Killer Joe (2012)

I recently wrote a rave review of one of my favorite 2012 movies, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, which I praised for presenting depraved images with a lovingly unrelenting control. I didn’t know what depraved really meant. William Freidkin’s movie adaptation of the satirical play Killer Joe is a truly depraved movie. It concerns a white trash family consisting solely of disgusting individuals who hire a cold-hearted assassin named Killer Joe to take care of a relative so that they can come into some money. The trouble is that they don’t have enough money to pay Killer Joe up front, so he makes a bargain with them that involves a tween girl, all manner of brutality and some Kentucky Fried Chicken. You seriously don’t want to know what happens there.

Matthew McConaughey gives the performance of his career as the titular murderer, accessing a disturbing side that I’ve never seen before. If I had known the guy was capable of something like this, I may not have said such rude things about his acting in the past. The actor insists that he only agreed to be in the film because he saw it as a very dark comedy, but there’s nothing funny about it. The movie works because it is disturbing and it is disturbing because it is as heartless as its characters. I can see where McConaughey was coming from, though. Some of the acts of violence seen in the film are so unthinkable and so over-the-top in their presentation that they would seem at home in a Family Guy episode. Any potential humor that may have been garnered from the extremity of the random evils on display here is nowhere to be found. The cold, flippant style of the film and the fact that people enjoy it is more frightening than anything in it.

Freidkin is one odd filmmaker. His only notable credits are The French Connection and The Exorcist, both from the early 70s and both works of extreme genius. The latter is often deservedly called one of the most horrifying movies ever made because of the realistic approach to supernatural material. Now we have Killer Joe, which is possibly even scarier because it’s so close to home. I’ve known people similar to those shown in the film, even if they seem like caricatures. This movie is more of a reality than I think most people realize, and perhaps that’s why Freidkin can be so nonchalant about it. Listening to him discuss the movie makes me think he doesn’t necessarily believe in the events of his film. I can only assume its fans don’t either. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed the film and would certainly not call it genius, but I admire its audacity. “Something else” is the most I can muster.

7/10