Telling the story of a father and son’s plot to hire someone to kill their mother for insurance money, Killer Joe is a refreshing and darkly entertaining return to form for William Freidkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection). Hugely shocking in parts and not for your average film goer but if you have the stomach to stick this one out, it’s a rewarding work of cinema.
Mc Conaughey’s Joe is magnetic to watch. Having spent the most part of the last ten years of his career taking his top off its great to see him step up to the plate and bat a curve ball. Showing flickers of Bale’s Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, Mc Conaughey gives this film a central character that is a triumph worthy of some awards attention.
But be warned this film won’t please everyone, I’m nearly sure most of the audience at my screening left shaking their heads or had to pick their jaws up off the floor after the lights came on. Its shocking, brilliant, disturbing and funny. Not many films can thread that line so easily. Tightly paced, filled with top notch acting and its sleazily entertaining, they need to make more films like this. Oh and you will definitely never ever look at fried chicken the same way again…you have been told….
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