THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER

Cert Running time

This off-kilter horror thriller beats with a sinister power that cuts Colin Farrell to the quick.

The Irishman stars as a heart surgeon whose past failings return to punish him. He’s forced into choosing to kill a member of his family or see them all die in horrific pain.

Greek writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos teased out the best in Farrell in 2015’s dark satire The Lobster, and he repeats the feat here.

While vigorously flexing his acting muscles, Farrell’s actual muscles are protected by the flab of middle age. This is something that can’t be said of his co-star.

In an eye-opening bedroom scene, Nicole Kidman reveals a lack of modesty and a rigid personal fitness regime.

A growing sense of anxiety is fuelled by the unsettling score and clinically precise camerawork makes this a very difficult watch.

Plus it’s the most shocking big screen killing of a sacred deer since Walt Disney’s Bambi.