The defence The Auteur Devotee
“Form is the argument.”
Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.
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The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Drama · Thriller · Mystery · 2017
Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor's life in gradually unsettling ways.
Movie details
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
2017 Drama · Thriller · Mystery 2h 1m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.0 / 10
213K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
79 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
73 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
7.0 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor's life in gradually unsettling ways.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Killing of a Sacred Deer?
For the defence
The Auteur Devotee
“You watch the director, not the movie.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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The Good Doctor
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Dr. Martin Blake, who has spent his life looking for respect, meets an 18-year-old patient named Diane, suffering from a kidney infection, and gets a much-needed boost of self-esteem. However, when her health starts improving, Martin fears losing her, so he begins tampering with her treatment, keeping Diane sick and in the hospital right next to him.
Dream House
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Publisher Will Atenton quits a lucrative job in New York to relocate his wife, Libby, and their daughters to a quaint town in New England. However, as they settle into their home the Atentons discover that a woman and her children were murdered there, and the surviving husband is the town's prime suspect. With help from a neighbor who was close to the murdered family, Will pieces together a horrifying chain of events.
Gone Girl
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With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
Violent Ends
Thriller · 2025
Lucas Frost, an honest man brought up in a crime family whose only legacy is violence, tries to make his own life with his fiancée, Emma. He is suddenly pulled back into the family business he so despises when his cousin, Eli, perpetrates an armed robbery on a local scrap yard and an innocent life is caught in the crossfire.
Butterfly on a Wheel
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A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.
Triage
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Yorgos Lanthimos
Written by
Efthimis Filippou · Yorgos Lanthimos
Colin Farrell
Steven Murphy
Nicole Kidman
Anna Murphy
Barry Keoghan
Martin Lang
Raffey Cassidy
Kim Murphy
Sunny Suljic
Bob Murphy
Bill Camp
Matthew Williams
Alicia Silverstone
Martin's Mother
Court is in session
Put The Killing of a Sacred Deer on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Technique in search of a pulse.”
Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.