The Most Disturbing Movie Ever Made

From the opening shot of this film, they let you know instantly that this is going to be a disturbing one, for it begins with a shot of open heart surgery, accompanied by some truly bone chilling orchestral music. The tone is instantly set by the director's unsettling cinematography, colour scheme and atmosphere. The film isn't exactly Horror themed, but the colours are dull and scenery is equally mundane, the film has a very realistic and grounded presentation which I think adds a lot more grit to some of the more grotesque/grizzly scenes that do pop up throughout this honestly disturbing movie. Not only are the scenarios within The Killing of a Sacred Deer unsettling, but a lot of the characters are simply just weird too, Collin Ferrall's character (Dr. Steven Murphy) has a disturbing corpse fetish with his wife (played by Nicole Kidman), which we see played out during, thankfully very brief, sexual scenes. Nobody within his family speaks like a normal person either, this isn't even bad acting, they just seem to be very, very formal with everything they do and say, it's intentionally uncanny, meaning almost every character just feels off in the most haunting way possible. Even when something truly terrifying does happen, characters will act completely unfazed 90% of the time and that just feels even more wrong and alien, it's like a surreal nightmare.

The mystery behind the plot, which subtly unfolds throughout the film had me feeling on edge. Some plot elements don't make sense until later on when the movie quickly explains why this happens, or who this character is, etc. You'd best be careful to pay attention however, for the film tries to bury these secrets swiftly, so it's the type of movie you have to pay attention to. The film tells the story of a teenage boy named Martin, who Dr. Steven Murphy is often seen hanging out with him, it's instantly strange, for the boy appears to very fond of Steven and he treats him as though he is a son, although they are completely unrelated. We later find out Steven does have a family of his own, so the fact he is spending time with this very awkward, mentally unwell teenager, who gives him hugs, expensive gifts and shares very intimate and sexual secrets with him, is obviously very alarming! It almost appears as though Steven is the real antagonist, grooming this 16 year old. However this all makes sense, when it is revealed that this doctor killed this boy's father during failed open heart surgery (the opening shot of this film) and essentially looks after the teenager out of guilt and because he once knew his mother as well, caring for her family and son. When you realize this, we know Steven is actually very charity and a good person, but at first these scenes left me feeling quite disturbed. Now this is where the plot gets truly disturbing; Martin invites Steven over for dinner one night, the teenager goes to bed early, purposely leaving him alone with his mother who has been flirting with him all night. As he is a married man, her forwardness is obviously uncomfortable for him and this mother is just as mentally unwell as her own son, she constantly brings up how beautiful his hands are and proceeds to aggressively lick and suck on his fingers without his permission, he fights her off, but she begins shouting at him to stay for desert! He leaves, but the next day, her son shows up at his office and says he has a hurt chest and throws off his t-shirt without warning. Then after doing some tests it appears as though Martin is perfectly fine, suggesting he was lying to see Steven. Martin expresses how much he'd love him to be his new father, stating that it's only fair after he killed his and that his mother is very slim, healthy and sexually appeasing for him, going on to talk about his own mother in a very objectifying and dehumanizing way, he also begs Steven to take off his own shirt, to show him his chest hair, implying he too finds this doctor erotic. Later on, Steven's son begins to lose the ability to walk and becomes wheelchair bound. Martin begs to talk to Steven while all this is happening, texting and calling him constantly like a clingy, yet terrifying stalker.  This results in a truly disturbing scene in the hospital where Martin reveals that Doctor needs to kill a member of his own family or soon everyone in his family will become paralyzed, then bleed from their eyes before all dying a painful death. He says this is justice after the death of his own family. At this point Doctor's family slowly falls ill of the curse and Steven must find a way to stop it, trying to not to murder any members of his family to stop this madness. I won't spoiler the ending (I'm sorry if I've spoiled too much already), but I just wanted you to know just how dark and depraved this movie does go and it never shies away from any of the horrifying events which lead up to this sickening finale, which will stick with you for many months after viewing.

What I love most about this movie is the fact that it always plays these moments straight and realistic. It never looks or feels like a typical horror movie, there are no jump scares, no over the top horror track, no darkly lit corners or Supernatural monsters, it's more like a believable drama where unexplainable tragedies occur. This is why I think it's one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen, you may see gorier scenes in a Saw or Hostel movie, but they always feel sensationalised and over the top. Everything in The Killing of a Sacred Deer feels real, even though everyone acts strange, you've probably met socially awkward people like this in real life, and I think we all have weird skeleton's our closets. The curse is never explained either, it just happens without any explanation other than Martin just wishes it to happen without any occult ritual mentioned at all. It's a complete mystery how he was able to trigger this, and that's exactly what makes this whole film feel so unsettling, the fear of the unknown.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is honestly a 5 Star Movie in my eyes, it's got an excellent story with amazing acting and drama. Nothing about this film's set up feels fake or cheap. Characters may be a bit strange, but they react realistically, crying and losing their temper at the appropriate times. This movie is honestly flawless!