unforgettable.
No spoilers, just reverence!
Review: (a slow-burn descent into dread) …
Psychological thrillers often promise edge-of-your-seat tension, but too many fall into predictable patterns. Not this one. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (whose The Lobster [2015] introduced mainstream audiences to his singular, off-kilter vision), The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a masterclass in discomfort. From the first frame to the last, it grips you with icy fingers and refuses to let go.
The narrative simmers: we meet Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell), a respected cardiac surgeon, and Martin (Barry Keoghan), a strange, soft-spoken teenager whose presence is both benign and deeply wrong. As Martin is gradually introduced to Steven’s family: his wife Anna (Nicole Kidman), daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and son Bob (Sunny Suljic), the sense of unease intensifies.
Everything feels off. The score is dissonant and invasive. The camera glides with clinical detachment. Dialogue is stilted, almost ritualistic. Lanthimos’s signature non-naturalistic style creates a world where dread is baked into every moment.
And then the connections begin to surface. Martin’s motivations emerge. The horror crystallises.
The film draws heavily from Greek mythology (those familiar with its tragic underpinnings will find added layers), but even without that knowledge, the story resonates. It’s a parable, a punishment, a moral reckoning wrapped in surreal horror.
Performances are uniformly excellent, but Keoghan is revelatory. His Martin is a chilling contradiction: innocent and menacing, childlike and calculating. He commands the screen with quiet terror.
I’ve only said this about two other films (Olivier! Olivier! and Apartment Zero), but it applies here too: even once the mystery is “solved”, The Killing of a Sacred Deer remains mysterious. That lingering ambiguity is what makes it so profoundly disturbing … and so insanely great!
Trailer ...
https://youtu.be/CQFdGfwChtw
Clip ...
youtu.be/HBj276orVwA