Though there’s minimal bloodshed, director Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” is a horror movie in the truest sense, as this dark, formalistic drama centers on the scariest thing a parent could face: the possible death of their children.
Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a man who prevents death, a cardiologist who holds people’s beating hearts in his hands. But in the movie’s prologue, he’s unable to keep his patient from dying on the table. He moves on, chatting with his anesthesiologist, Matthew (Bill Camp), about the quality of their expensive watches.
Then Steven goes home to his adoring wife, Anna (Nicole Kidman), an ophthalmologist, and their loving children, 14-year-old Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and 10-year-old Bob (Sunny Suljic).