'The Killing Of A Sacred Deer' Trailer: The Director Of 'The Lobster' Reunites With Colin Farrell
The Lobster was a bit of a shock for everyone who went in expecting an off-kilter black romance — instead director Yorgos Lanthimos served up a disquieting social satire with underpinnings of horror as his first English-language feature.
Now, reuniting with his Lobster star Colin Farrell, Lanthimos is going full psychological horror with his newest film The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
The trailer burns with a cold intensity, as cryptic scenes from the film play over a girl's a capella rendition of Ellie Goulding's pop hit "Burn."
The film reunites Farrell with his The Beguiled co-star Nicole Kidman, who plays the wife to Farrell's prominent surgeon.
"I don't understand why I should have to pay the price, why my children should have to pay the price," Kidman says to Dunkirk's Barry Keoghan in the trailer. Keoghan responds: "It's the only thing I can think of that's close to justice."
The movie follows Farrell's character as he forms a bond with an enigmatic young man (Keoghan) that results in tragedy, with an apparent curse from the boy causing the surgeon's patients to become partially paralyzed. Several scenes of the patients eerily contorting their bodies through stark hospitals flash through the trailer, lending a horrific quality to the slow-burn of a preview. Though the rest of the trailer remains vague and cryptic, its moody dread reminds me of Ingmar Bergman's work, specifically Persona.
Here's the brief official synopsis of The Killing of a Sacred Deer:
A prominent surgeon adopts a teenager into his family, but as the teen's actions grow increasingly sinister, the doctor is forced to make a terrible decision.
The poster for the film was also released, seen below.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year, where it was nominated for the Palme D'Or and praised by critics as "Sophie's Choice as a suburban horror movie." The jury awarded Lanthimos its Best Screenplay award, which he shared with You Were Never Really Here writer-director Lynne Ramsay. It's another film from the exciting upstart indie studio A24, which has taken a keen interest in subversive horror and genre films.
Despite not enjoying horror movies myself, I've been pleasantly surprised by all A24 releases, absolutely adoring It Comes At Night and The Witch. The Lobster too was one of my favorite movies from last year, after I got over the trauma of its shocking tonal shifts. The Lobster was so inventive and strange that I would gladly watch any of Lanthimos' next works, and the fact that it reunites Farrell — who has really found his stride undermining his alpha-male archetype in indie prestige flicks — and the always excellent Kidman makes me quite excited for The Killing of a Sacred Deer.