Oh. So. Tense. The suspense. This unnerving film will make you nervous. Yorgos Lanthimos follows critically-acclaimed The Lobster with a slightly more traditional horror that still manages to reinvent the genre. 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is one of those films that will probably take a while to digest. It's also one that will make your jaw drop completely within the very first frame. Guaranteed. An unusual story that warrants post-cinema conversation, the story is far more straightforward than the director's famously WEIRD The Lobster, but it has an energy that carries through more consistently. It's twisted, disturbing, a spiralling rabbit hole to uncertainty and gripping horror rooted in something much more familiar than being shipped off to a hotel to find love or risk being turned into an animal. It's family.

Readers of this blog will know that I am not one for horror movies, but alongside mother!, I've already managed TWO this year. What an achievement! And why do I put myself through the two hours of torment and edge-of-my-seat-ness? Because I genuinely do believe that this will be a masterfully crafted film worth watching. What director Yorgos Lanthimos has crafted is a borderline supernatural not-natural in a mundane everyday life setting with subtext for days. After simmering, growing fear bubbles up completely, leading to some very grim and vivid scenes which I had to physically hide from as I attempted to curl up in my cinema seat.

I haven't even began to describe what The Killing of a Sacred Deer actually entails, and I don't really want to for fear of spoiling it (and also for fear of revisiting the story too vividly!). The title is apt, the story is cryptic. A man develops a close bond with a teenage boy, and from the get-go it's shrouded in mystery which eventually unravels and hits the man - and the audience - hard. There's a mysterious crippling illness, a terrible decision that has to be made, and sheer methodical madness.

Colin Farrell is once again the leading man (though not hero), this time surgeon and family man Steven, however he speaks in the same short manner-of-fact way he did in The Lobster.  Eg. (not verbatim) "I am hungry. I think I'll have a salad because salad is nutritious. I quite like the taste of cabbage."  Maybe Lanthimos should ask me to help with the next script. As a result, the emotion is slightly stunted and stifled, but that makes it even more humorous and terrifying. Also terrifying is Barry Keoghan as Martin; his piercing eyes and generally creepy demeanor will haunt me for days... Lanthimos has written his characters as understated ones, which just gives the talented cast members a chance to deliver stoic, impressive performances. Needless to say, Farrell is fantastic, and Nicole Kidman also stands out with as his character's wife Anna. At the London Film Festival premiere, Kidman spoke about how much she enjoyed working with Lanthimos and wanted to be in his next films already. I expect we'll see her and probably Farrell pair up again someday! Also I thought child actor Sunny Siljic was superb as Steven's adorable son Bob, with a performance on par with the Hollywood heavyweights.

Fans of The Lobster will be glad to hear that the squeaky, dissonant violins are back. They are every horror fearer's worst nightmare and I had to listen to a lot of Jason Mraz on my journey back to drown it out from memory. You also get an eerie, pitchy rendition from Daughter Kim of an Ellie Goulding song, Burn. "And we're gonna let it burn, burn, burn" - foreshadowing, much? It'll be difficult to listen to that song again. Another highlight is the impeccable roving camera work - with ruthlessly unsettling angles and long, paced shots that will make you nervous.

I have to admit that I really enjoyed The Killing of a Sacred Deer - much more so than I expected. Just don't expect answers and be prepared to sacrifice logic and control. Think dread, Greek tragedies, game-playing like Saw, and a deep lesson of actions with consequences. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a slow burner, but when the fire gets going, it's a blaze.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is released in the UK on 3rd November.

Highlights from the BFI London Film Festival Gala Premiere