The King Is Dead (2012)
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 5
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
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User Ratings: 64
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Movie Info
Open inspection at the house-for-sale in the quiet, leafy neighbourhood...Max, science teacher, and Therese, tax accountant, decide that here is the house for them. Unsuspecting, they buy and move in, finding a nice family on one side and, well, "interesting" on the other. But interesting soon becomes loud, and loud soon becomes intolerable and when the intolerable becomes the violent, and the police are powerless to do anything, and the community lawyer suggests ear plugs, Max and Therese are
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All Critics (8) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (0)
If this film had a more propulsive plot, veered into Straw Dogs territory and retained its dark laughs, I imagine we would be talking about an Australian classic.
The King is Dead!, while not as brilliant as Bad Boy Bubby or Alexandra's Project, shares with those films a unique and perverse vision of Australian suburbia ... De Heer's always bold, and here he's bold again. The Independent King is certainly not dead.
The King is Dead has some great comic asides, and the finale paints Max and Therese into a genuinely dangerous and entertaining corner.
The King is Dead! is a deliciously dark genre mash-up, coy and explorative but tight and insular, sprayed with wry laughs and a genuinely foreboding undertone.
Black comedies rarely come as carefully measured or as full-blooded as this marvellously engaging lark, which is essentially a revenge fantasy for anyone who has ever suffered the prolonged trauma of living with a bad neighbour.
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Foreign Titles
- The King is Dead ! (FR)
- The King is Dead! (AU)
