Review of The Killing of a Sacred Deer, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is one of those movies that I’ve known about for many years now, maybe ever since it came out, but I’ve never actually sat down and watched.

When they first added it to Netflix, I thought about watching it and even pressed play, but I was so grossed out by the surgery and internal organs that I ended up skipping out the first time. So you’re probably now wondering: how am I writing this blog post right now?

Well, I saw Saltburn and was obsessed with Barry Keoghan’s performance in that movie. Keoghan does an excellent job in playing these strange little roles, and I had heard his role in this movie also leans weird.

That was when I decided to give this movie another chance. I ended up realizing I could just skip through the opening sequence that had the surgery, and then I was set to go. I usually don’t get queasy when it comes to these kinds of things, but I simply couldn’t handle it. Anyways, I watched the entire movie in one go once I got going with it, and that was just what I needed.

I’ve rambled enough—here’s my review!

A cardiothoracic surgeon befriends a young boy, but realizes the boy is behind a curse inflicted on his family.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer takes place in the city of Cincinnati, and our main character is Steven, a cardiothoracic surgeon working in a hospital there. He has two kids and a wife, but at the beginning of the movie, we learn he goes to the dinner to meet a boy named Martin Lang.

Martin is sixteen and lost his father in the past couple of years, and Steven decides to invite Martin home to meet all of his family members. But that night, Steven gets a call from Martin saying that he told his mother he will be coming over for dinner the next day.

When Steven shows up for dinner, Martin’s mother tries to make a move on him after Martin goes to bed.

Not long after that, Martin comes to Steven’s office at the hospital, saying he’s been having chest pains. He’s pretty much worried that he has the same condition that ultimately killed his father.

Nothing shows up on the scans, and Martin makes it weird by trying to invite Steven over again and that his mother really likes him. Martin keeps getting more needy in the time that follows, and Steven eventually tries to cut him off.

But then things get even stranger. Steven’s son, Bob, suddenly can’t feel his legs anymore one morning. They take him to the hospital, where he gets better, but not long after he starts having the same symptoms again.

Martin swings by to Steven, and tells him that this is getting even for his father’s death—as it turns out, his father died under Steven’s care. He carefully tells him that in order to break the curse, Steven has to kill someone in his family, or they all will die.

Steven returns to Bob and sees he has the next symptom Martin outlined: refusing to eat. He continues getting worse, while his sister collapses one day and is hospitalized, too.

She also has fallen in love with Martin after all of their interactions together, making things worse. Steven tells his wife, Anna, everything, and when Kim, the daughter, talks to Martin on the phone, they realize she is able to stand briefly.

Anna starts thinking Martin has some kind of power, so she visits him. He tells her this is a form of justice.

The kids are sent home, and things get worse. After Anna berates Steven for being the source of their problems, he kidnaps Martin and puts him in the basement.

After beating him, shooting his leg, Martin doesn’t give up with Steven’s attacks. Anna goes to talk to Martin and show him the kids, hoping he would do something, but nothing happens.

Anna then decides to tell Steven that he should kill one of the kids, as she can have another kid. In the meantime, Bob begins bleeding from his eyes.

Steven then puts everyone in a circle, puts a hat over his face, spins, and then shoots his gun. He kills Bob, who is about to die anyways. That stops the curse, but the movie ends with the family at a diner when Martin enters. The family gets up and leaves, with Kim casting a longing glance back at Martin before heading out the door.

Overall Thoughts

This surely is one of Lanthimos’ stranger movies, that’s for sure. It’s a horror movie at its core, and what Lanthimos does with it is exacerbated by the excellent casting.

The standouts to me are Keoghan, who does an excellent job in portraying Martin, and Farrell, who does a wonderful role in playing a father being driven to making a decision he can’t back out of.

All in all, I’m glad I watched this movie, but I wouldn’t really say it is something I would rewatch in the end.

Follow me below on Instagram and Goodreads for more.