The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a 2017 psychological horror thriller film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Alicia Silverstone, and Bill Camp. The screenplay by Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou was inspired by the ancient Greek tragedy Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides, and follows a cardiac surgeon who introduces his family to a teenage boy with a connection to his past, after which they mysteriously begin to fall ill.
The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. It was theatrically released in the United States by A24 on 20 October 2017, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Curzon Artificial Eye on 3 November. Critical response to the film was mostly positive, and it grossed over $7 million worldwide.
Plot
After performing an open heart surgery, Steven Murphy, a cardiothoracic surgeon in Cincinnati, goes to a dinner to meet 16-year-old Martin Lang, whose father died a few years earlier. Steven then goes home to his wife, Anna, and their children, Kim, who is 14, and Bob, who is younger. Steven invites Martin to meet his family, and Martin gets along with everyone, especially Kim. That night, Martin calls to say he has already told his mother that Steven is coming to dinner the next day. That evening, Martin insists Steven stay to watch a movie after the meal, but he leaves partway through to go to bed, and his mother gets amorous with Steven. She says Martin wants it as much as she does, and Steven leaves.
Martin visits Steven's office, complaining of chest pain he worries is caused by the same condition that killed his father. The cardiac stress tests Steven runs show nothing wrong, and Martin invites Steven over again, saying his mother finds Steven attractive, but Steven responds that he is happy with his family. After this, Martin's demands for Steven's attention grow increasingly frequent and desperate, and Steven stops responding. He is troubled when Kim tells him that Martin gave her a ride home.
One morning, Bob says he cannot move his legs, so Steven and Anna rush him to the hospital. He recovers during his examination and is sent home, but then relapses and is admitted while more tests are done. Martin visits Bob and talks with Steven to explain that, to "balance things" for his father's death, which occurred in Steven's operating room, Steven must kill either Bob, Kim, or Anna, or else, within a few days, they will all die after becoming paralyzed, refusing to eat, and bleeding from the eyes. Steven has Martin escorted from the hospital and is troubled to see Bob refusing to eat.
Bob's condition does not improve, but no cause can be found. Kim, who has fallen in love with Martin, collapses and is also hospitalized. She chokes when Steven tries to make her eat, and she and Bob are given feeding tubes. Steven admits his true history with Martin to Anna, as well as that he had two drinks before operating on Martin's father. After witnessing Kim stand up when Martin tells her to do so over the phone and become paralyzed again when he hangs up, Anna is convinced that Martin has some sort of power, so she visits him to ask why she and her children should suffer for Steven's mistake. He says it is the closest thing that he can think of to justice.
Eventually, Kim and Bob are sent home. When Anna castigates Steven for both causing and not solving their predicament, he kidnaps Martin and ties him up in his basement. He beats Martin and shoots him in the leg, but Martin is not intimidated. The children argue over whom their father will choose to kill and try to curry his favor. Steven asks the school principal which of his children is "best". Anna tends to Martin's wounds and brings the children to see him but fails to elicit any sympathy. She then tells Steven that he should kill one of the children, not her, because she can have another child. Kim fails to persuade Martin to heal her so they can run away together and then tells Steven how much she loves her family and offers her life to save theirs. Finally, hopeless, Anna releases Martin.
When Bob begins bleeding from his eyes, which Martin said would happen a few hours before death, Steven places him, Kim, and Anna in a circle, bound with duct tape, and covers their heads. Steven pulls a woolen hat over his face, spins around, and fires a rifle. He narrowly misses Kim and Anna, but the third shot kills Bob.