Killer Joe (2012)
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 151
Fresh: 117 | Rotten: 34
Violent, darkly comic, and full of strong performances, Killer Joe proves William Friedkin hasn't lost his touch, even if the plot may be too lurid for some.
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 13
Violent, darkly comic, and full of strong performances, Killer Joe proves William Friedkin hasn't lost his touch, even if the plot may be too lurid for some.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 75,678
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Movie Info
When 22 year-old drug dealer Chris (Hirsch) has his stash of drugs stolen from him by his mother, he has to come up with six-thousand dollars quick, or he's dead. Desperate, he goes to the trailer-park to see his father, Ansel (Hayden Church), and he lays out the plan. Chris's mother, who everyone hates, has a life insurance policy that would clear up his debt and make them all rich. The problem is that Chris' mother is very much alive. Enter Detective "Killer" Joe Cooper, a hired hit man with
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Cast
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Matthew McConaughey
"Killer" Joe Cooper, Jo... -
Emile Hirsch
Chris, Chris Smith -
Juno Temple
Dottie, Dottie Smith -
Thomas Haden Church
Ansel, Ansel Smith -
Gina Gershon
Sharla, Sharla Smith -
Marc Macaulay
Digger Soames -
Graylen Banks
Pizza Patron -
Carol Sutton
Saleslady -
Danny Epper
G-Man -
Jeffrey Galpin
Biker Thug -
Scott Martin
Pizza Manager -
Gregory Bauchard
Filpatrick -
Charley Vance
Preacher
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Killer Joe Trailer & Photos
All Critics (151) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (119) | Rotten (34) | DVD (2)
If you like your movies filled with twisted humor, sexual perversion, psychological intimidation and sudden violence, "Killer Joe" is the flick for you.
Top CriticYou will either love "Killer Joe" or run away screaming. I absorbed this NC-17 nail bomb with awestruck admiration.
[Friedkin] has retained his touch ... all these years later. And in Matthew McConaughey, he has the perfect vehicle for madness.
You end up feeling sorry for all the actors forced to humiliate themselves, except for McConaughey, whose portrayal of sadistic, manipulative evil is mesmerizing.
The movie frequently clicks as a sendup of over-the-top film-noir storytelling.
If y'all like your comedy with a Lone Star drawl and as black as Texas tea, then by all means tuck right into Killer Joe.
Friedkin, Letts and the entire cast barrel ahead through incredibly strange, dark territory, never looking back to see if the audience is keeping up. But those who do won't regret it.
McConaughey is funny and fearsome in the title role, the devil holding the family accountable for their choices.
As sordid and vile as possible.
Killer Joe is America at its worst but Friedkin and McConaghey at very close to their best.
One of the best films of the past year-bracing, funny, uncompromising-arrives on home video in a package that makes good on its swelling rep as an American indie video nasty.
A wily script, smoldering suspense and slick dialogue keep the drama lively.
It's like a cheap, nasty dessert: completely devoid of nutrition, probably very bad for you, but kind of delicious while it briefly lasts.
Only the faint-hearted or KFC kitchen staff should give it a miss.
Stage-to-screen adaptations are rarely this primal, and it's been a long time since a William Friedkin film has felt so vital.
The humor magnifies the horror, and vice versa. Like the inflammatory Dr. Strangelove, we've sewn these seeds, and we deserve whatever is reaped from them.
Killer Joe will leave many people in shock, confusion, and in need of a thorough shower by the time it's done.
The scene with the fried chicken drumstick might cause Colonel Sanders to repurpose one of his famous buckets as a barf bag.
Killer Joe is a white-hot fever dream of a film. A toxic swill of sex and violence, Joe is mordantly funny, tantalizing and, ultimately, shocking.
Matthew McConaughey gives an intensely wry performance while director William Friedkin applies his old-master craftsmanship to a brutal, ugly story.
Killer Joe will both infuriate and impress, but when it impresses there is nothing quite like it. It plays on the senses and lingers in the mind, McConaughey is brilliant and Friedkin finds himself in his best form in years
Resembling yard sculptures in a trailer park, where trash becomes art, "Killer Joe" is a Picasso signed with a branding iron.
Sick and twisted in the most interesting ways.
A daringly impressive and darkly funny work, which sees its director William Friedkin return to the audacious spirit of his early films.
Aside from Letts scathing one-liners the best reason to see the film is McConaughey. His Killer Joe is a quite brilliant variation on cool villainy.
It unfolds like a prank. After freewheeling dangerously and thrillingly for 90 minutes, it skips the relief and goes straight to the punishment. After that: The final, puzzling twist suggests that it may not have been a joke at all.
Audience Reviews for Killer Joe
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Chris Smith: Piece of fucking fuck-suck cake!
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- "Killer" Joe Cooper: She's my retainer!
- Chris Smith: Deal's off. You're gonna have to eat this one.
- "Killer" Joe Cooper: You know I'll kill you.
- Chris Smith: Go fuck yourself.
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- "Killer" Joe Cooper: Do you want me to wear your face?
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- Digger Soames: Haha! Damn, you make me laugh. Hey, listen, I'm just gonna have the boys here kick the shit out of you. You'd better pay me my money in a couple of days or I'm gonna wrap you up in electrician tape and bury you in a coffin about 10 feet deep. Huh? I'll tell Amy you asked about her. That'll make her smile.
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- Chris: Well, she'd better stay away from the barbeque or she'll be too much woman to fit through the door.
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- Chris: Hey Sharla. You're mascara's running.
Discussion Forum
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| ok yaaaaaa | 4 months ago | 1 |
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Latest News on Killer Joe
September 7, 2012:
Nicolas Cage Joins David Gordon Green's JoeIt's described as a "gritty Southern drama."
July 26, 2012:
Critics Consensus: The Watch Falls Down On the JobThis week at the movies, we've got amateur crime fighters (The Watch, starring Ben Stiller and Vince...
June 26, 2012:
William Friedkin Talks Killer Joe"I think that the films that we make in America today are for teenagers; they're comic books and...
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